Glee' Stars See Little Money From Hit Albums

Glee's stars are reportedly unhappy with the royalties that Sony Music, the label that releases the show's chart-topping soundtracks, is paying the cast. Three discs featuring highlights from the Fox series have hit Number One on the Billboard 200 in the past year alone--The Power of Madonna, Showstoppers and Journey to the Regionals--with over a million combined copies sold. "I got 400 bucks from [Glee: The Music - Journey to the Regionals] going Number One," actor Corey Montieth recently told a Washington DC radio station. "But you know what, that's OK, because if I'm patient, and if this thing does really well, maybe I'll see another 400 bucks."

According to the New York Post's Page Six, Glee's deal with Sony Music largely cut out the cast, and the actors have responded by complaining to the show's creator, Ryan Murphy. Page Six also speculates that star Matthew Morrison signed his contract with Mercury Records - under the Universal Music umbrella, as opposed to Sony - because of the royalties fight. Lea Michele will still release her solo album through Sony, but sources claim the actress is leading the charge to get the cast a bigger revenue share.

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Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

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