Whitney Houston's Funeral Footage Being Sold to Benefit Bobbi Kristina Brown: Report

Whitney Houston's funeral footage is being sold by her family in order to increase her estate so that her daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown can benefit, according to a report. The news came after rumors that Houston died broke.

TMZ reported that Houston's home going is becoming a money maker for her estate after a deal was made to sell the video of the funeral.

The Associated Press live streamed Houston's funeral on Saturday, and provided the feed to other media outlets around the world. TMZ said it was one of those outlets that got Houston's funeral video from The AP. The Web site claims that everyone had to pull the footage 24 hours later.

TMZ explains that this is because a rep for the Houston family has confirmed that the family has agreed to license footage to several media outlets.

The rep also reportedly told TMZ that the family is charging customary fees to help maximize the estate for the benefit of Bobbi Kristina.

Rumors Houston Died Broke

Houston died on Feb. 11 in a bathtub in her hotel suite at the Beverley Hilton in California. A cause of death has not yet been established. Following her death rumors surfaced the Houston, 48, died broke. Houston was not only a singer. She was an actress and model as well. She was cited in Guinness World Records as the most-awarded female act of all time.

Houston received two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards and 22 American Music Awards. Throughout her lifetime, Houston collected a total of 415 career awards and sold more than 170 million albums and singles worldwide. Still the rumors persist that Houston squandered her money and was living on advances.

The Daily Mail claimed that Houston squandered a $100 million fortune and was asking music mogul Clive Davis for help. Davis discovered Houston in 1983.

She was broke -- her label gave her advances, a record company insider told the Huffington Post. And unlike Michael (Jackson), you have to remember that Whitney didn't write any of those massive hits. They were songs that Clive Davis told her to sing and she did.

One of Houston's biggest hit song I Will Always Love You was written by singer Dolly Parton. Reports are that Parton will be making a huge profit from Houston's death because she will get the writer's and publisher's rates when the song gets a boost in radio and television performances.

On records, the typical mechanical royalty paid to the writer/publisher is about 8 cents per radio performance, a successful songwriter told the Huffington Post. That would all go to Dolly. Whitney is only the singer. She receives an advance from the record company based upon anticipated album sales. Figure that's around $2.00 per album. But all of the costs to record the album, promote the album, videos, etc. are all recouped from the artist's share.

The Huffington Post also learned that Houston was living off of advances from the record company for a while. It appears that money made will also be used to repay those alleged debts.

Most likely the estate owes the record company a ton and future sales will be used to pay back that loan before any money goes to the estate, the insider said. The songwriters, however, will make a bundle.

Houston's people have denied reports that she was broke, calling them false and ridiculous.

Additionally, in January, Houston also denied broke rumors in a Forbes.com article. Houston's rep also told Extra that the singer starred in a new film, Sparkle, with Jordin Sparks, and was paid for the role she played.

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