Why Ice-T Could Be Big Winner : Contracts: The rapper is expected to sign a pact with Priority Records that will pay a higher royalty rate than he could get from a major label.

Ice-T could come out of his uneasy departure from Warner Bros. Records a winner. The rapper is expected to sign an independent distribution deal in which his “Home Invasion” album will be released on his own independent label and distributed by Los Angeles-based Priority Records, which also releases albums by N.W.A. and Ice Cube. Sources say the album will be in stores by mid-March.

The Priority deal will almost certainly give Ice-T a higher royalty rate than he could ever get from a major label--although how much more depends on how the deal is structured.

“I think this will end up working for the guy,” said one music lawyer, estimating that Ice-T as an independent could pocket double, even triple, what he made with Warner Bros. That could mean as much as $4 per album for the rapper, whose likely royalty rate with Warner Bros. brought him less than $1.25 per album.

“He’ll be easily within a $2-to-$4 range per CD, slightly less for cassettes, and I’d say closer to the upper range,” the attorney said.

That’s even higher than the standard “superstar” royalty rate at a major label, which generally runs between $1.30 and $1.70 per album sold. Ice-T’s royalty rate with Warner Bros. was believed to be much less than that, in line with his sales track record which, despite his notoriety, has been between 500,000 and 1 million copies per album--not in the superstar range.

Ice-T, his manager and Priority representatives are not commenting publicly and aren’t expected to until the album is set to come out.

One source speculated that Ice-T may have been willing to take a little less on the Priority deal. The reasoning is that he would want to play it safe and get “Home Invasion” in stores through a reliable company as soon as possible, capitalizing on the attention it has received from his falling out with Warner Bros.

“He didn’t want to mess around with this record,” said the source. “If it went out and bombed, it could have a serious effect on his future.”

The big question: Can Ice-T sell as many records as an independent as he could with the powerful promotional resources of the giant Time Warner conglomerate, the parent company of Warner Bros. Records?

“It’s no harder to get the records in the store this way,” says James Smith, president of Raps-a-Lot Records, the Houston-based company that releases recordings by the controversial rap group the Geto Boys. Priority has distributed Geto Boys recordings since Geffen dropped the group in 1990 over violent lyrics.

“We proved that you don’t have to be on a major,” said Smith. “Geffen refused our record and we’ve gone gold and platinum ever since.”

“There will be no problem getting the records into stores,” said Chris Joyce, vice president of business affairs for Independent National Distributors, which handles Priority’s distribution in some regions of the country.

The company, known as INDI, recently has dealt with a similar release with Bay Area rapper Paris’ “Sleeping With the Enemy,” which was also rejected by Time Warner. Paris released the album on his own Scarface label, distributed nationally by INDI.

The fact that Ice-T’s notoriety gives “Home Invasion” more visibility than Paris’ release and that most of Priority’s distribution is through the giant Thorn-EMI-owned CEMA organization ensures the availability of the album.

And that same notoriety could give the album a sales boost.

Said one source: “The attention the album’s gotten should be a boon. It could sell a million right out of the box.”

Ironically, Priority’s deal with CEMA reportedly ends in nine months. Some speculate that the company has its eyes set on a deal with Time Warner-owned WEA, which could bring Ice-T back into the Time Warner fold.

Meanwhile, a CEMA spokesman who was defensive about the company’s potential ties to the rapper said, “We only pack (records) in boxes and ship where Priority designates.”