Estate of michael jackson and sony music renew 30-year relationship

[The Monster]

ESTATE OF MICHAEL JACKSON AND SONY MUSIC RENEW 30-YEAR RELATIONSHIP WITH LANDMARK RECORDING DEAL

MARCH 16, 2010

Special Administrators for the Estate of Michael Jackson, John Branca and John McClain, and Sony Music will continue the label's 30-year relationship with Michael Jackson and his music with a landmark recording deal, it was announced today.

With this new agreement, Sony Music's Columbia Epic Label Group and Legacy Recordings will continue their term of rights to his catalog and also create new projects for Michael Jackson featuring the never-before-released Jackson recordings. The first project featuring unreleased music is expected for release in November 2010.
As a solo artist with Epic Records spanning three decades, Michael has sold hundreds of millions of records worldwide and released thirteen #1 singles. Jackson became one of a handful of artists to be inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, won 13 Grammy Awards and received the American Music Award's Artist of the Century Award. Sony's Legacy Recordings has also created a number of successful projects such as the "Thriller" 25th anniversary album. The best selling album of all time worldwide by wide margin, "Thriller" showed the lasting power of Michael's music by returning to #1 on the weekly sales charts in 2008.

This past fall, Sony Music released the #1 two-disc album companion to the motion picture Michael Jackson's This is It " which has sold over 5 million copies worldwide. Released by Sony Pictures, the film made history as the highest grossing concert film of all time and the recently released DVD took the #1 spot in DVD sales, breaking the record for first-week's sales of a music film.

 

[ProgMatinee]

Will go down as one of the worst deals in history.

Aside from 3 or 4 songs MJs music is not timeless like the Beatles or the Stones. I don't think new generations are going to be buying his catalog for the next 50 years.

Does anyone really think they'll hear "Bad" or "Remember the Time" on the radio in 10 years?

Does this deal include the Jackson 5 stuff?

 

[Darth Waller]

I hope his kids get that money and not Joe.

 

[BadMoon]

God damn! Another Crapson thread. Can't we keep it all in one craptastic place?

 

[The Monster]

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Even in death, Michael Jackson is breaking new records.

The King of Pop's estate has signed the biggest recording deal in history: a $200 million guaranteed contract with Sony Music Entertainment for 10 projects over seven years, according to a person familiar with the deal.

The record-breaking contract through 2017 could be worth up to $250 million if certain conditions are met. One of the albums will be of never-before-released Jackson recordings that will come out in November, the person said.



The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the official announcement is expected later Tuesday.

Future projects may also include a video game, a DVD compilation of videos and a rerelease of "Off the Wall," Jackson's fifth studio album, which first came out in 1979, accompanied by some unreleased material. Before his sudden death in June at age 50, the pop star had wanted to reissue the album, people familiar with the deal said.

One of the projects already counted in the contract was the two-disc album that accompanied "This Is It," the film based on footage of concert rehearsals for what was to have been Jackson's comeback at London's O2 arena.

Including the more than 5 million copies of that special release, Jackson has sold some 31 million albums since his death, about two-thirds of them outside the United States.

"During his life, Michael's contracts set the standard for the industry," said John Branca, the co-administrator of the Jackson estate, in a statement prepared for release Tuesday. "By all objective criteria, this agreement with Sony Music demonstrates the lasting power of Michael's music by exceeding all previous industry benchmarks."

Rob Stringer, chairman of Sony Music's Columbia Epic Label Group, said in prepared remarks, "We're dedicated to protecting this icon's legacy and we're thrilled that we can continue to bring his music to the world for the foreseeable future."

The landmark deal is worth more than all other benchmarks, such as the all-encompassing rights deals that concert promoter and ticket-seller Live Nation Entertainment Inc. had previously signed with Madonna at $120 million and Jay-Z for $150 million.

Jackson's deal is even more remarkable because it does not include royalties from merchandise.





The contract shows the value of legacy artists. It also comes at a time of decline for the music industry, with sales down about half from their peak in 2000 mainly due to free file-swapping.

The money will go a long way to settling Jackson's debts, estimated at around $400 million when he died. But the singer whose life was plagued with scandal has had a resurgence in popularity in death.

Distribution rights for "This Is It" were sold to Sony Pictures, another unit of Sony Corp., for $60 million and the movie went on to gross $252 million worldwide, the most of any concert film ever.

Revenue from that, song sales and merchandising agreements brought into the estate revenues of about $100 million, lawyers for the estate's administrators told a Los Angeles Superior Court judge in December, when they sought a percentage as an administration fee.

The Walt Disney Co. even brought back the 17-minute Jackson movie "Captain EO" to its Disneyland theme park in Anaheim last month. The original began running at the park in 1986 but was pulled in 1997.

Jackson's most lasting and valuable asset is the 50 percent stake in Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a company that owns publishing rights to music by The Beatles and numerous other artists, including Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan. Split with Sony Music, the copyright catalog itself is estimated to be worth $2 billion.

The new financial windfall comes even as circumstances around his death remain in legal limbo.

Dr. Conrad Murray faces an involuntary manslaughter charge for allegedly giving Jackson a lethal combination of sedatives. He is due back in a Los Angeles court April 5.

 

[Darth Waller]

God damn! Another Crapson thread. Can't we keep it all in one craptastic place?

Great idea! I'm going to ask Dave to create a Michael Jackson section just for you.

 

[The Monster]

I seen where there will be something like 10 new Michael Jackson albums of all new songs over the next 7 years. Michael has something like 100 songs or more that were never put out yet.

 

[BadMoon]

Great idea! I'm going to ask Dave to create a Michael Jackson section just for you.

If that ever happened I would post all sorts of crap until it was either removed or I was banned.

 

[Darth Waller]

If that ever happened I would post all sorts of crap until it was either removed or I was banned.

Then you can change your name to BadMoonwalker.

 

[The Monster]

Then you can change your name to BadMoonwalker.

If BadMoon does not like Michael Jackson he should stay out of my threads then and save our board mods a lot of time.

 

[BadMoon]

If BadMoon does not like Michael Jackson he should stay out of my threads then and save our board mods a lot of time.

I'm all about ruining Mikey threads. I don't know why. I just think the guy was a complete weirdo. LOL!

 

[The Monster]

I'm all about ruining Mikey threads. I don't know why. I just think the guy was a complete weirdo. LOL!

key word there, YOU think he was a weirdo. The fact is, This is news, One of the biggest recording contracts in history. I thought there are some of us here who would want to hear about it.

 

[die]

Will go down as one of the worst deals in history.

Aside from 3 or 4 songs MJs music is not timeless like the Beatles or the Stones. I don't think new generations are going to be buying his catalog for the next 50 years.

Does anyone really think they'll hear "Bad" or "Remember the Time" on the radio in 10 years?

Does this deal include the Jackson 5 stuff?

Right now there are whole families that grew up on Michael Jackson. The grandmother/grandfather listened to The Jackson 5, Their kids listened to Thriller era MJ and their grandchildren listened to more recent MJ up to the "This is it" stuff. I work with kids & teenagers daily and they couldn't name a single Beatles or Rolling Stones song but could easily name at least 10 Michael Jackson songs.


I think songs like "Man in the Mirror" and "Earth Song" will be remembered as important songs for their message and the honesty conveyed within them. I don't think the fact that the guy was weird takes anything away from that. "Bad" or "Remember the Time" probably have just as much staying power as "I am the Walrus" or "Strawberry Fields"

 

[BadMoon]

key word there, YOU think he was a weirdo. The fact is, This is news, One of the biggest recording contracts in history. I thought there are some of us here who would want to hear about it.

Ok the majority of the people accross the world know he was a weirdo. LOL!

 

[Kuzeh]

Will go down as one of the worst deals in history.

Aside from 3 or 4 songs MJs music is not timeless like the Beatles or the Stones. I don't think new generations are going to be buying his catalog for the next 50 years.

Does anyone really think they'll hear "Bad" or "Remember the Time" on the radio in 10 years?

Does this deal include the Jackson 5 stuff?

Seriously?...
I bet you people will listen to his music for decades and decades...

I hope his kids get that money and not Joe.

Yep, they get most of it...

God damn! Another Crapson thread. Can't we keep it all in one craptastic place?

How about this:

Nothing for you to see here then. Thanks for stopping by!

key word there, YOU think he was a weirdo. The fact is, This is news, One of the biggest recording contracts in history. I thought there are some of us here who would want to hear about it.

You know... I have mixed feelings about this...
MJ was 2 years shy of ending his Sony contract due to Sony's questionable tactics... it's kind of ironic that now they are all eager to support him...
With that said, I can't wait to listen to the new stuff! !!

 

[The Monster]

Ok the majority of the people accross the world know he was a weirdo. LOL!

Whatever man, have fun, I have better things to do with my time.

 

[The Monster]

Seriously?...
I bet you people will listen to his music for decades and decades...



Yep, they get most of it...



How about this:







You know... I have mixed feelings about this...
MJ was 2 years shy of ending his Sony contract due to Sony's questionable tactics... it's kind of ironic that now they are all eager to support him...
With that said, I can't wait to listen to the new stuff! !!

I have mixed feelings about this as well, Michael was NOT happy with Sony.

 

[ProgMatinee]

If MJs got 10 albums worth of stuff and "This Is It" and "Another Day" were what was chosen to be released first, I think thats a bad sign as far as the quality of whats left there.

I just don't see his music being huge sellers down the road. IMO his catalog doesn't have a lot of value outside of the occassional "joke" like in "13 Going on 30".

His music is rarely used to sell stuff. So no royalties there. I don't see his albums being constantly rereleased. I just think its a very poor investment on Sony's part. Similar to the horrible investments made on Madonna and Prince in the past. I love the 80s, but IMO these artists catalogs are just not what the Beatles' or Stones' are so I don't see them being worth $100s of millions.

 

[karamazov80]

I seen where there will be something like 10 new Michael Jackson albums of all new songs over the next 7 years. Michael has something like 100 songs or more that were never put out yet.

This generation's Tupac!

I don't think Jackson's library of songs approaches the quality of the Beatles songbook, but in fairness, I don't think that anyone does (Prog mentions the Rolling Stones, but they've only got a handful of songs that are played on the radio/used to sell ____). Weirdo though he may have become, Jackson was certainly one of the greatest entertainers in my lifetime, and made some amazing music, IMO. People will continue to listen to and enjoy his pre-1990s work well into the future. I think his work from that point on is akin to John and Yoko or Wings.

 

[ProgMatinee]

The Beatles have literally 50+ songs that at any given moment could be on the radio or seen in a commercial or on a TV show or movie.

MJ has maybe 15? And probably if he didn't recently pass away that count would be down to 8.

Thriller
Beat It
Billie Jean
Heal the World
Rock with You
The Way You Make Me Feel
Smooth Criminal

Thats probably about 50% of the value of his catalog right there.