Michael Jackson’s estate gets biggest record deal ever

Michael Jackson’s estate has signed one of the biggest recording contracts in history, giving Sony, Michael Jackson’s longtime label, the rights to sell his back catalog and draw on a large vault of unheard recordings.

The deal, for about 10 recordings through 2017, will guarantee the Jackson estate up to $250 million in advances and other payments and offer an especially high royalty rate for sales both inside and outside the United States.

This deal also allows Sony and the estate to collaborate on a wide range of lucrative licensing arrangements, like the use of Jackson music for films, television and stage shows and lines of memorabilia that will be limited only by the imagination of the estate and the demand of a hungry worldwide market.

“We think that recordings will always be an important part of the estate,” John Branca, an entertainment lawyer who is one of the estate’s executors, said in an interview on Monday. “New generations of kids are discovering Michael.”

“A lot of the people that went to see ‘This Is It’ were families,” he added, referring to the Jackson concert film released in October. “ ‘This Is It’ was one of the few films allowed into China. So we think there are growing and untapped markets for Michael’s music.”

The first recording covered by the new contract is the “This Is It” soundtrack, released last year, and Sony plans a new album of unreleased recordings for November.

Last year Jackson was the biggest-selling artist in the United States by a wide margin, with 8.3 million combined album sales and 12.4 million downloads of single tracks, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Mr. Branca said that since his death Mr. Jackson has sold more than 31 million albums, about two-thirds of them outside the United States.

Although music record sales have declined over the last decade, licensing has emerged as the biggest growth area for revenue from recorded music. Music is used now in commercials, repackaging old albums, Cirque du Soleil productions, Broadway, etc.

“It’s not just a record deal,” said Rob Stringer, chairman of the Columbia/Epic Label Group, a Sony division. “We’re not just basing this on how many CDs we sell or how many downloads. There are also audio rights for theater, movies, computer games. I don’t know how an audio soundtrack will be used in 2017, but you’ve got to bet on Michael Jackson in any new platform.”

One can say it is a shame that such a deal was not struck while Jackson was alive. Surely the money earned would have reduced the financial burden he was under but others would argue it is because of his death that interest surged in such a way. Others, however, would point to the sellout of his This is It concert run in minutes as proof the fans never wavered from him.

Let us know what you think about this in the Speak Your Mind box below.

Share this article with your friends by clicking on any of the social icons below this article. We appreciate your support by sharing it with others.


Other Stories:

Jason Derulo joins Lady Gaga on tour

Akon saves a fan

Lady Gage being sued



Share This Article with Friends: