Michael Jackson’s estate has just become $750 million richer in one sweeping sale. That’s great news right? The only problem is that the thing they actually sold is the thing that MJ risked his life over for decades to maintain ownership of and not once did he ever waiver.
After MJ made the most intelligent/profitable acquisition in music history by any artist, when he purchased half of his record label, Sony/ATV’s music publishing rights, his estate executors and family have now decided to sell that ownership for a dollar amount.
Sony and MJ created Sony/ATV in 1995, which was ten years after Michael paid $41.5 million to acquire the ATV catalog, which also owned the Beatles catalogue and MANY other songs by major multiplatinum selling artists.
Publishing rights give owners the power and control over how music and the lyrics are used in radio, film and television film. For example, in 2012 the TV show, Mad Men, reportedly paid $250,000 to license the Beatles song “Tomorrow Never Knows” for just ONE episode on the show! Now multiply profits like that times the thousands of other popular songs MJ owned.
MJ had ownership in songs like “New York, New York,” Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock,” “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” “All You Need Is Love,” “The Mission Impossible Theme,” and SO many more, such as songs by Beyonce, Marvin Gaye, Frank Sinatra, Taylor Swift, and this list could go on for days. MJ’s estate will maintain ownership of MJ’s music and all music written under MJ’s Mijac Music, but that’s about it.
Sure $750million is a hefty buyout, BUT MJ also understood that the power was in the publishing rights and that the the monetary value of his investment will only APPRECIATE with time, not DEpreciate, which is the whole reason why Sony is willing to pay so much for it now!
Michael’s estate executors released this statement: “This transaction further allows us to continue our efforts of maximizing the value of Michael’s estate for the benefit of his children . It also further validates Michael’s foresight and genius in investing in music publishing.”
In my opinion, MJ’s fam’ and estate sold him out. How so? Well for many years Michael was fighting behind the scenes with Sony music execs over his music and his ownership and he REFUSED to give it up. MJ even alluded that his life was being threatened over it. He even once spoke publicly in a video about the time that Mariah Carey came to him crying hysterically, warning him that she’d just found out his life was in danger…allegedly by her then husband, Tommy Mottolla, the former exec for Sony, whom MJ hated and went on a public campaign to inform the world that Mottolla was a “bad man and a racist.”
MJ was not letting that scare him one bit and he continued his fight to maintain his music rights, now all of that has just been sold to the highest bidder.
