The trade magazine Variety has published, with verified data from three sources, that The Michael Jackson Estate is about to sell half of its catalog for between 800 and 900 million dollars.
The details are not yet clear, but everything suggests that the negotiation would be in the hands of Sony Music and a financial partner, which would retain 50% of the publishing rights, the profits from the songs, the rights to the Broadway musical MJ: The musical and the upcoming biopic Michael.
If realized, this bundle would represent the largest sale of an artist’s catalog publishing rights in history.
Other millionaire cases
Sony has been involved in some of the biggest buyouts of recent times, such as the catalog of Bruce Springsteen for $600 million, and the music rights to Bob Dylan for 150-200 million.
Another major sale was the catalog of Genesis (Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks) for $300 million. In all cases, the number mentioned for Michael Jackson material far exceeds them.
The various sources consulted also do not confirm who would be the financial partner of the operation, but the usual suspects are Eldridge Industries (which has worked with Sony for the purchase of Springsteen) or Shamrock (which has worked with Universal for the catalog of dr dre and the first six recordings of Taylor Swift).
Sony and its predecessor CBS were the sole owners of Jackson’s music catalog and the end of The Jackson 5, but since the singer’s death in 2009 his estate has been in the hands of his loyal attorney Branca and John McClain.
Michael Jackson’s music catalog is one of the most successful in history. your album thrillerfor example, he is one of the best sellers in history.
According to 2021 statistics from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), thriller it remains the #1 all-time hit, with sales of 70 million copies worldwide. In the United States it was certified platinum 34 times.
In 2017 Sony Corp reached an agreement with The Michael Jackson Estate to acquire 50% of the property for $750 million. The following year, in its annual financial statements, the company revealed that it also indirectly acquired a 25% stake when it bought EMI Music Publishing for 2.3 billion.
At the end of that long negotiation, EMI and Sony/ATV became wholly owned by Sony, which became the largest music publisher in the world.
Source: Clarin
