Record Records Deal For Micheal Jackson
Michael Jackson’s Album Sales Live On
Many months after his passing, Michael Jackson is still setting records, thanks to a deal involving his estate and Sony valued at $US250 million.
The deal, touted by both Sony and Jackson’s estate as the most lucrative recording contract ever, guarantees the estate at least $US200m.
With 10 albums over seven years, the deal will contain a both unreleased songs and favorite hits repackaged.
The dollar amount is especially eye-catching against the backdrop of the music business as a whole, in which US album sales have nose dived fifty-two percent in a decade.
Superstar deals worth millions of dollars per album were rare even at the peak of the album sales explosion in the late nineteen nineties.
By the first anniversary of his death, his estate expects to have earned $US250m from sales of music, merchandise and tickets to the posthumous “This Is It” concert documentary.
The estate is likely to repay about $US125m in debt by the year end, including $US35m owed to AEG Live, the London concert promoter.
The estate is likely to refinance another $US325m backed by Jackson’s two biggest assets: Sony/ATV Music Publishing, his venture with Sony that owns copyrights to 251 Beatles songs; and his 1000ha Neverland Valley Ranch outside Santa Barbara, California.
In striking the agreement, Sony is sure that the interest for Jackson’s music will prove more than just a spike generated by his unforeseen demise and the ensuing media frenzy.
A record contract struck in the early nineteen-eighties gave Jackson possession of his recordings.
Sony had exclusive distribution rights until 2015.
The deal retroactively covers the soundtrack album to This Is It, plus a host of other releases, some already planned, others to be determined at a later date. The deal will most likely cover expanded reissues of Jackson’s albums Off the Wall and Bad, as well as collections of remixes.
A DVD of all Michael Jackson music videos is also a strong possibility.
Cirque Du Soliel may also create a show based on the music of Michael Jackson, as it already has done with the Beatles’ music.
If it does, a soundtrack album of some kind would probably be included in the deal.
Resources:
http://vern22holland.xanga.com/723664541/michael-jacksons-album-sales-live-on/
http://www.zimbio.com/Michaeljacksonrecorddeal/articles/TVK0J9meoxx/Michael+Jackson+Estate+Strikes+Huge+Record
