Michael Jackson’s estate reportedly close to landmark catalogue sale
The estate of Michael Jackson is rumoured to be nearing a business deal that would see half of its ownership of Jackson’s music catalogue sold. The deal would see the buyer receive 50 per cent of Jackson’s entire musical output.
Per a report by Variety, the deal would include the publishing rights, the revenue streams that come from his recorded music, the forthcoming biopic Michael, the MJ: The Musical Broadway production, and several other assets that the estate currently owns.
Current parties that have expressed interest in acquiring rights to the catalogue have been kept private as of yet, but one name that is being touted is Primary Wave Music, as they recently purchased the exhaustive ownership of the rights to The Doors’ recorded material and income, and they also already own a stake in Jackson’s catalogue.
Naturally, given Jackson’s stature as a pop icon (arguably the biggest of all time), any prospective deal could carry a price tag of around $800-900million, which would make it the most expensive acquisition of rights in the history of modern music.
Sony has been in possession of the rights to Jackson’s music for some time now, including a time before his death, while his longstanding attorney John Branca and his co-executor John McClain still manage the interests of his estate.
Back in 2016, Sony managed to strike up a deal with the Jackson estate to buy 50 per cent of the estate for the Sony/ATV Music Publishing venture. The cost was $750million. Then, Sony followed up by obtaining the Jackson estates 25.1 per cent stake in EMI Music Publishing when it was acquired in 2018.
Even with the widespread controversy surrounding Jackson, his music catalogue remains one of the most lucrative in the industry. Forbes has persistently claimed that he is one of the highest-earning dead celebrities, suggesting in 2018 that his posthumous earnings were in the region of $2.4billion.
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