It's just amazing how the vultures come swinging down from the sky and try to capitalize off an entertainment icon's untimely demise. Michael Jackson has left behind quite a legacy for his kid's to inherit, and it's a shame that the same label, SONY, which tried to derail and undermine him by paying off debts behind his back would now stoop as low as putting out a "Milli Vanilli" type album of what seems to be Michael's work.
You have to first understand why the vultures are flying high. Michael has in some estimates the largest stake of any artist, business mogul, etc. in some of the largest publishing catalogs in the world. He is the single most ingenious artist of all time, by gobbling up numerous publishing catalogues of the majority of the more prominent music artists both past and present, he single handedly is the pulse of music publishing in this industry.
Sony/ATV Music Publishing is a music publishing company co-owned by The Michael Jackson Family Trust and Sony. The organisation was originally founded as Associated TeleVision (ATV) in 1955 by Lew Grade. Jackson owns a %50 stake in the company. In 2002, Forbes magazine estimated Jackson's 50% stake in the company, along with other music publishing ventures, to be worth $450 million. Today, Sony/ATV Music Publishing owns and administers more than 600,000 song copyrights.
In December 1995, ATV Music Publishing was merged with Sony and renamed Sony/ATV Music Publishing. The company became the second largest music publisher in the world,[citation needed] owning the rights to songs by The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Eminem, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Charlie Pride, Gretchen Wilson, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Black Eyes Peas, Rick Ross, 50 Cent, Celine Dion, Cher, Brooks & Dunn, Leonard Cohen and a "who's who" of numerous other artists on SONY and other distributors and publishing firms. The value of Sony/ATV Music Publishing has varied in reports. Industry experts have estimated the company to be worth as much as $1.5 billion.
TO SEE FULL LIST OF SONY/ATV ARTISTS AND THE NUMBER OF SONGS OWN BY BOTH THEM AND MICHAEL GO TO LINK BELOW:
http://www.michaeljackson.com/my/node/713540
ATV Music Publishing and Grade acquired the rights to the Lennon/McCartney song catalogue, Northern Songs, in 1968. The catalogue featured nearly every song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney until The Beatles' split in 1970.
Grade's fortune began to dwindle as the 1980s approached and by the mid-1980s, ATV Music Publishing and Pye Records were both up for sale. The companies were bought by Australian businessman Robert Holmes à Court, who disposed of them quickly and to his great profit. They were sold to Jackson for $47.5 million in 1985. This upset McCartney—who had told Jackson about the importance of owning publishing, and his own plans to purchase The Beatles catalog—who felt Jackson on purpose outbid McCartney.
After Jackson's acquisition of ATV Music Publishing, his record label, CBS, were negotiating the sale of their record division in an unrelated deal. Following hurriedly arranged meetings and disagreements over the selling price, a deal was sealed by Jackson during a concert in Tokyo. Upon seeing the success of this sale, Japanese corporation Sony sought to break away from its core business of hardware manufacturing and diversify into music, films and games. Looking for further opportunities, the company aimed to expand its music publishing interests. The Japanese corporation offered Jackson $90 million for 50% of ATV Music Publishing in 1995. Jackson gladly accepted; he had essentially acquired half ownership of the Beatles' songs for a large profit. Jackson's own songs were not included in the deal.
In May 2001, Jackson denied rumours that he was planning to sell the Beatles' song catalogue. Rumours had circulated that the singer was to sell them in order to finance the upkeep of Neverland Ranch and to cover legal bill expenses. The singer announced in a statement, "I want to clarify a silly rumour - The Beatles catalogue is not for sale, has not been for sale and will never be for sale." Sony/ATV Music Publishing continued to acquire song catalogues in the 21st century.
Another company acquisition was made in 2007, when Famous Music, a music publishing business with song catalogue of more than 125,000 songs including "Moon River" and "Footloose", was sold to Sony/ATV Music Publishing. The deal, sought by Viacom, included the assumption of around $30 million of debt. The company purchased the business for $370 million. The song catalogue also includes the hits of Eminem, Akon, Linda Perry, Bjork, Shakira and Beck. With this acquisition, Sony/ATV acquired the rights to publish music from films released by Viacom's Paramount Pictures subsidiary, which had founded Famous Music in 1928 to publish music from its films (this also included films released by DreamWorks, which Viacom acquired in 2006).
SIMPLE AND PLAIN!! SONY wants to capitalize off of Michael's Demise like every other vulture out there coming up with every gimmick in the world to financially benefit "BY ALL MEANS NECESSARY".
Posts
