Michael Jackson’s $2 billion estate divides family 15 years on
Artists are selling the rights to their music for a big cash grab now with Michael Jackson’s kids the beneficiaries of the richest vault of all.
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Michael Jackson fans and the music industry were shocked when the late pop superstar’s youngest son Bigi took his grandmother Katherine took court in late March over her legal bills.
In the latest chapter of the battle for control of Jackson’s billion dollar legacy, the 22-year-old has asked a Los Angeles court not to fund the family matriarch’s lawyers’ fees from estate coffers.
The 93-year-old matriarch, who raised Bigi, born Prince Michael Jackson II and known as Blanket until 2015, is contesting a lucrative deal to sell 50 per cent of the King of Pop’s song publishing and master recordings catalogue to Sony for more than $US600 million ($A900m).
Bigi and his sister Paris were initially on their grandmother’s side last year in opposing the sale, instead urging the estate’s longtime coexecutors John Branca and John McCain to shop around for a “fair market value” for the music assets.
But when a Los Angeles probate court judge ruled in favour of the sale going ahead, Jackson’s children, including oldest brother Prince, accepted the decision and now want their grandmother to drop her appeal.
Katherine Jackson is reported to have received $US55m ($A83m) from a trust set up by the estate since her son’s death.
According to court documents obtained by People magazine in the US, Bigi’s lawyers stated: “It is readily apparent that a reversal on appeal would be an extreme longshot.”
“Given those odds, Bigi decided not to waste his resources to participate in an appeal. Nonetheless, Katherine has decided to appeal this court’s ruling. That decision is not for the benefit of the heirs.”
In an era where songwriters and recording artist are offloading the rights to their music for hundreds of millions of dollars, Jackson’s children were right not to wait to see if their late father’s music assets appreciated in value.
The Thriller star was saddled with debt and almost bankrupt when Jackson died in 2009.
It is now worth in excess of $US1.3 billion ($A2bn) as its coexecutors have actioned an ambitious strategy of carving off slices of his rights holdings and exploiting his hit-laden back catalogue with MJ The Musical, which arrives in Sydney in early 2025, and a biopic called Michael due in April next year.
Jackson’s offspring clearly support the campaign to resurrect Jackson’s catalogue, making a rare joint appearance on the red carpet at the London premiere for MJ The Musical the week after Bigi’s court action against his grandmother.
As streaming erodes the income stream from music recordings, dozens of artists from songwriting titans, including Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan to contemporary pop stars Justin Bieber and Katy Perry, are selling the rights to their music in a gamble the big cash grab now will be worth more than the royalties in future years.
Selling the rights to make money from a song when it is played on a streaming platform, a radio station or in a film or television show, in deals often backed by multi-billion dollar investment funds, also makes it easier for older artists to divide a pile of cash among family members rather than leave them to unravel complicated publishing and record deals.
Before Sony acquired their 50 per cent stake in Jackson’s music, they had already orchestrated the most valuable catalogue deal in pop music history by buying Springsteen’s entire songwriting and recording vault for more than $US500m ($A750m) in 2021.
Dylan has struck two huge deals for his music in recent years. The 82-year-old legend sold the rights to his lyrics and compositions to Universal Music Group in 2020 reportedly for between $US300m ($A455m) and $US400m ($A600m), and then offloaded his entire back catalogue of recordings to Sony for about $US20m ($A300m) in 2022.
Rock retirees Kiss are the latest to strike a nine-figures deal for not only their music but name, image and likeness to Pophouse Entertainment, the Sweden-based music investment firm behind ABBA’s “Voyage” hologram show.
ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus is a Pophouse co-founder and is well-versed on how to market old hits to new fans via concepts like the hologram concert.
But it’s not just the veterans boosting their superannuation plans with blockbuster catalogue sales.
Pop star Perry, now 39, got almost $US225m ($A340m) for carving off a stake in the master recordings and publishing rights for the five albums she released between 2008 and 2020 to Litmus Music in September last year.
The 30-year-old Sorry pop star Bieber, who hasn’t released a new record in three years, offloaded the rights to all his songs and recordings to Hipgnosis Songs in a deal believed to be worth more than $US200m ($A300m) in February 2023.
But the catalogue sales gold rush appears to be cooling down with Hipgnosis Songs Fund slashing the value of its music portfolio by more than a quarter last month to pay down debts.
THE GREAT MUSIC GOLD RUSH
Since 2020, dozens of artists have swapped the rights to earn royalties from their music for a big fat lump sum as labels and investment funds remain hopeful of ongoing earnings from streaming and licensing songs for use in theatrical musicals, films and television.
Here’s the big earners from the lucrative rights trading.
Michael Jackson
Sony paid about $US600 million ($A900m) this year for a 50 per cent stake.
Bruce Springsteen
Sony acquired The Boss’s entire music catalogue for more than $US500m ($A750m).
Bob Dylan
His two deals with Sony and Universal are believed to be worth more than $US500m ($A750m).
Phil Collins and Genesis
They sold their music to Concord for about $US300m ($A455m).
Sting
The veteran artist also got about $US300m ($A455m) from Universal for his music.
Paul Simon
Sony Music Publishing acquired the rights to his compositions for about $US250m ($A380m).
Katy Perry
Litmus Music took her some of her music rights off her hands for $US225m ($A350m),
Justin Bieber
The semi-retired pop star got $US200m ($A300m) from Hipgnosis.
Neil Young
Hipgnosis also scored the songwriting master’s catalogue for more than $US150m ($A226m).
Stevie Nicks
The Fleetwood Mac star walked away with $US100m ($A150m) for a 80 per cent stake in her song catalogue.
Originally published as Michael Jackson’s $2 billion estate divides family 15 years on
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