Branca: Unreleased Music Unlikely in the Foreseeable Future

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MOONWALKING TO THE BANK WITH JOHN BRANCA

by Phil Gallo

Mega-Attorney John Branca Talks Estates, Legacies and Streams Both Digital and Monetary

In September, John Branca and John McClain finalized one of the largest music publishing deals in history: The $750m sale of the Michael Jackson Estate’s 50% interest in Sony/ATV to Sony Corp. One of the most important business attorneys in the game, Branca is a genuine music guy—a sensibility shaped by his background as a musician—with a 360-degree understanding of the nuances of branding.

Yes, Jackson represents something of a pinnacle in his career spent mostly at Ziffren-Brittenham LLP, but Branca is also the lawyer/strategist behind the deal that reunited Carlos Santana with Clive Davis and resulted in Supernatural, and the movement of the Rolling Stones to Virgin from Sony. He is currently working on a new catalog deal for the Bee Gees and another deal for the Beach Boys, the band that was his first client back in 1978. “I love working with legacy artists,” Branca tells HITS. “It’s what I grew up with; it’s what I appreciate.”

As the co-executor of the Jackson estate, you are heavily involved in the multiple projects associated with him, the Cirque du Soleil shows, This Is It, the posthumous albums. Has your involvement with Jackson expanded what you do for clients, or is it just a highly visible example?

I haven’t been a traditional lawyer in the sense that we’re only there to review contracts. We always encourage our clients to have managers, but we are usually part of a strategic team that oversees touring, branding and various issues that may come up. David Lande and others at the firm work with managers and agents to make touring deals with Live Nation and AEG for clients like Justin Timberlake and Fleetwood Mac. Another example is the Rolling Stones, for whom we helped oversee and make the deals for the Steel Wheels Tour.

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What John McClain and I really do with the Jackson estate is manage that brand. It’s not traditional legal work—we produced two shows with Cirque du Soleil: a touring show, Michael Jackson: THE IMMORTAL World Tour, and a permanent show in Las Vegas, Michael Jackson ONE. The tour is in the Top 5-grossing touring concert shows of all time and ONE has been one of the most successful shows in Las Vegas since it opened. We put out two new studio albums, the first with Rob Stringer, the second with L.A. Reid. What we do for the estate is not unlike what we do for an artist or a brand—we are involved with records, deal with touring and branding as well as overseeing various aspects of their career. It’s not different than the work we did when Michael was alive, in particular during the Thriller era, when Michael did not have a manager.

On your end, what do you see as the key to all the Jackson projects?

What we did with This Is It was to try to show the real Michael Jackson, the entertainer and not the tabloid sensation. It was really a rebranding effort.

Do you see this continuing with other legacy acts?

I think that what you have to do with legacy acts and estates is to reintroduce them to new generations, not to try to reinvent who they are. If you rep a legacy artist, whether it’s Led Zeppelin or [a lesser known act], the hardcore fans are there, but you have to keep reintroducing the artist to new audiences.

In the case of Michael, part of the equation was releasing unreleased material. First, will we see more from the Jackson vaults? And second, where do you draw the line for what should be released?

We have some incredibly exciting projects coming up in 2017, although we probably will not continue to release unreleased music. In the case of XSCAPE, the most recent release, L.A. Reid said he was only going to work on songs where Michael did complete vocals, because that showed he actually cared about the songs. And of course, that album produced the worldwide #1 hit track, “Love Never Felt So Good,” a duet with Michael and our client Justin Timberlake.

When we put out This Is It, some said, “Michael would never put this out. This is rehearsal footage.” We said, “We agree Michael wouldn’t have put this out when he was around because he would have finished it with a multi-camera shoot.” We wanted to show the world the real Michael Jackson. Thus, people really responded to it and it became the #1-grossing music documentary in history.

What about cases where a band is involved? Perhaps some members have died or are no longer active, but you’re representing the group.

It’s a matter of doing your best to maintain authenticity. You walk a fine line. I’m working with Barry Gibb, and Barry’s just put out a new album and there’s a tour and, of course, he sings Bee Gees songs since he was the lead singer. But Barry would never go out and present himself as the Bee Gees because of [his respect for] authenticity of who the Bee Gees were. Certain acts take account of that, but others don’t, and I think they suffer because of that.

You managed the Beach Boys for their 50th anniversary tour, which obviously introduced them to new fans and bolstered their standing. How do you take that result from a short window of time and extend its shelf life?

I co-managed The Beach Boys with Joe Thomas. I actually think they’re an underappreciated brand. Brian is certainly not underappreciated, but the Beach Boys are. I helped them get fair royalty rates on their back catalog, which I also did for artists John Fogerty and The Doors. And I helped Don Henley, and others, get their copyrights back.

Is streaming playing a big role in introducing those types of acts to new audiences?

YouTube
helps because you can see the artist in their prime, in their heyday. Streaming helps, but branding is most important to continue to explain to people why they are important. A vehicle like This Is It, you realize this is one of the great artists of all time. It’s like a developing artist: You have to let people know who they are. Sometimes for an established artist, you have to remind people who the artist is.

Source - http://m.hitsdailydouble.com/news&id=303931

Gonna be upfront here, I'm pissed.
 
So what exciting things are there if not music?? That's their money maker tbh.
 
Umm I can think of plenty of unreleased songs that could top Xscape, remember Xscape was number one worldwide... So there's obviously demand. Granted they are songs we have already heard, but surely there is more songs out there. Sunset Driver/Got The Hots have that famous Off the Wall vibe to it. Serious Effect can be updated and sound great.

I seriously think that some of you on this forum could do a better job at managing future releases.

Could have an ambiguous meaning.

"We have some incredibly exciting projects coming up in 2017, [such as unreleased music] although we probably will not continue to release unreleased music [after that]".
 
Please when posting in the news section, post the whole content of the article with a link to its source (That bit you got right ;)) at the bottom (y)

**Thread edited**

Thanks
 
he said theres exciting projects for 2017.....so more than one....hmm
 
"We have some incredibly exciting projects coming up in 2017, although we probably will not continue to release unreleased music."

Actually, this makes me even more excited. I want the estate to focus on presenting Michael's music, short films, and concerts in new and exciting ways. I'm personally not interested in unreleased demos anymore. They're nice to have as added value but at the end of the day Michael's canon consists of 7 solo albums, 35 short films, and 3 world tours. That's his legacy. And any future releases should focus on presenting this material first. If they complement it with unreleased material that would be great but the focus needs to stay on Michael's actual creative output. Everyone knows Thriller. Many know Off the Wall and Bad. But how many people are familiar with Michael's creative output in the 90s and 00s? Dangerous, HIStory, Blood on the Dance Floor, Invincible should all be part of the rebranding that Branca is referring to in order to bring these works to a new generation.
 
"We have some incredibly exciting projects coming up in 2017, although we probably will not continue to release unreleased music."

Actually, this makes me even more excited. I want the estate to focus on presenting Michael's music, short films, and concerts in new and exciting ways. I'm personally not interested in unreleased demos anymore. They're nice to have as added value but at the end of the day Michael's canon consists of 7 solo albums, 35 short films, and 3 world tours. That's his legacy. And any future releases should focus on presenting this material first. If they complement it with unreleased material that would be great but the focus needs to stay on Michael's actual creative output. Everyone knows Thriller. Many know Off the Wall and Bad. But how many people are familiar with Michael's creative output in the 90s and 00s? Dangerous, HIStory, Blood on the Dance Floor, Invincible should all be part of the rebranding that Branca is referring to in order to bring these works to a new generation.
There is so much more to his legacy than just his 7 adult solo albums. Why limit it to his adult solo career only? There needs to be more focus on The Jacksons and The Jackson 5
 
and he said no more unreleased music! that's okay for me, I hope this time they release some BLU RAYS!!!

I hope that too, but not just any random footage that we already have. It should be something new
 
why? you (generally speaking) complained about every single release, nothing was good enough, refused to buy etc. So what did you expect?

It's what I thought too. I'd love to hear more MJ demos.

I've found some great songs to love on the two posthumous albums. While I've not been entirely uncritical (or the material or mixes etc) I'd certainly rather have them in my collection and have Michael getting airplay for some of this great, previously unheard material, and his fan base growing, than leaving things to stagnate.

Whoever said Blu-Rays, yeah, I'd put my hand up for those. Mostly I would like to see more material from the 'Dangerous' and 'History' tours and behind the scenes footage from his short films for those albums and 'Blood' and 'You Rock My World'.

Not complainin' - just hoping'
 
I wonder what their definition of 'exciting' is. The music is pretty much the only thing I'm interested in. Aside from that probably concerts, a blu-ray of Ghosts, and candid footage of Michael.
 
why? you (generally speaking) complained about every single release, nothing was good enough, refused to buy etc. So what did you expect?

I've complained about the aspects of the projects that I found sub-par or underwhelming (e.g., only two "new" songs on Xscape). I've praised more than a few things they've done. I also openly campaigned for people to stop tearing them a new one when it wasn't deserved.

My recent complaints have focused on the Off the Wall reissue, which I still find to be useless and is the only project I haven't purchased.
 
There is so much more to his legacy than just his 7 adult solo albums. Why limit it to his adult solo career only? There needs to be more focus on The Jacksons and The Jackson 5

Ofcourse there's definitely more, but what I mean is that the core of his legacy should be prioritized. For example, I think it's incredible that there hasn't been a project to re-master his short films (and upscale those with no original film material). His short films are so unique and should be presented in much high quality instead of being treating like any other music videos. With regards to his albums, I don't think there's anything to add at this point since they were properly re-mastered in 2001 with with Michael overseeing the process personally. But how about concert footage? The irony is that Michael recorded every single concert he ever performed. It's unfathomable that the old concerts we have available officially are the Dangerous Bucharest concert and VHS footage of the Wembley Concert. In my opinion those kinds of releases should get priority. I would very much enjoy Jackson 5/Jacksons releases but I can consider that to be a different era of Michael's life before he was a solo entertainer.
 
I've had a fair few complaints myself about projects released, some of which were just downright laughable, some were at step in the right direction. This branding thing though (I call it franchising) is what they care about. Branca blurred quite a few lines here such as pointing out how they managed Michael when he was alive (Thriller era he talked about) because he/they were certainly not in charge before MJ passed. Lol at whatever he said about This Is It! Truth is, people were curious about This Is It because of the circumstance in which MJ died; certainly not anything to do with Branca! I don't like the guy!
 
They never cared about his legacy or work. They just wanted that catalog. Now that they have it, they're done with him.
 
I'm not mad at all about not getting more unreleased music, and I'm actually really excited about what other projects they have in store for the coming year.:yes:
I didn't like that LNFSG 'duet' in the least, and if that's the route they'd go with all of his unreleased music (which I believe they would for the sake of money) I'd rather them leave the music in the vault.
 
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Ofcourse there's definitely more, but what I mean is that the core of his legacy should be prioritized. For example, I think it's incredible that there hasn't been a project to re-master his short films (and upscale those with no original film material). His short films are so unique and should be presented in much high quality instead of being treating like any other music videos. With regards to his albums, I don't think there's anything to add at this point since they were properly re-mastered in 2001 with with Michael overseeing the process personally. But how about concert footage? The irony is that Michael recorded every single concert he ever performed. It's unfathomable that the old concerts we have available officially are the Dangerous Bucharest concert and VHS footage of the Wembley Concert. In my opinion those kinds of releases should get priority. I would very much enjoy Jackson 5/Jacksons releases but I can consider that to be a different era of Michael's life before he was a solo entertainer.
If these people were any good they would do exactly what your talking about. They would do EVERY conceivable thing to obtain every existing piece of footage and hunt the world for the very best available.

There is a ton of incredible music that could be released such as the Invincible tracks and all of the incredible demos (even partly finished such as People of The World) and there's also the tracks that need more shine such as the ones on The Ultimate Collection. Will-I-Am has a few unreleased things, Rodney Jerkins has studio footage of the Invincible sessions. They don't seem to want to PAY people who worked with MJ yet their making more money than anyother estate! How about paying a few people.

Pay the Jacksons, propose some sort of deal with Motown and really bring MJ's legacy (Steeltown's Big Boy right up until the end) together. They should be willing to walk on water or go to Mars for this artist but nah we'll just keep on branding with Thriller and the Quincy tracks.

Meh, they were givin one of the worlds greatest artists and they spent time making easy money; This Is It, selling the ATV catalogue and doing the Cirque shows. The day I'll be impressed with these muppets is the day they release Blu Ray restored footage, proper concert releases, not stadium screen VHS warped shite! And Bad 25 is up there for me with Xscape deluxe edition in terms of good releases.

Truth is they've had to do very little for their dollar. I saw MJ One again last week in Vegas (tickets were over 120 dollars EACH and they were the CHEAP tickets) and I dropped another 100 dollars in the MJ boutique. Only thing I've not bought was the new Off The Wall. They wouldn't pay Quincy and they still couldn't even manage to include the ORIGINAL mix of the album as an incentive for fans.

Branca only cares about his lifestyle and car collection. Dude don't give a toss about MJ.
 
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I'm not mad at all about not getting more unreleased music, and I'm actually really excited about what other projects they have in store for the coming year.:yes:
I didn't like that LNFSG 'duet' in the least, and if that's the route they'd go with all of his unreleased music (which I believe they would for the sake of money) I'd rather them leave the music in the vault.
Xscape was a good contemporary album. I realise it's despised by many hardcore and purists fans but just in terms of pure fun it was pretty good. You would think with its success and their relentless branding they would have been interested in doing more unreleased music.

I'm very disappointed I'll admit.
 
I'm not mad at all about not getting more unreleased music, and I'm actually really excited about what other projects they have in store for the coming year.:yes:
I'm not mad about that either, I don't care if they never release any new music ever again. but I wouldn't say that I'm excited about other projects, considering what they've given us so far, I'm rather pessimistic. The only posthumous projects from the estate that I care about is the Wembley DVD, and This Is it. (the only unreleased music I care about is Jackson 5, but that's not from the estate, that's from Motown, and what they have released so far, I am happy with). And they (the estate) didn't even give us anything for Dangerous 25, and I couldn't care less about another documentary (who's making it is irrelevant). So yeah, I don't have much hope for the estate to give us something that I care about
 
I'm not mad about that either, I don't care if they never release any new music ever again. but I wouldn't say that I'm excited about other projects, considering what they've given us so far, I'm rather pessimistic. The only posthumous projects from the estate that I care about is the Wembley DVD, and This Is it. (the only unreleased music I care about is Jackson 5, but that's not from the estate, that's from Motown, and what they have released so far, I am happy with). And they (the estate) didn't even give us anything for Dangerous 25, and I couldn't care less about another documentary (who's making it is irrelevant). So yeah, I don't have much hope for the estate to give us something that I care about
when it comes to posthumous releases I expect the worst but hope for the best LOL.
 
the remaining assets will be on the auction block........the show is all over
Don't say that.

Every time I see or read about Branca, I get why he and Michael got along so well. They both talk in terms of being the biggest and/or #1. I know the music and the social message was important to Michael, but so was always being the greatest/#1 at everything. I know Michael got that from Joseph, but not sure where Branca got it from.

I love hearing the unreleased demos, but all I really want them to work on is getting good copies of the Triumph Tour and the kids at the LA Forum. I want those two tours badly. I hope they finally work with the Jacksons to make that possible.
 
Actually, this makes me even more excited. I want the estate to focus on presenting Michael's music, short films, and concerts in new and exciting ways... ...They're nice to have as added value but at the end of the day Michael's canon consists of 7 solo albums, 35 short films, and 3 world tours. That's his legacy.

I'm not mad at all about not getting more unreleased music, and I'm actually really excited about what other projects they have in store for the coming year.:yes:

I agree! I love getting new material and Xscape was the closest thing I have ever got to feeling what a "new" Michael Jackson album is like, but I'm fine with holding off on unreleased music for a while. I'm optimistic for the future and I'm sure the Estate can come up with some cool new projects!

Michael's legacy is what he put out during his life, and his posthumous work does little more than compliment it. LNFSG might've hit #1 around the world and introduced many fans to his work at the time, but ultimately, it's Billie Jean and the like that are going to keep his legacy going.

I think also that we shouldn't rule out unreleased music all together. It's good because they're showing they're not just thinking about the short term, but they're thinking about how long they can prolong new Michael material for. Nobody wants a Tupac situation where every single piece of unreleased music (and then some...) is released within the first decade, because then what? It also shows they have some integrity and are not willing to scrape the bottom of the barrel... like what happened with Tupac... again.

And sometimes it's nice to have a quiet period. The market has been saturated with plenty of Michael Jackson products over the past few years, and by having a few years of quiet will help make future releases more prominent and gain more attention. It's happened with other artists before (I.e. The Beatles) and it's happened with other markets too (The Disney Vault, so to speak).
 
I think the # of sales for unreleased material shows it is not THE money maker.. Sad to say but Michaels past work will most likely always get more attention than future unheard releases.. There is a lot they can do old music, unreleased footage etc..
 
While I've not been entirely uncritical

there is no issue with healthy criticism. I was mentioning about the excessive complaints.

I've complained

I hope you saw that I added "generally speaking" so that "you" wasn't you personally. and I wasn't talking about any single person.

That being said you can't deny that fans have been complaining about anything and everything. For example Michael album reaction was "they destroyed the songs, give them to us as it is". Bas 25 was presented demos as it is and the reaction to that was "meh nothing special". Xscape provided the two worlds combined (both new versions and originals) and that still wasn't enough, that time also brought in "well michael didn't release these songs in his lifetime so they shouldn't be released now" comments as well. Add to that complaints about which unreleased songs, the number of new songs etc., Plus the boycotts, refusal to buy releases etc. This really shouldn't be that surprising.

Add to that their deal with Sony is about to end in 2017 and as I mentioned before in another thread they can satisfy that deal with releasing a video/dvd project. Probably Thriller that Landis mentioned. then they will probably not sign any music related deals for a while and any songs will be released quite some time later such as 5 - 10 -20 years later down the road.

There is so much more to his legacy than just his 7 adult solo albums. Why limit it to his adult solo career only? There needs to be more focus on The Jacksons and The Jackson 5

Some of those Jacksons, Jackson 5 songs are under control of Motown.

Branca blurred quite a few lines here such as pointing out how they managed Michael when he was alive (Thriller era he talked about) because he/they were certainly not in charge before MJ passed.

Branca was a lawyer/business manager/advisor in 1979. Michael replaced his father with Branca. Later he hired Dileo to be his manager. So there was a period during Thriller era that Branca was more than a lawyer and had some management role.
 
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