Estate already said they're gonna release singles only from now on.
Although “Michael” and compilations such as “Immortal” and last year’s Halloween-themed “Scream” were coolly received, 2014’s “Xscape” re-energized excitement over Jackson’s vault. “Xscape” — which saw producers like Timbaland and Rodney Jerkins craft new tracks built around decades-old, unreleased Jackson vocals — yielded “Love Never Felt So Good,” Jackson’s first platinum hit in two decades. Then earlier this year Drake used an unreleased Jackson vocal on his latest album, “Scorpion.” The track came from a 1983 session Jackson did with collaborator Paul Anka, who floated the track to a number of artists, including Tyga, before Drake heard the vocal, which was just a demo of the singer doing a quick take.
“Drake was so passionate about it,” Branca said. “It was like how could we not do this one? It fit so well.” Although the record is a top 10 hit, Sony and the estate aren’t clamoring to milk Jackson’s unheard vocals. A collaboration similar to the Drake feature is unlikely to happen again, they say, and there are no immediate plans for a posthumous album.
Although the record is a top 10 hit, Sony and the estate aren’t clamoring to milk Jackson’s unheard vocals. A collaboration similar to the Drake feature is unlikely to happen again, they say, and there are no immediate plans for a posthumous album. However, that’s not to say fans won’t be hearing any “new” music from Jackson soon, as the other co-executor of the estate, John McClain, is reworking a batch of tracks alongside a high-profile producer the estate wants to keep secret for a one-off release.
“We’re constantly scouring the catalog for ideas, but there are no plans at the moment to put any more full-fledged albums out,” said Sony Music Chief Executive Rob Stringer. “We are looking at one-off songs, and in this streaming world that works because it’s a track-based world. There are a few gems out there that we may unearth individually over the next months and years, but we're also very, very careful to make sure the fan base doesn’t feel like they've been asked yet again to buy material they have.”
Jackson’s digital catalog has continued to perform well since his death and shows no signs of fatigue. The week before his birthday, the Recording Industry Assn. of America announced that 21 of Jackson’s songs and three of his albums had earned new gold and platinum certifications.
It’s that robust presence on music streaming services that inspired last year’s “Scream.” Themed around Jackson’s love of the frightful and fantastical, “Scream” packaged the singer’s most haunting music for a compilation that along with the 3-D conversion of his seminal “Thriller” long-form music video and an animated CBS special aimed to position Jackson as a Halloween perennial. The compilation’s performance as a curated playlist on music services informed the label’s decision to favor leveraging Jackson’s back catalog digitally over finding shrewd ways to package music for physical releases. “We are very careful about repacking and extremely cognizant of the fan base that has everything,” Stringer said. “What's interesting with Michael is that not all artists have managed to bridge the gaps from the physical world to the iTunes world to the streaming world, but with Michael that's not the case. His streaming numbers are incredible. “The technology at the moment enables us to do something different and highlight different songs and create concepts that will lead people to a greater understanding of the wider catalog of Michael’s work.”
