Communication with the Estate

[wendijane]

Agreed. I’m all for direct communication, but the entitlement culture has gotten out of hand. That’s not just a problem with MJ’s community, you can see it everywhere. Whenever some company posts something (and it can be anything, really) on social media, there will be swarms of trolls demanding more, or something entirely unrelated to what the post was about. Facebook in particular has become unbearable for me.

I love that expression. entitlement culture ... that is exactly it and i dont honestly think michael would have enjoyed working that way .

[Hulkamaniac]

1. I can’t go out and buy the ultimate, best sounding edition of all of MJ’s albums. From what I read in the audiophile threads here, I’d have to track down some obscure Dutch MOV release of Invincible, and the original US vinyl releases or Japanese CDs of his early albums, to make sure I get to experience the best sound possible.

2. While many people nowadays own huge HD TV screens, MJ’s short films are not available in the best possible quality. I bet Michael would be really upset if he knew this.

Yes you can, and even cheaper than the new releases. It's really easy through Discogs. About your second point, I completely agree... MJ deserves all or most of his videos remastered in full HD. There is just no excuse, they'd make tons of money (much more than what they make now)...but they are a bunch of lazy people.

[ScreenOrigami]

Yes you can, and even cheaper than the new releases. It's really easy through Discogs.

You mean used copies? There are so many versions. Which ones do you recommend for each album for best sound? Thanks for your help.

I had hoped I could just Amazon Prime the ultimate edition of everything and be done with it. Silly me.

[Hulkamaniac]

You mean used copies? There are so many versions. Which ones do you recommend for each album for best sound? Thanks for your help.

I had hoped I could just Amazon Prime the ultimate edition of everything and be done with it. Silly me.

Yes! Used and new copies, but new copies would be more expensive, either way, you can find used copies in different conditions, I recommend you to search for the "VG+" (Very Good Plus) copies or higher "NM" (Near Mint) etc. For OTW, Thriller and Bad, search for the earlier Japanese pressings, those are the best sounding hands down. From Dangerous onward, search for the earliest European or Japanese pressings on CDs, they sound amazing, plus you get the original versions of TDCAU and HIStory (Sadly, as you might know, Invincible is super loud on the CD so I'd recommend you to get the vinyl)

[ScreenOrigami]

Yes! Used and new copies, but new copies would be more expensive, either way, you can find used copies in different conditions, I recommend you to search for the "VG+" (Very Good Plus) copies or higher "NM" (Near Mint) etc. For OTW, Thriller and Bad, search for the earlier Japanese pressings, those are the best sounding hands down. From Dangerous onward, search for the earliest European or Japanese pressings on CDs, they sound amazing, plus you get the original versions of TDCAU and HIStory (Sadly, as you might know, Invincible is super loud on the CD so I'd recommend you to get the vinyl)

Thanks, that’s very helpful and also confirms what I’ve read so far in the audiophile threads in this forum.

The point still stands, though, that hunting for rare pressings shouldn’t be necessary. The current official releases that are available everywhere should always be the best sounding ones, so that everyone gets to hear them the best way possible.

Invincible is a particularly sad example. I relied a lot on Spotify during my recent MJ re-discovery journey, and while everything on there always just sounds so-so, it’s usually good enough for me to decide which albums I actually want to buy. But when it comes to Invincible, the sound just made my ears bleed. It’s sad. Loud isn’t the problem, the problem is that it doesn’t sound good when you really crank it up. You can crank up any other MJ album till the roof blows off, and it’ll still sound great. (EDIT: I just realized that this is probably what you meant with “too loud” anyway. )

[Hulkamaniac]

Thanks, that’s very helpful and also confirms what I’ve read so far in the audiophile threads in this forum.

The point still stands, though, that hunting for rare pressings shouldn’t be necessary. The current official releases that are available everywhere should always be the best sounding ones, so that everyone gets to hear them the best way possible.

Got you. Sadly that's a music industry issue. Every label is making their CDs sound extremely loud and in consequence, less dynamic. So that's a labels issue, The Estate can't do anything about it. Again, though, what they CAN do is release lots of good footage in high definition. It's so easy it bothers me they haven't done it yet.

[ScreenOrigami]

Got you. Sadly that's a music industry issue. Every label is making their CDs sound extremely loud and in consequence, less dynamic. So that's a labels issue, The Estate can't do anything about it. Again, though, what they CAN do is release lots of good footage in high definition. It's so easy it bothers me they haven't done it yet.

Yep, the thing about the short films is what’s bothering me the most. So much work and attention to detail went into making these, and then we don’t get to see them at their best. I bought the Vision DVD set, just so that I have them, but the quality is really underwhelming.

[summer]

What baffles me is seeing fans constantly conplaining about how the Estate ”doesn’t care about fans and doesn’t listen to fans” and all the other negative comments they make about not getting what they want and trying to tell them what to do. The reason it baffles me is because....have those fans been living under a rock and are not aware what the Estate has been dealing with non-stop since 2013?!!!! Have they not heard about Leaving Neverland and all the other crap the Estate has to deal with? Michael is dead but the Estate is still basically fighting for Michael’s life. If that interests anyone whining about not having enough merch of their liking to buy...

I agree that it would be great and even almost vital right now to have some kind of direct link to the Estate simply because I have seen fans have videos and other things about Wade that could be very helpful in court as evidence. That’s why it would be great if we could have an e-mail address where we could send stuff in case the Estate is unaware of some of the footage of Wade, etc. existing!

But other than that....please everyone try to understand what is more important...getting some MJ merch or some music related info or the Estate answering fan questions...or the Estate focusing all their attention and talent on fighting to get justice for Michael and have HBO & Wade & James and their lies exposed. What’s more inportant? Please think for a minute before complaining...

[ScreenOrigami]

I get your point, and sure, their legal department has all hands on deck to fight for the truth. And they’re putting up a great fight! But those are (hopefully!) not the same people who are responsible for the artistic side of the business. To make the core work available in a quality that lives up to today’s technological standards is certainly not asked too much.

[ozemouze]

I think the situation is somewhere in between: the Estate started terribly with the Michael album and continued to make it worse with the way they handled the fiasco. But later on they obviously listened to the requests of the fan community and Xscape and Bad 25 were decent releases. Unfortunately for both parties it was almost impossible to regain the trust after that bad start.

Now with the legal issues the Estate seems to be in control (I know many feared they would settle but it turned out otherwise).

But then again it's also a legitimate question: why aren't the MJ MVs (sorry, short films ), concerts etc. released in HD yet?

[Hulkamaniac]

^The day they decide to finally release a Michael Jackson concert in real HD (cause Munich '97 and MSG 2001 are upscales) is gonna be a huge success, man

[8701girl]

^agree

[HappyLeeHL]

^The day they decide to finally release a Michael Jackson concert in real HD (cause Munich '97 and MSG 2001 are upscales) is gonna be a huge success, man

Munich 97 and MSG 2001 are both in great video quality, but not released by the Estate. Bucharest 1992 has decent video quality. I don't ask for more, but please don't ruin video quality like Wembley DVD, which could have been a more decent release.

[Hulkamaniac]

Munich 97 and MSG 2001 are both in great video quality, but not released by the Estate.

I know that. What I tried to say is that there is no real HD concert, you know, in real widescreen etc. That's what an HD concert should look like imo.