zinniabooklover
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Agree 100%. Never expected to be the sort of person who moans about the Estate or even cares much about what they do but that does seem to be changing. I'm getting more and more frustrated. Obviously I'm no expert and couldn't run a multi-million dollar estate to save my life. But there are some basic considerations which they just don't seem to care about.
Look after Michael's artefacts properly. All of that stuff in the warehouses. I'm a broken record on this but it's so important. Because if you want to make money those things can help. If all you care about is making money then look after these items for THAT reason. If that stuff is being looked after properly then make that known so people are reassured.
The Victoria & Albert Museum did a huge David Bowie exhibition in 2013 which was massively successful. It was shown across 10 countries. The museum partnered with a commercial radio station to support the exhibition. 3 x 1 hour long documentaries were created. The exhibition included 60 costumes and 300 objects from David's archives. Total visitor numbers approx 1.5m. I have no idea if the exhibition made a profit. But sometimes you have to make artistic decisions rather than financial / commercial ones. Plus, if an exhibition isn't a massive success financially it will generate lots of interest which might feed into the next project you do which WILL generate loads of dosh.
And this ties in with the thread title because an exhibition is a great way to introduce new material, especially previously unseen film footage. Museums do these exhibitions and always have all sorts of extra stuff timetabled in. Lectures, films being screened, guided tours of the exhibition etc etc. It's all bog standard stuff so it's not hard to do and Michael is a great subject because his career was so multi-faceted. I'm not even necessarily arguing for an exhibition, although I think it could work really well if it was properly done. I'm agreeing with femi's point upthread. Gather all the film footage you can lay your hands on. Call in stuff from people's personal vaults. Get it sorted. Get the film footage digitised or whatever needs to be done. Because if you want to make money these items are your assets.
I understand that in the immediate aftermath of Michael's death they had to focus on money to clear the debts. That took time. Then there was all the IRS hoo-ha. And there are distractions from lawsuits and so on. But they still manage to get projects off the ground. Making money and doing stuff that celebrates Michael's legacy as an artist - those things can co-exist. It is possible.
If a team of people worked on the tapes, as suggested by femi, not only would they be preserving Michael's material but once they see what's in those tapes that would give them ideas for how they could use that material.
As for the cost of digitising all of the tapes, well, sometimes you have to spend money to make money. And the Estate seems to be doing pretty well, financially. I'm sure they can afford to do this (to the highest standards). Again, I make the point, this is investing in the future. Spend the money now and reap the benefit later on.
