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Sony closes deal on buying 50% stake of Mijac catalog

without comment

------ Forwarded Message
From: John Branca
Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2011 15:18:31 -0600
To: Jeff *****
Subject: Michael Jackson/Mijac

Jeff:


I understand that you are being asked a lot of questions about Mijac.

Yes, there is a matching right that Michael granted to Sony/ATV but they only get to administer the catalog for a limited term AND only if they agree to unprecedented favorable terms. We will not relinquish ultimate control and ownership to anyone. We have favorably refinanced the loans on Mijac which will be paid off and the catalog WILL absolutely be passed to Michael's children as long as we have anything to say about it.

Sony/ATV is a great company and the Estate owns half of it but no one, not even Sony/ATV, will ever own Mijac while John McClain and I remain in charge.

The current Sony team is the one Michael chose to work with on the Thriller 25 release and they are good partners. As stated in the recent court filings, they worked with us to refinance the burdensome debt that had been placed on Michael's interest in Sony/ATV to very favorable terms, an important achievement which insures that Mijac and Michael’s masters remain secure for the benefit of Michael's children for years to come.

I would appreciate your sharing this with the fans that are asking questions.

Thanks – John

John Branca
Co-Executor
The Estate Of Michael Jackson
Los Angeles, CA






(source: https://www.mjjcommunity.com/thread...egarding-the-mijac-sony-atv-situation.109051/)
 
At the price they were selling it was certain that a corporation was going to be buying the catalog. Sony being the one buying it was probably what people expected the most.

Plenty of wrong with this of course, MJ was vehemently against the sale of his catalog and always maintained that he wanted full ownership and such. But the deal has already gone through and as fans there's nothing we can do about it and endlessly complain will change nothing, so I'd rather look at this on a positive side.

I do wonder now if Sony can push for more releases, I'd assume that since Sony is spending 600 million on the deal they'd want to make use of the catalog and try to make up for the money they spent. Or is this deal similar to the ones they had before and only the estate can control the releases?
 
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ChanceToDance said:
At the price they were selling it was certain that a corporation was going to be buying the catalog. Sony being the one buying it was probably what people expected the most.

Plenty of wrong with this of course, MJ was vehemently against the sale of his catalog and always maintained that he wanted full ownership and such. But the deal has already gone through and as fans there's nothing we can do about it and endlessly complain will change nothing, so I'd rather look at this on a positive side.

I do wonder now if Sony can push for more releases, I'd assume that since Sony is spending 600 million on the deal they'd want to make use of the catalog and try to make up for the money they spent. Or is this deal similar to the ones they had before and only the estate can control the releases?
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I'd say the TMZ post from last year is probably correct, with it being a 50/50 split meaning the estate has to give the go-ahead for any projects. after a little research im pretty sure Branca was smart enough to ensure the control of the estate is still in the executor's hands.
 
IhateTheMedia said:
Explain for us?
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It's not ownership, if anything it's like a lease. It's just investing an interest in taking care of it and making sure it's used in productive commercial ways. MJ had exclusive ownership of The Beatles songs, the exclusive veto. Branca and McClain here are still in charge, and this is basically just an extension of the exclusive album deal with Sony that's already existed. Nothing scandalous about it to me.
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
It's not ownership, if anything it's like a lease. It's just investing an interest in taking care of it and making sure it's used in productive commercial ways. MJ had exclusive ownership of The Beatles songs, the exclusive veto. Branca and McClain here are still in charge, and this is basically just an extension of the exclusive album deal with Sony that's already existed. Nothing scandalous about it to me.
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I'm still angry because that sleazy bastard Branca was working behind Michael's back for decades and he should have never gotten involved with them
 
I hate that narcissistic bastard..

Ironic how he might play a big role with a big actor in the biopic on purchasing the catalogue, which Michael later fought for, while in 2016 and one year before the biopic (great timing) he partially sold that same catalogue. In addition Michaels words were dont trust John Branca and I hate Sony.
 
I find this weird. What part of the catalogue constitutes this 50 percent and what do they hope to do with it? I am pretty sure SONY already own the rights of his unreleased music and that's been totally underutilized. Are they hoping to just profiteer off of anniversary re-releases for eternity?
 
If you actually take the time to read the entire article, you will realize that this is an AMAZING deal. 😎
Michael Jackson's children are Blessed to have Michael Jackson as their father. 😊

https://www.billboard.com/business/...sells-music-rights-sony-valuation-1235604155/

Sony Music Buys Stake in Michael Jackson Catalog, Valuing Rights at Over $1.2B​

Story by Ed Christman
In what could be the largest valuation ever of a musician's music assets, Sony Music Group has closed an agreement to buy half of Michael Jackson‘s publishing and recorded masters catalog in a deal that sources say valued those music assets somewhere above $1.2 billion. Other sources have suggested it might be as much as $1.5 billion. At those valuations, Sony will pay at least $600 million for its stake of the legendary rights.

That means that the Jackson deal, which closed late last year, is at a bigger valuation than the $1.2 billion that Queen is currently seeking. And whereas the Queen valuation includes, sources say, royalties from income streams beyond the masters and publishing, including from the Freddie Mercury biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, and theatrical productions using Queen's music, Sony's deal with the Michael Jackson estate does not include royalties from the Broadway play and other theatrical productions featuring Jackson's music.

It may not, however, just be Jackson's music that's involved in the deal. Sources say the current deal includes non-Jackson-authored songs in his Mijac publishing catalog, which also includes the approximately 250-song Sly & the Family Stone publishing catalog as well as iconic songs written and/or performed by Jerry Lee Lewis, Jackie Wilson, Curtis Mayfield, Ray Charles, Percy Sledge and Dion.

Last February, following a story first reported by Variety that the Jackson deal was being negotiated, Billboard estimated that the iconic artist's estate earns about $75 million annually. Those assets include ownership of master recordings, publishing for Jackson's share of his songs, his Mijac publishing catalog and revenue from merchandise and royalties from theatrical shows featuring Jackson's music. At the time, Billboard estimated that within the $75 million estimate, Jackson's recording and publishing assets alone brought in $47.2 million to the estate; and that Mijac might be bringing in another $5 million to $8 million annually.

The Jackson estimate, however, did not take into account that his popularity appears to be growing as the streaming marketplace expands.

Sales and streams of Jackson's music grew steadily from 1.07 million album equivalent units in 2020 to 1.47 million in 2023 - up 37% over those three years - according to Luminate. That outpaced the overall U.S. music market for album consumption units, which grew 22.9% during that time period. Outside the United States, Jackson is arguably even more popular. In 2023, consumption of his music grew 38.3% to 6.5 billion on-demand streams, up from 4.7 billion streams in 2021.

Next year, a Jackson biopic called Michael will be released, likely fueling even more growth to his fanbase, boosting consumption and triggering more revenue to flow to his estate and any other rights holder.
With all of the economic returns the estate is delivering, the masterminds behind it - lawyer John Branca and A&R executive John McClain - are expected to continue to stay involved as co-executors.
Sources indicate that the Sony deal also leaves in place Primary Wave's stake, which is believed to be about 10% of Jackson's publishing assets.

Throughout the years, Sony has paid the Jackson estate more than $2 billion in some major deals that go beyond distributing royalties for his records and songs. In 1991, the company paid $100 million to buy the first half of what became Sony/ATV; ATV Music was the catalog that Jackson bought in 1985 that contained the Beatles catalog and other popular songs. That was merged into Sony's music publishing operation to become Sony/ATV, with Sony and Jackson each owning 50% of that company. In 2016, the company paid $750 million for the remaining 50% of Sony/ATV. It also paid $287.5 million for the Jackson estate's share of the consortium that owned EMI Music Publishing in 2018, as well as dividends during its ownership of those assets that came out to a total of about $1.6 billion. And now, the latest deal adds another $600 million or more, driving the total amount past the $2 billion mark.

Sony has been active with acquisitions over the past year. Last year, it was reported to also be acquiring what was been described as a significant minority stake in the Latin label and management company Rimas Entertainment, which launched Bad Bunny‘s career. The overall deal for the label and management was expected to have about a $300 million valuation, sources said at the time.

In May 2023, Sony also acquired the RECORDS catalog from Barry Weiss, Ron Perry and Matt Pincus, buying out the latter duo in a deal that was seeking a $100 million valuation; and then did a going forward 50/50 deal with Weiss, who retained control of the label's recent catalog.

Reps for Sony, the Jackson estate and Primary Wave declined to comment.
 
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Mister_Jay_Tee said:
It's not ownership, if anything it's like a lease. It's just investing an interest in taking care of it and making sure it's used in productive commercial ways. MJ had exclusive ownership of The Beatles songs, the exclusive veto. Branca and McClain here are still in charge, and this is basically just an extension of the exclusive album deal with Sony that already existed. Nothing scandalous about it to me.
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If this was pre-streaming era, I'd feel differently about this deal but in today's music business world, I don't think it's a bad deal. I understand fans not wanting any parts of it to be sold because Michael held on to his catalog strongly while he was with us. But things are much different now. I miss the old music days of buying a physical album/single from the record shop but with how artist sell and promote their music these days, there might be a productive commercial way as you stated. I hope it is! I believe it will be. Though we all have our opinions about the estate, they seem to know what they are doing. An example of that is all the wonderful MJ shows at current. And since Prince is on the board (unless I'm mistaken), I'm hoping he had a say in the decision as well.
 
Michael held onto the ATV rights for his kids, and now his kids are adults. I am sure he thought of his own personal music rights the same way. His family and the Estate have just cashed out yet another cheque paid for on the incredible work of Michael Jackson. He's created generational wealth for his family and children. And for that, I do not hate this deal.

CherubimII said:
The Jackson estimate, however, did not take into account that his popularity appears to be growing as the streaming marketplace expands.

Sales and streams of Jackson's music grew steadily from 1.07 million album equivalent units in 2020 to 1.47 million in 2023 - up 37% over those three years - according to Luminate. That outpaced the overall U.S. music market for album consumption units, which grew 22.9% during that time period. Outside the United States, Jackson is arguably even more popular. In 2023, consumption of his music grew 38.3% to 6.5 billion on-demand streams, up from 4.7 billion streams in 2021.
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See this is incredible. Take a moment to remember the world from 2002-2009, right before Michael died. No one was talking about Michael Jackson. You'd rarely ever hear him on the radio. The only time you'd hear about him it would be some media scandal. The restoration of Michael's place in the music world has truly been astounding, and in the face of some pretty vicious allegations as well. I heard two Michael Jackson songs on the radio today in the local shopping center - The Way You make Me Feel and Black or White. It's really becoming more common if anything.
 
Maybe now we will get decent new releases. The thriller 40 was crap! Quality of BTM and CAROUSEL was ridiculous! The leaked full uncut version of carousel is in better quality. I only think: it only can become better, cause we come from worst….
 
I AM F🤬CKING MAD AS HELL!!!! 😡😡 MICHAEL KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN!
 
rbn said:
Maybe now we will get decent new releases. The thriller 40 was crap! Quality of BTM and CAROUSEL was ridiculous! The leaked full uncut version of carousel is in better quality. I only think: it only can become better, cause we come from worst….
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true. Sony has to make some money from this deal.
 
rbn said:
Maybe now we will get decent new releases. The thriller 40 was crap! Quality of BTM and CAROUSEL was ridiculous! The leaked full uncut version of carousel is in better quality. I only think: it only can become better, cause we come from worst….
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I highly doubt we will get new music
 
But why in the Billboard article they changed the year when MJ had to make that deal with Sony reg ATV publishing company from 1995 to 1991? I mean this is what I see, that he was forced into this, the 93 scandal, the loss of a lot of money - cut short a big tour, tarnished public image, a domino of losing.
Jump to 2016 selling of the remaining half, under its price, pressure- again tabloid bs stories abt neverland and so on, those two ...every time it was a scandal MJ lost something. The only thing I appreciate in that shity biography written by taraborelli is the fact that he said this, ppl that were helping Michael in his business were only helping to build an empire and after this, planning a takeover.
 
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