Michael Jackson Estate get ‘Stolen’ Studio Tapes pulled from Auction

wonderouzmj

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It's almost like we predict this. Branca forces mj fans to do these types of things. When ppl starve...they learn how to hunt & survive for mj material that they gatekeep. Maybe they were real but here we go...😉😅

Lawyers for the Michael Jackson estate quietly threatened to sue a pop culture collectibles website this week over plans to auction off unreleased Jackson studio recordings that the estate claimed were “unquestionably stolen,” resulting in the items being withdrawn from sale.

Last month, Gotta Have Rock and Roll said it planned to auction more than two dozen masters tapes purportedly recorded by Michael during 1994 sessions at The Hit Factory, a famed New York City studio. The auction house called the tapes “incredibly rare unreleased recordings” and said each would eventually sell for as much as $4000.

But after correspondence from attorneys for the Jackson estate that was obtained by Billboard, including an email from well-known litigator Alex Spiro earlier this week that threatened to seek an immediate court restraining order, the tapes are no longer listed on the auction site.

But in a letter dated Nov. 29, Michael Jackson estate attorney Jonathan Steinsapir warned that the tapes had been stolen. He demanded that Gotta Have Rock and Roll not only “cease and desist from any and all efforts to further auction these tape,” but also immediately return them.

“Neither Michael Jackson nor his record company, Sony Music Entertainment, ever sold or gave away master tapes from his recording sessions at The Hit Factory (or anywhere else),” Steinsapir wrote in the letter. “These tapes were unquestionably stolen or otherwise taken without authorization. Accordingly, they are the property of the Jackson Estate.”

The letter was apparently unsuccessful.

On Tuesday, the estate contacted the Gotta Have Rock and Roll again, this time represented by Alex Spiro, a nationally prominent attorney who has previously represented Jay-Z, Megan Thee Stallion and Elon Musk in court. In an email to the auction house’s lawyer, Spiro noted that Gotta Have Rock and Roll had informed Steinsapir that it “will not comply with these demands.”

“We write to notify you that we intend to seek a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction tomorrow (December 13) in New York Supreme Court,” Spiro wrote. “Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions.”

Less than two hours later on Tuesday, the company’s attorney responded to Spiro with an email: “There is no contact information on your email. What is the best phone number to reach you?”

By Wednesday, the tapes had been removed from Gotta Have Rock and Roll’s site. The auction site still lists numerous Jackson items as part of the sale, including a “Michael Jackson Circa 1984 Owned & Worn Red Military Style Jacket” that they estimate will sell for more than $10,000. But the tapes, and the specific lot numbers they occupied, are no longer visible.

It is still unknown how the auction house came into possession of the tapes, and whether they had been returned to the estate.
 
Yeah cool... lets take down the auctions and keep the tapes forever...
 
Nice. Unlike a fan who would take them and do anything to save the tapes (and transfer them digitally), the Estate will have them rotting away in some closet again. The tapes will gather dust and be ruined forever, losing the chance to hear them someday.
 
I feel like it might be nice to address something as it seems that a lot of people have a completely odd misconception about the Estate in terms of archival work.

Just because they don't release material, it doesn't mean they are being careless. I'm pretty sure they have been digitizing every single piece of analog media in the vault from day one and putting the tapes away in safety. As much clumsy as they seem to be regarding releases, you'd have to be really naive to think a lawyer would not be aware of the insane value the vault and its contents have.

They might not be hunting for lost media as they should, but when it comes to what they have in their possession, well, it's all digital and kept properly somewhere for years now.
 
Just because they don't release material, it doesn't mean they are being careless. I'm pretty sure they have been digitizing every single piece of analog media in the vault from day one and putting the tapes away in safety. As much clumsy as they seem to be regarding releases, you'd have to be really naive to think a lawyer would not be aware of the insane value the vault and its contents have.
Yet they've missed many opportunities.

imo they should have called in Michaels core team in order to let them do propper stereo mixes of all songs being on multitrack reels only (doesn't matter if these were vocally complete or not)
 
I feel like it might be nice to address something as it seems that a lot of people have a completely odd misconception about the Estate in terms of archival work.

Just because they don't release material, it doesn't mean they are being careless. I'm pretty sure they have been digitizing every single piece of analog media in the vault from day one and putting the tapes away in safety. As much clumsy as they seem to be regarding releases, you'd have to be really naive to think a lawyer would not be aware of the insane value the vault and its contents have.

They might not be hunting for lost media as they should, but when it comes to what they have in their possession, well, it's all digital and kept properly somewhere for years now.
Still, it seems they don't give a damn about preserving Michael's material. They have repeatedly turned down offers from Michael Prince and Bryan Loren, the former even having the desire to archive and catalogue everything perfectly along with the Estate, too bad they continue to ignore him.
 
Just because they don't release material, it doesn't mean they are being careless. I'm pretty sure they have been digitizing every single piece of analog media in the vault from day one and putting the tapes away in safety. As much clumsy as they seem to be regarding releases, you'd have to be really naive to think a lawyer would not be aware of the insane value the vault and its contents have.
Even if that's true, to what end? If there is no plan of releasing the material, what good is it sitting in the vault?
 
Even if that's true, to what end? If there is no plan of releasing the material, what good is it sitting in the vault?
I can't tell you that as I've been looking for an answer myself for over 10 years.

Some folks here say "the Estate's work is not to release stuff for the fans, but take care of MJs legacy" above all things.
However, I fail to understand how letting the assets lose value and interest over time, which they inevitably do, is a good thing. I highly doubt people will be that interested in some random outtakes and demos in 50 years from now. I can see how there's a conflict of interest now with those two dumbfucks still dragging their fake story in court, but I don't see the estate doing nothing after that as well, as they haven't since 2014.
 
Still, it seems they don't give a damn about preserving Michael's material. They have repeatedly turned down offers from Michael Prince and Bryan Loren, the former even having the desire to archive and catalogue everything perfectly along with the Estate, too bad they continue to ignore him.
this so sad, especially now knowing John Barnes' gone forever. I remember him saying that there're some songs he did with Michael in the 80s where parts (stems) weren't transfered from Synclavier to MTT yet.☹😡
 
this so sad, especially now knowing John Barnes' gone forever. I remember him saying that there're some songs he did with Michael in the 80s where parts (stems) weren't transfered from Synclavier to MTT yet.☹😡
Meaning they had patterns stored on the Synclavier that they never recorded ?
 
Some folks here say "the Estate's work is not to release stuff for the fans, but take care of MJs legacy" above all things.
The take care of MJ's legacy part is true, but it cannot be disconnected from releasing stuff for the fans. That's how you preserve the legacy. One can make the argument that demos and unfinished work is not up to Michael's standards, so somehow releasing that sub-par work would dilute the legacy 🤷‍♀️ I don't know what is the strategy here 🤷‍♀️
 
The take care of MJ's legacy part is true, but it cannot be disconnected from releasing stuff for the fans. That's how you preserve the legacy. One can make the argument that demos and unfinished work is not up to Michael's standards, so somehow releasing that sub-par work would dilute the legacy 🤷‍♀️ I don't know what is the strategy here 🤷‍♀️
Couldn't agree more. In all fairness, there's also the live material and the old argument of "unusable audio" that does not hold up anymore now that AI has evolved so much that it's possible to separate and remix any front-of-house mix available.
 
Still, it seems they don't give a damn about preserving Michael's material. They have repeatedly turned down offers from Michael Prince and Bryan Loren, the former even having the desire to archive and catalogue everything perfectly along with the Estate, too bad they continue to ignore him.
That’s so interesting. Do you have a link for a source ? A MP interview maybe ??
 
That’s so interesting. Do you have a link for a source ? A MP interview maybe ??
Yup, MP said that several times, other forum members may remember the sources better than me. One should be the MJCast podcast - Ep. 052 (you can find it on YouTube!)
 
Honestly if he didn't record it back then I doubt he would have ended up doing it at all after all these years he had the time to do it.
Why not? It's possible it was handled that way just to save money or storage space.

Remember plenty of his Encino recordings were too complex in terms of layering instruments or sfx. He could have gotten access to any each steam off the Synclavier by just calling John or any engineer.


This is what Russ Rugsdale wrote back in 2009:

after we finished "BAD" I logged and delivered over 800 Multi track reels, both Analog, Digital & 2-trk tapes ... all to get 12 songs!!!


Can you imagine this? 800 tapes each using 22 individual tracks (SMPT & blank not counted), that's 17600 individual tracks in total for just 12(!) songs.
 
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