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Quincy Jones sues Michael Jackson’s estate over royalties

^^
This is getting interesting. I noticed that the estate was quick to pay people who had legit claims. Whenever they don't want to pay, it means something is up. It seems to me there is something questionable with Q's case. Why would an establish producer go and find this lawyer who it appears is not one of his usual lawyers to go after money. I find this unclean hands legal definition very telling, so I am waiting for a complete response from the estate.
 
^^ This could be similar case than Landis. They settled only just before the trial date, so the estate just doesn't hand out the money without the fight, and rightly so.
 
^^It seems Landis had a more legit case. We did not hear about unclean hands with Landis, or did we?
 
No I dont think we heard any adverse language from Attorneys over John Landis Legit claim. I think they were more or less just working out the terms to be favorable for both.
 
Trial date (if it's not dismissed and/or settled) is scheduled for 02/23/2015
 
So wait a minute... I want to make sure I have this right...

Now Quincy Jones is after Michael's money? Michael trusted and respected him. I really hope this isn't true, although I do agree it's suspicious about the attorney he chose. I hope he is only after what rightfully belongs to him and nothing else.
 
Well this whole issue is not out of nowhere, Quincy did mention this before MJ's passing... He's mentioned before that he didn't make what he was supposed to off the album..


If he was owed money, he should get it, and if not he shouldn't at all.. I haven't seen the papers to say much more than that..
 
^ let me clarify, he mentioned royalties for Thriller! I was more so mentioning royalties owed to him in general regarding work with MJ
 
"Jones says the terms of his deal were breached when MJJ allowed third parties to exploit these works "without first providing a reasonable opportunity to Jones to perform such re-mixes and/or re-edits."

So according to him he has to have first shot at any remixes of the songs in the 3 albums? Does this make sense??
 
^^Did he have a contract with Michael that states he had to be offered first choice?
 
Petrarose said:
^^Did he have a contract with Michael that states he had to be offered first choice?
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I don't know. Wish we had more info. I am not clear on Q's issues and why he doesn't sue Cirque and Sony--or maybe he is (as well as the Estate).
 
jamba said:
"Jones says the terms of his deal were breached when MJJ allowed third parties to exploit these works "without first providing a reasonable opportunity to Jones to perform such re-mixes and/or re-edits."

So according to him he has to have first shot at any remixes of the songs in the 3 albums? Does this make sense??
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According to lawsuit, him and MJ had a contract that says he should have been given first chance to do remixes/re-editing if there was going to be new releases, and he says he wasn't given that, thus the lawsuit.
All MJ posthumous albums (Bad 25, TII, Immortal), or music used posthumously (MJ1) were done without Quincy's input. Qbee mentioned on the first page, Q wasn't involved in Thriller 25 either and that was done when MJ was here, so how MJ got around it with Thriller 25, I don't know? You can read those contracts (exhibits) on the link below. Interesting that 85 contract was drawn by Branca.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/custom/Documents/ESQ/quincyjones.pdf

I wonder why didn't they give Quincy chance to try re-mixes/edits, and then just pass them saying that they are not good enough, thus they could have avoided the whole lawsuit?

Quincy is actually suing MJJ productions and Sony.

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KOPV, the reason he mentions Thriller is because Thriller was used in TII and he is claiming he didn't get correct amount of royalties. He is looking for more royalties for all the songs that has been re-released/re-mixed/re-edited that he was originally involved of making, such as OTW, Thriller and BAD.

Are you sure that prior MJ's passing, it was Quincy who was talking for not getting correct amount of royalties from Thriller, and not John Landis? Landis and MJ has been battling long time for royalties, but I haven't found any interviews where Q complains royalties not being paid.
 
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Then, why didn't he ask for royalties since Thriller 25? He co-produced the songs but Michael composed most of them, how does he has more chance modify them and rerelease them?
 
Maybe Michael asked for his written permission for Thriller 25, that's why he doesn't sue for that.
 
I found 1 interview with Q where Thriller 25 was mentioned:

Quincy Jones' 'Thriller' Memories
As the landmark Michael Jackson album turns 25, its legendary producer tells us what it means to him, what happened at his recent get-together with the King of Pop, and whether he's got more music to make (Snoop Dogg and Joe Pesci (?!) think so)

Quincy Jones could use a day off. Twenty-five years after producing Michael Jackson's Thriller, at an age when some might be settling into a peaceful retirement, the 74-year-old music-biz legend stays busy crisscrossing the globe for various philanthropic projects. ''I'm so tired of these planes, man!'' Jones kids. ''I'm going to go to Brazil tomorrow. It's ridiculous.'' During a rare free moment at his Bel Air, Calif., home, Jones chatted with EW.com about this month's deluxe Thriller anniversary edition, his most recent visit with Michael Jackson, and whether the music industry is too far gone to be saved.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How do you feel when you look back at Thriller, 25 years later?
QUINCY JONES: I can't believe it's that long ago. When I go to Shanghai or Cairo or wherever, it's shocking to see that they're still playing it all over the world 25 years later. It's an honor to me.

When you were in the studio recording that music, did you ever imagine it would be that timeless?
You don't think about that kind of stuff when you make records. You want it to be played next week! [Laughs] It's astounding. I picked one of the most incredible teams in the world, the guys that I worked with — [songwriter] Rod Temperton and [engineer] Bruce Swedien and [keyboardist] Greg Phillinganes and [horns/strings arranger] Jerry Hey — it was a divine situation. Everybody had this incredible respect and love and affection for each other. A team that is real honest with each other, that's the key. Because there's nothing in the world like getting a group of guys [like this] around.... I've seen a lot of people [whose] friends and cousins tell them everything they do is perfect. That's a big mistake.

Have you listened to the whole Thriller album start to finish in one sitting recently?
God, no. I haven't done that in 20 years.

Why not?
I have it in my system in my home, but I'm not going to sit there attentively listening to every song. We had a lot of music out in the '80s and the '70s. So it's never been a situation where I just sit down. Maybe I will one day, when I get time. Just sit down and relax and count the blessings, really. Because that's what they are.... Michael came by here the other day.

What was that visit like?
It was great. We just hung out and talked. It was nice to see him. He came with [attorney] Peter Lopez. I hadn't seen him in a long time.

What kind of things did you talk about?
He told me that they were doing some remixes [of songs from Thriller] and so forth. Somebody sent it to me, and they're fantastic. Akon worked on one, will.i.am did one. They were beautiful.


Rest of the interview here: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20396305_20176585,00.html

It is possible that MJ brought Lopez with him to see Q and draw some sort of agreement regarding remixes etc. Q doesn't sound angry at all in this interview that he wasn't given choice to do re-edit or remix Thriller 25.
 
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Bubs thanks for the information^^. I forgot about the little details about this case that we had in the earlier pages. Now if Michael brought Peter with him and an agreement was drawn up, the question is who has this agreement or is it destroyed? Peter is dead and Michael is dead. Where are Michael's business papers, since everyone was searching his house?
 
Yeah the remixes were largely on Michael's self-compositions for Thriller 25. That's a good point. I don't really see why Quincy should feel he has any sort of ownership of those particular songs. In most, if not all, of the remixes only the vocal tracks were used?

There is PYT of course.
 
Quincy Jones has turned into quite the little scrapper.

I know he's been in the Entertainment industry a very long time, but is he going broke or something to have nothing but negative complaints through the Media, regarding the Estate of Michael Jackson? I wonder if it has something to do with a certain lifestyle and you need a certain amount of money to maintain it or Quincy is looking for future projects with the younger generation and that's why he is in the Media to make his name relevant? Gets curiouser and curiouser!


With Quincy Jones leading the Count Basie Orchestra


Rat Pack: Sammy Davis, Jr. Performing with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Johnny Carson
 
Bubs said:
"Jones made agreements with Jackson in 1978 and 1985 for work on the singer's solo albums. The contracts are said to have stipulated that Jones be given the first opportunity to re-edit or re-mix any of the master recordings, that the coupling of master recordings with other recordings required his prior written consent and that he be given producer credit for each of the master recordings."

Is Mr Jones pissed off that he wasn't asked at all to do re-edit or re-mix?
I'm sorry but Jones is too old for current music business to re-edit or re-mix anything:)


I have to say that suing Michael seems to be a pot of gold for LA Lawyers, and his money keeps these law companies afloat.
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I agree and this is what it is all about in the bold.
 
ChrisC said:
Yeah the remixes were largely on Michael's self-compositions for Thriller 25. That's a good point. I don't really see why Quincy should feel he has any sort of ownership of those particular songs. In most, if not all, of the remixes only the vocal tracks were used?

There is PYT of course.
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Right... I think all of T25 remixes were carefully chosen for that reason - they only wanted to use songs that MJ have full credits for including the PYT - they used the demo, which, according to the Thriller 25 booklet, was written by Michael (though The Ultimate collection booklet says Quincy and James Ingram. I think it's wrong,) Michael also sang parts of the demo in the Dangerous Tour rehearsals and says it's "something I wrote." QJ can only claim credit for his production with the other songs and it wasn't used in the 2008 remixes anyway...
 
Update: Parties had disputes about protective order and discovery issues and still hearings are ongoing to resolve such disputes. Trial has been delayed to October 2015.
 
So there will be a trial about this? I must have missed that info. Thanks, Ivy.

(Well, it makes sense since there are no statutes of limitations issues in this case.)
 
Well a trial date has been set but it doesn't mean it would go to trial for sure. There could be a settlement or dismissal after summary judgment.
 
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