Fuzball
Proud Member
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2017
- Messages
- 5,753
- Points
- 113
HARD DRIVES CONTAINING new Michael Jackson songs and unreleased cuts from his ’80s peak were removed from the King of Pop’s estate by sister LaToya after the singer’s death on June 25th, Rolling Stone reports in our new issue, in an in-depth look at the battle between will co-executors and the Jackson family over Michael’s estate. Jackson’s manager Frank DiLeo told RS that there are over 100 songs that remain unreleased, but the hard drives removed from Jackson’s Los Angeles home feature songs Jackson worked on with Akon, Will.i.am and Ne-Yo.
While DiLeo says some of the material was “not up to [Jackson’s] standards,” there were six songs from recent sessions that were potential hits. “I said, ‘Produce them,’ ” DiLeo told Jackson. “And he said, ‘Naw, I’m not ready for you to listen to them.’ ” In the weeks following Jackson’s death, DiLeo says every day brings a new discovery into the singer’s unheard musical vault. “There are a couple of songs we recorded for the Bad album that we had to cut that are just sensational,” DiLeo adds.
- Rolling Stone, 2009
Mottola, who has described himself as the “shepherd and gatekeeper” of Jackson’s catalog and is familiar with it better than anyone, said that for every album Jackson made — including classics like 1979’s “Off the Wall” and 1982’s “Thriller” — he recorded several tracks that didn’t make it onto the records.
“There are dozens and dozens of songs that did not end up on his albums,” said Tommy Mottola, who from 1998 to 2003 was chairman and CEO of Sony Music, which owns the distribution rights to Jackson’s music. “People will be hearing a lot of that unreleased material for the first time ever. There’s just some genius and brilliance in there.”
Steve Gordon, an entertainment lawyer and author of “The Future of the Music Business,” worked at Sony Music during the 1990s. He said he was at Sony when Jackson’s last contract was negotiated, though he acknowledged it could have recently been updated.
Gordon said Jackson owns some of his master recordings, while others are owned in partnership with Sony. Regardless, he said, Sony retains exclusive distribution rights for anything Jackson produced during the term of their contract.
Gordon said he expects Sony’s Legacy Recordings division to do something similar to what it did with Elvis and create a division purely for Jackson’s catalog.
- Billboard, 2009
McClain found some 60 songs in various forms that have never been released, according to people familiar with the songs, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Even if only half were commercially viable, that would be enough for two or three albums. And some songs also could be packaged with already-heard material, which likely wouldn’t detract from a new album’s value.
-Pioneer Press, 2010
While DiLeo says some of the material was “not up to [Jackson’s] standards,” there were six songs from recent sessions that were potential hits. “I said, ‘Produce them,’ ” DiLeo told Jackson. “And he said, ‘Naw, I’m not ready for you to listen to them.’ ” In the weeks following Jackson’s death, DiLeo says every day brings a new discovery into the singer’s unheard musical vault. “There are a couple of songs we recorded for the Bad album that we had to cut that are just sensational,” DiLeo adds.
- Rolling Stone, 2009
Mottola, who has described himself as the “shepherd and gatekeeper” of Jackson’s catalog and is familiar with it better than anyone, said that for every album Jackson made — including classics like 1979’s “Off the Wall” and 1982’s “Thriller” — he recorded several tracks that didn’t make it onto the records.
“There are dozens and dozens of songs that did not end up on his albums,” said Tommy Mottola, who from 1998 to 2003 was chairman and CEO of Sony Music, which owns the distribution rights to Jackson’s music. “People will be hearing a lot of that unreleased material for the first time ever. There’s just some genius and brilliance in there.”
Steve Gordon, an entertainment lawyer and author of “The Future of the Music Business,” worked at Sony Music during the 1990s. He said he was at Sony when Jackson’s last contract was negotiated, though he acknowledged it could have recently been updated.
Gordon said Jackson owns some of his master recordings, while others are owned in partnership with Sony. Regardless, he said, Sony retains exclusive distribution rights for anything Jackson produced during the term of their contract.
Gordon said he expects Sony’s Legacy Recordings division to do something similar to what it did with Elvis and create a division purely for Jackson’s catalog.
- Billboard, 2009
McClain found some 60 songs in various forms that have never been released, according to people familiar with the songs, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Even if only half were commercially viable, that would be enough for two or three albums. And some songs also could be packaged with already-heard material, which likely wouldn’t detract from a new album’s value.
-Pioneer Press, 2010
Last edited by a moderator:
