Music
Michael Jackson’s estate close to selling music catalog
The music catalog of the King of Pop has nearly been sold
Half of Michael Jackson’s music catalog is in the process of being sold by the Michael Jackson estate.
The catalog will reportedly sell for around $800-900 million according to a report from Variety.
Sony and a possible financial partner are making the purchase, and are also working with the estate to purchase 50 percent of the estate’s interest in Jackson’s publishing and recorded music revenues. Possibly included in the purchase is the ‘MJ: The Musical Broadway’ show and the upcoming biopic about the King of Pop.
The deal looks to be one of the biggest purchases in the music catalog world, which continues to result in big deals for the stars involved. In 2021, Bob Dylan sold his catalog for $300-$400 million to Universal Music Publishing.
Sony moves to make another big purchase
Sony Music has been a big player when it comes to music catalog buying. Bruce Springsteen sold his entire recorded-music catalog and publishing catalog to the media giant at the end of 2021.
For the Michael Jackson catalog, it is rumored that Sony is partnering with Eldridge Industries, who also backed them during the purchase of Springsteen’s catalog.
The company also helped Sony acquire The Killers’ pre-2020 publishing catalog. They later worked with Universal to get Dr. Dre’s catalog for an estimated $200 million, and in 2020 Taylor Swift’s first six albums were acquired thanks to help from Scooter Braun.
Primary Wave still owns a portion of the catalog
Primary Wave, a private music publishing company, already owns a stake in Jackson’s music catalog, although how much is unknown.
The company has been making its mark in the world of music catalogs, with work by Stevie Nicks, Prince, James Brown, Whitney Houston, Olivia Newton-John, and many more artists in its collection.
There’s no doubt that in the age of streaming, owning the rights to so many artists has become a goldmine, with the owning companies lucratively profiting off the streams through as many avenues as possible.
And for Sony, with the range of hit songs in Jackson’s catalog, owning a piece of Jackson’s legacy would only add to their influence.