Jacko estate signs mega deal
2010-03-16 21:49
Los Angeles - The estate of Michael Jackson has signed what is believed to be the biggest recording contract in history, sealing a deal with Sony Music Entertainment that could be worth up to $250m by 2017, the Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday.
The deal will include unreleased recordings, DVDs and video games but not merchandise. It dwarfs other recent mega-deals like the $110m deal signed by Bruce Springsteen with Columbia Records in 2005.
"We and Sony feel that the future for Michael Jackson is unlimited," said John Branca, a special administrator for the estate.
The report said that since his death in June last year, some 31 million Jackson records have been sold, which together with other sales and licencing deals have already earned some $250m for the estate and helped meet its debts of an estimated $500m.
The estate's main asset is its ownership of the Sony-ATV music library, which owns the rights to many songs by The Beatles and other stars and is said to be worth an estimated $2bn.
The new deal will include new releases and an already planned re-release of the 1979 Off The Wall album with a variety of new material.
The estate's co-executor, John McClain, who worked with Jackson for more 40 years and helped produce the singer's last studio album - 2001's Invincible, is also compiling an album of previously unreleased material that could be released later this year.
"John McClain tells me they've got over 60 unreleased recordings that they're choosing from," Branca told the Times. "The first album will have around 10. There's some very recent stuff and vintage stuff that deserves to be shared with Michael's fans."
Rob Stringer, the chairman of Sony's Columbia Epic Records, said other recordings will "span across different projects. There may be theatre. There may be films and movies. There may be computer games or multimedia platforms that I don't know about today that will happen in 2015."
- SAPA