Michael Jackson, who died at age 50 in 2009 after a legendary solo career, left behind one of the most lucrative musical catalogs in the world. ABACA
The deal, which could include another buyer alongside Sony, could become the industry’s biggest ever deal at over $800 million.
Japanese giant Sony plans to buy half of Michael Jackson’s musical catalog. According to the American magazine Variety, the total amount of the work amounts to more than 800 million dollars. If the heirs who control the late King of Pop’s vast estate agree to the sale, it could include half of the interests they own, including the rights to the biopic in the works. Michael and on the musical MJ: The Musical. The deal, which could include another buyer alongside Sony, could become the biggest sale ever in the increasingly coveted music catalog business.
With the streaming revolution, the rights to songs by artists who are dead or alive but deemed timeless have become valuable assets, because whoever owns them earns money with every listen. This manna is added to the gains in the event of use of the music on the radio, in films or advertisements. And with the boom in apps like TikTok, where users can choose their music to accompany their short videos, the monetization potential of a catalog has multiplied even further.
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In the past two years, Sony has paid more than $500 million to acquire Bruce Springsteen’s catalog, and Universal Music has acquired the rights to David Bowie’s complete works for $400 million. At the end of January, the Canadian singer Justin Bieber sold him the rights to his musical catalog to the company Hipgnosis for 200 million dollars. In this context, the sum advanced for the catalog of Michael Jackson is particularly impressive, especially since it does not concern all the rights, contrary to the usual transactions in the sector. The former member of the Jackson 5, who died aged 50 in 2009 after a legendary solo career, left behind one of the most lucrative music catalogs in the world. His cult opus Thriller is also one of the best-selling albums in the world.
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