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Friday, March 29, 2024

Why Michael Jackson Will Earn More Than Any Musician In History This Year

Pop superstar Michael Jackson dances as he performs before thousands of Israelis during a stop on his global "Dangerous" concert tour in Tel Aviv, in this September 19, 1993 file photo. Pop giant Michael Jackson, who took to the stage as a child star and set the world dancing to exuberant rhythms for decades, died on June 25, 2009, after being taken ill at his home, the Los Angeles Times said. He was 50. REUTERS/Havakuk Levison/Files (ISRAEL ENTERTAINMENT OBITUARY)
Pop superstar Michael Jackson dances as he performs before thousands of Israelis during a stop on his global “Dangerous” concert tour in Tel Aviv, in this September 19, 1993 file photo. REUTERS/Havakuk Levison/Files (ISRAEL ENTERTAINMENT OBITUARY)

When Apple bought Dr. Dre’s Beats for $3 billion nearly two years ago, the deal propelled the superproducer to a record $620 million payday in 2014–a total that seemed unbeatable. But the mark didn’t last long.

Yesterday, Michael Jackson snagged $750 million in a single deal, the sale of his half of the Sony /ATV publishing catalogue to Sony. He’ll have time to add to that total this year, but the agreement already guarantees him the biggest annual haul of any musician in history.

That may come as a surprise to many outsiders, but those who knew Jackson were well aware of his business savvy. Buying the original ATV for $47.5 million, a price viewed by many as exorbitant at the time, was just one example.

“He had good instincts . . . more, more, more; better, better, better,” said Sandy Gallin, who managed Jackson for much of the 1990s, in an interview for my book, Michael Jackson, Inc. “He would, in his mind, negotiate the same way. No matter what anybody would offer, he wanted more.”

To put that $750 million sum into perspective, it’s more than the combined earnings of the world’s eight highest-paid musicians of 2015: Katy Perry, One Direction, Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift, The Eagles, Justin Timberlake, Diddy and Fleetwood Mac. It’s more than double Oprah’s biggest payday of $315 million in 2010.

Jackson’s 2016 haul will likely soar past $800 million. He’ll continue to earn from assets that remain under his estate’s control, including his own Mijac Music publishing catalogue. He’s also poised to keep profiting from the Michael Jackson One show by Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, as well as new music down the line.

In any case, there’s little doubt Jackson will continue to out-earn his peers, dead or alive.

“He had a kid’s heart,” Berry Gordy once told me, “but a mind of a genius.”

SOURCE: FORBES

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2 COMMENTS

  1. If 50% of the catalog that belongs to Michael worth two billion dollars, so why only sold 750 million ?? It’s less than 50% of its value.

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