Sony/ATV extends deal with Michael Jackson estate, contends with Quincy Jones lawsuit

Sony/ATV will continue to administer the worldwide music publishing rights to some of Michael Jackson’s best-known songs, after extending their deal with the singer’s Mijac Music.

Jackson’s production companygained the rights to iconic singlesincluding “Beat It”, “Billie Jean”, “Can You Feel It”, “Black Or White”, “Wanna Be Starting Something” and “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” from Warner/Chappell back in 2012, which had held them since 1980.

Amidst fierce bidding from other major publisher, Sony/ATV last year bought out the Jackson estate for $750 million.Terms of the most recent deal extension were not disclosed.

“The music of the greatest entertainer that ever lived, Michael Jackson, is in the hands of the number one publishing company in the world,” co-executors of the estate John Branca and John McClain said in a statement.

Mijac Music also has some of rock and R&B’s most best perennial numbers, a reflection of Jackson’s acute showbiz savvy.

The company’s catalogue includes those of Sly Stone of Sly & The Family Stone (“Everyday People”, “Dance To The Music” and “Family Affair”) and the R&B songwriting team Gamble and Huff (“If You Don’t Know Me by Now”, “Love Train”).

It also owns the rights to “Great Balls of Fire” (popularised by Jerry Lee Lewis), “When A Man Loves A Woman”byPercy Sledge, Jackie Wilson’s hit “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher”, “What’d I Say” (Ray Charles) and “Shake, Rattle and Roll” (Bill Haley & The Comets).

Also on the list are “Mr Bojangles”, “Runaround Sue”, “Sixteen Candles”, “The Wanderer”, “After Midnight” and“I Got A Woman”.

According to Chairman and CEO of Sony/ATV Martin Bandier, the Mijac catalogue is “one of the most significant and valuable in music”.

“Michael’s songwriting talents are respected and admired by everyone, but I also want to acknowledge his gifts as a smart businessman who put together an incredible catalogue of classic songs,” he added.

In the meantime, both Sony and the Jackson estate are jointly dealing with a lawsuit that Jackson’s producer Quincy Jones filed in 2013.

Jones helmed massive selling albums as Off The Wall, Thriller and Bad, andclaims the King of Pop’s estate cheated him out of $30 million over the past 18 years.

According to Jones,he and Michael made a deal whereby he would get extra payment if any of the tracks he produced were used in documentaries or movies, like the best selling This Is It which grossed $261.1 million.

However, the estate claims that Jones is only entitled to a cut of record sales and has offered him between $2 million and $3 million.

it is also alledged that Sony Music remixed some of Jackson’s tracks to sidestep payment.

At the court hearing last week, attorney for the estate Howard Weitzman told Jones that the estate’s interpretation of the contract is that it did not cover new projects.

“Contract montract! If we made the record, we deserve to get paid,” the famed producerresponded.

Asked why he hadn’t filed lawsuit when Jackson was alive, he replied “I cared more about him as a human being than about the money”.

“I’m not suing Michael, I’m suing y’all,” Jones emphasised.

Closing arguments in the case are scheduled to begin early this week.