Michael Jackson’s Estate Signs With BMI Publishing Once Again
Michael Jackson’s estate has decided to renew Jackson’s contract with BMI. This is a long-standing partnership that the singer has had in place for 38 years. BMI holds and represents Jackson’s entire catalog, which includes all of the public performances that Michael did when he was living.
According to Billboard, the president of BMI, Mike O’Neill, released a statement about the estate choosing to renew their relationship with BMI.
“We are pleased to announce our continued representation of Michael’s extraordinary and vast catalogue. Since 1976, we’ve had the privilege of licensing his works and we’re honored to continue this relationship with his estate.”
The Estate of Michael Jackson Renews Its Agreement With BMI: http://t.co/v3aD2OqBmP @michaeljackson pic.twitter.com/qfStyflicM
— Broadcast Music Inc. (@bmi) December 17, 2014
This year BMI helped release Jackson’s second posthumous album, Xscape, which featured a duet by Justin Timberlake on the track “Love Never Felt So Good.” The majority of the unreleased material for album was produced and reworked by Timbaland, Rodney Jerkins, J-Roc, and LA Reid.
Michael Jackson’s 2014 album “Xscape” was voted #1 album of 2014 by Idolator readers #MJXSCAPE http://t.co/yWFaQolIco pic.twitter.com/P9lmARZUHM — MJFacts (@MJFacts1) December 18, 2014
In the U.K., Xscape went on to be Jackson’s tenth number one album. In the United States the album debuted at number two on the Billboard charts, selling 157,000 copies in the first week. Total sales worldwide include 1,410,000 copies.
At the time of the promotion for Michael Jackson’s album, LA Reid described just how meticulous Jackson was in recording his albums, which is what lead the team to find a large amount of unused songs in the vault. Reid told Billboard about “Slave to the Rhythm,” which came out of a recording session for the 1996 album Dangerous.
“He sang the song from top to bottom 24 times without a bathroom break, without a water break, without a ‘Give me a moment.’ He would sing the song and say, ‘OK, give me another track, I can do it better,’ and he’d do it again. ‘I can nail this. Give me another track,’ and he’d do it again. Each time he’s getting better and better, but by the time you got to track 13, 14 we got lost, because it all started to sound the same. At that point he’d perfected it, but he just kept going.”
Some of Michael’s biggest hits include “Rock With You,” “Thriller,” “Beat It,” “Bad,” “Black or White,” and “Smooth Criminal.”
[Image via arvzdix / Shutterstock.com]
