I have just read that Michael Jackson has generated over $1 Billion since his death almost a year ago.
A magazine says Jackson’s album sales have generated about $383m (£259m), while revenue from the film This Is It has hit nearly $400m (£271m). Profits from publishing rights, licensing and touring are also included in the total. A new recording contract is estimated to have made $31m (£21m) so far. The Sony Music Entertainment deal will see 10 albums of the late singer’s music released over the next seven years, including one of previously unreleased material.
This is all great news for the Jackson estate and probably most importantly it will set his children up financially for the rest of their lives and ensure that they live a life of comfort which of course would be any parents wish.
Now I am not a huge Michael Jackson fan, I am certainly not obsessive. I have his greatest hits, Thriller, Bad on my Iphone. But this report has raised some sense of anger within me. No matter what his personal life entailed Jackson was one of the greatest performers of all time. His music, choreography and voice pleased millions of fans for decades. Seeing Michael Jackson perform live was something I will never forget. I was a toddler when Elvis died; I was born after the Beatles. He was the icon of our generation.
So why in his final years did he end up a penniless artist living of donations and living in a rented apartment? Why did those music moguls who took him for millions of dollars abandon him in time of need. Where were all the business men that promised they would look after Jackson? They simply bled him dry and left him. Many famous people end up losing their self made fortune and Jackson was one of them. Yet Michael Jackson was an intelligent man who knew how to handle business. He was no airhead, he was a smart man. I do feel that at the end of his life his financial state could only be described as desperate. Forcing a performer who was vastly underweight, not in good health and had not performed on the levels that the “This Is It” tour demanded was unfair.
Jacksons legacy that he leaves behind is the memory of his music to the legions of fans and if this report is to be believed a financial blanket to his family. It is just a shame that he could not have ended his days reaping some of the rewards his genius talent gave us.