Negotiations to Release Michael’s Unreleased Songs

Two lawyers—appointed at Michael’s request before his death to carry out his will—now have authority over his financial and professional affairs. They have begun negotiations with Sony over determining ownership of roughly 100 unreleased songs by Michael and the best way to release them. These negotiations will take time.

These songs are the leftovers from albums that Michael had prepared for Sony. Michael was accustomed to creating many songs for each album, then selecting a few to include on the final album.

Rob Wiesenthal, Sony’s financial manager in the United States, said that most of these songs belong to either Michael or Sony, and the original versions of these songs are controlled by Sony. However, ultimate ownership of the original versions rests with Michael.

Wiesenthal met with John McClain, Michael’s lawyer. McClain previously served as Sony’s executive director and was a friend and Michael’s manager. Another of Michael’s lawyers, John Branca, worked for him for much of his solo career.

According to Wiesenthal, when Michael recorded his Invincible album in 2001, he and Sony spent more than $35 million to produce all the songs. Most of these songs were not included on the album. In addition, there are a very, very large number of songs that Michael recorded while making other albums, but were not included and were never released.

Wiesenthal said: “We will reach an agreement. It will take time.”

Source: eMJey / bloomberg.com