Details on the Transfer of Michael’s Catalog to Sony/ATV

John Branca, one of the administrators of the Michael Jackson Foundation, shared more details regarding the transfer of Michael Jackson’s song catalog to the Sony/ATV publishing company in an email to Jeff Gemple, the manager of the MJOnline news team. He also asked that these details be provided to the fans of the King of Pop. Apparently, this online team had received many questions from fans about the transfer of Michael’s songs. Jeff Gemple emailed John Branca’s message to fan clubs and online media. Read the text of the email below: “This transfer is a right that Michael granted to Sony/ATV, but if it happens, this company will only obtain the right to manage the publishing of the songs—provided that it accepts the new terms and under limited conditions. The Foundation will not hand over final control of this catalog and ownership rights to anyone. We will repay the loans taken out against the ‘MiJac’ catalog in an appropriate manner, and the debts will be resolved soon, and this catalog will definitely go to Michael’s children. Sony/ATV is a huge company and the Foundation owns half of it, but no one— not even Sony/ATV—will ever own MiJac. John and I, John McClain, are responsible for carrying out these actions. The Sony team that works with us today is the same team Michael chose to collaborate with on the album Thriller 25. They are good partners for us. As you have read in the court documents, they helped us cover Michael’s heavy debts to Sony/ATV. This important step means that MiJac and Michael’s masters will be fully in the hands of his children.” Source: eMJey.com / MJOnline, The Official Online Team of the Michael Jackson Estate