Michael Jackson’s Catalog Heads to Sony/ATV

Roger Friedman reports that Michael’s song catalog is on its way to join Sony/ATV. In 1995, Michael and Sony established Sony/ATV, which today contains more than 750,000 songs from various artists. The rights to publish Beatles and Elvis Presley songs are also held by the Michael Jackson Foundation and Sony’s music company under the same license. Roger Friedman says the Michael Jackson Foundation has decided to merge Michael’s song catalog, MiJac, with Sony/ATV. Over the years, the “MiJac” publishing rights license for Michael’s songs was managed by Warner/Chappell Music, which is a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group. MiJac includes not only Michael’s songs, but also works by Ray Charles, Curtis Mayfield, Sly and the Family Stone. Warner/Chappell does not own the MiJac catalog; it only manages the publishing rights and charges a hefty fee in return. Now talk of selling Warner/Chappell has come up, and the fate of MiJac must also be decided. Friedman says the decision that will be made for MiJac is as follows: “MiJac will leave Warner/Chappell to join the Sony/ATV publishing company. Sources say that such a measure is written into a contract signed years ago between Michael and Warner/Chappell. Warner/Chappell may be reluctant to make this transfer because, without MiJac, it won’t be very attractive to other buyers.” Source: eMJey.com / showbiz411.com