C’is the album of all records: more than 100 million copies sold worldwide, 7 singles ranked in the American top 10, 8 Grammy Awards and an exploding career for Michael Jackson, crowned king of pop at only 24 years, in the early 1980s. Not to mention the horrific music video, one of the longest and most expensive in the history of music, with a budget of half a million dollars, which has since entered into legend …
Forty years later, Sony Music has decided to hit hard by releasing a collector’s box on November 18, relays the Billboard site. It will include 2 CDs, namely the original disc including cult titles such as “Thriller”, “Billie Jean”, “Beat It” or even “PYT” (“Pretty Young Thing”), and a bonus disc with unreleased songs on which Michael Jackson had worked on during the recording of his album – no information has yet leaked on these titles, knowing that a lot of unreleased tracks have been released since the death of the singer and that there would still be some in stock, if according to his big brother Tito.
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Fans will also be able to fall back on an ultra-limited vinyl collector’s item from Thriller original, which will be printed in 40,000 copies, as well as multiple products published around the anniversary of the album, available in particular on the dedicated online store, namely t-shirts, sweatshirts, caps, etc. The major American distribution chains, such as Target and Walmart, will also offer their own exclusive versions with custom covers, which is to say if Sony is betting big on the event.
75 million revenue
It must be said that Michael Jackson remains a real goose with golden eggs with 75 million dollars generated on his name and his music in the year 2021, according to figures from Forbes. A windfall mainly garnered by the artist’s trust, still controlled by his mother Katherine, 92, for the benefit of his grandchildren Prince, Paris and Blanket, direct heirs of Michael. In about ten years, the trust has succeeded in repaying the singer’s colossal debts, in particular by selling Sony for 750 million dollars the King of Pop’s large catalog of music, including many titles from the Beatles, Stevie Wonder , Sting, Taylor Swift, while retaining ownership of the original recordings and songs by Michael Jackson.
And nothing suggests that this post-mortem business will run out of steam: the income is fed by the exploitation of the catalog, the uses of advertising, the various shows, such as that of the Cirque du Soleil or the recent musical comedy which resumes its hits, without forgetting the next biopic which has just been launched in consultation with the family. In short, the vein seems inexhaustible…