Quote:
Originally posted by Humoresque
SUPPOSEDLY...
...Michael told Sony prior to Invincible's release that he would not be signing up with them again. There were some misunderstandings regarding his contract and ownership of his masters and he felt that Sony had tricked him into an unfair bargaining position by holding back the return of his masters until much later on in the decade than he anticipated. I don't know all of the specifics, but the story goes that Sony then killed the campaign for the album to weaken his financial position and to even make him less desirable to other labels should he try to leave.
One radio programmer said that he was getting calls every week from Sony's people asking how often he was playing Butterfly, what the audience response was, why wasn't he playing it more, etc. Then, he said, one day they called and told him to "forget it" and that he could drop the song. So if this is true, and Sony wanted to bury Invincible, they wouldn't be forking over money to make a music video. They already claimed to have spent $25 million on the album campaign.
Supposedly, the following songs were being talked about as singles:
- Unbreakable
- Heaven Can Wait or Break of Dawn
- Whatever Happens
- Threatened
Both Heaven and Dawn would have done great business on R&B radio. It's sad that they never got their shot.
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This leaves out the biggest part of the puzzle. Michael's publishing rights were extended when he re-signed with Sony in the early 90s, but this became muddled because in 1995 with the Sony/ATV deal it wound up extending what is known now as the MiJac catalog from its 10 year deal to a 20 year deal which would now only expire to 2015. MJ presumed it would end one release post-Invincible.
In the early 2000s, the music industry hit its absolute peak in album sales and so owning the biggest music catalog ever was
big business. Sony was still doing poor finacially, and the way the Sony/ATV deal was signed, Michael could dissolve it and take 50% of the royalties and all the returns owed to him since 1995. That would be a few hundred million dollars. In 2000, Michael used his catalog to withdraw ~$180M from Sony and have his catalog as collateral since much of his wealth was tied in assets not easily liquidated. Sony then sabotaged Invincible, short-changing him on promotional funds and using one of their lawyers (John Branca) to sort all deals with Michael who he later proved stole and embezzled money from him. Because Michael proved this he could exit his contract early, and refinance the loan he owed to Sony with Bank of America to the tune of around $300-350M. Because of all of this, Michael left Invincible to rot.
Conveniently for Sony, **** hit the fan with the allegations in 2003, they presumed he would default on his loan and have to give up his share of the catalog but he held on up until his death when he made so much posthumously that Sony had to abandon trying to get it without paying full price for it, which they did this year, for $750M.
John Branca, the guy who embezzled the money and worked/works for Sony, is the current executor of Michael's Estate and sorted the buyout deal.
