IS IT BECAUSE HE'S BLACK?: What They Don't Want You to Know About Michael Jackson

By Christopher Hamilton

(January 5, 2006)

What do you think of when you hear the name, Michael Jackson? Michael? Criminal? Great Entertainer? Businessman? Whatever you think of MJ, throw all your thoughts out of the window and let's examine some facts.

For years the media has labeled him "Michael Jackson." What happened to MJ? Wasn't he the biggest thing in music at one point? When did he go crazy?

All anyone has to do is look when Michael started being portrayed as "Crazy." It wasn't during the "Thriller" years. It's cool being a song and dance man. That's what they want. DON'T DARE BECOME A THINKING BUSINESSMAN. DON'T DARE BUY THE BEATLES CATALOG. DON'T DARE MARRY ELVIS' DAUGHTER. DON'T DARE BEAT THE RECORD INDUSTRY AT THEIR OWN GAME. Michael started being labeled crazy when he began making business moves that no one had been successful at doing.


Michael took two cultural icons and shattered them to pieces. All our lives, we've been bombarded with 2 facts. The Beatles were the greatest group of all time and Elvis was the King of Rock and Roll. Michael bought the Beatles and married the King's daughter. (if that ain't literally sticking it to the man) If I wasn't a cynic, I'd say Michael did the Lisa Marie thing just to stick it to the people who consider Elvis the King.


The Beatles were great, but they weren't great enough to maintain publishing rights over their own songs.


Elvis was great, but he didn't write his songs. His manager, Col Tom Parker, was the mastermind behind Elvis ... keeping him drugged with fresh subscription pills and doing all the paperwork.


Michael could do no wrong as an entertainer. "Off the Wall," first solo artist with 4 top ten singles. "Thriller," the biggest selling album of all time, with a then record 7 top ten singles. "Bad," the first album to spawn 5 number one songs (even Thriller only had 2 number one songs). All this is cool. But that is all you better do. SING AND DANCE. Michael wanted to be greater. He bought the legendary Sly and the Family Stone catalog and no one really cared. When he bought the Beatles, people noticed. The Sony merger took the cake. Sony, in their eagerness to have a part of the Beatles catalog, agreed to a 50/50 merger with Jackson, thus forming Sony/ATV music publishing. Now, Michael co-owns half of the entire publishing of all of Sony artists. Check out the complete lists of songs at sonyatv.com. A sampling of the songs he owns the publishing rights to are over 900 country songs by artists such as Tammy Wynette, Kenny Rogers, Alabama. All Babyface written songs. Latin songs by Selena and Enrique Iglesias. Roberta Flack songs, Mariah Carey songs, Destiny's Child's songs. 2pac, Biggie and Fleetwood Mac songs. In essence over 100,000 songs. "What is this man doing?" None of the greats did this. Not Bono, Springsteen, Sinatra. "Who does he think he is? Get whatever you can on him."


To "get" someone, you have to attack what they love the most. I'll say no more on that.


The only man who even approaches MJ in taking on the industry is Prince and to a lesser extent, George Michael. They went after poor George Michael, publicly outing the man as a homosexual. Prince fought hard and made his point, but nevertheless still had to resort to using a major company to distribute his materials. There is nothing wrong with that. Prince would get the lion's share, but the result were years of being labeled crazy and difficult.


The greatest moment for them was the Sneddon press conference. "We got him." Never was such glee so evident. Who cares if we have evidence?


Michael was acquitted, did not celebrate, went home and left the USA. Best move ever. Now what is there left for the haters to do? He's gone. "Gone, what do you mean he moved to Bahrain? Well, how the hell can we get him if he's not here? Quick, get that columnist to write a series of articles on how MJ's teetering on the brink of destruction. Oh we did that? Well, what can we do?"


On the outer surface, it appears Michael is not doing anything to make money. Don't even count the weekly sales of his CDs. 15,000 CDs a week is nothing for Michael. The Sony/ATV catalog is money for Michael Jackson every time he breathes. Serious money. The fact that no one reports on the actual amount is proof of that. They would rather you believe he is broke than tell you the truth. Neverland is still owned by MJ. The family home in Encino is still owned by MJ. Michael still owns the Beatles songs through the merger with Sony as well as full ownership of his own songs. But, hey, that's our little secret.


Michael Jackson is literally walking in the shoes that no Black person has ever walked in before. If he ever writes an autobiography, it will be one of the most interesting ever. A Black man with no real formal education becomes the most powerful man in the industry, DESPITE hatred, racism, enemies in his own camps and a media willing to be bought to the highest bidder.


If Sony had any sense, right now they should offer to continue the partnership. That's the only way they will make future money off of Michael's catalogue. Tommy Mattola did not lose his job with Sony because he was a bad label head. It was a casualty of war. MJ exposed him and Sony had to cut their losses. Companies do it all the time. Notice no one at Sony nor did Matolla himself ever sue MJ for slander. Michael always was loyal to his bosses at Epic/Sony. Back at the 1984 Grammys, he even brought then label head Walter Yetnikoff on stage with him at one point. He's always thanked Dave Glew, Mattola and others at Sony in his acceptance speeches.


Sony can still do right by Michael, but it may be too late. However, they still should make a goodwill gesture, but how many times do businesses do that? If I were them, I'd still want MJ as an ally, not as an enemy. It is/was a mutally profitable merger.


I'd be scared as hell if I was an enemy of MJ while he is with the multi-billionaires overseas. Believe me, they aren't just over there discussing designer clothing. A conglomerate is in the making.


One last note, these facts that I write here should not be the only times you hear this, but the sad fact is it probably is. I was worried that Michael would go down because of the uncertainty of the jury. That's playing unfair. If I'm presenting these facts here at EURweb, YOU CAN BELIEVE THE MEDIA KNOWS IT ALREADY AS WELL. They aren't salivating over everything MJ related just because he made "Thriller." They know what's up. Think about it. That's why I laugh when I see shows like BET's "The Ultimate Hustler." We all know who that is. (How can Damon Dash know who the ultimate hustler is anyway? He lost Roc-a-fella to Jay-Z)


In the end, Michael won't be known for being an alleged child molester. He won't be known for "Thriller." He will be known as the man that fought the record industry and won and lived to tell the tale. That is a book worth buying.

now get this

MJ owns Half of Sony/ATV which is worth more than a billion

you do the math

you aint broke if you own half of that type of publishing catalogue

so basically

MJ owns everyones Arses,

including Beyonce and the like,

Ironic or what,

i don't care how much money he has, i just want some memorable new music from the man. that's all.

--gm--

Nice read. Thanks for the article. It´s a real rarity to read something nice about MJ.

You know, we - MJ fans, are considered to be crazy, blindly defending him etc. but the media hunt of Michael Jackson is very evident. Last week, I was watching VH1´s MJ´s most shocking TV moments and was kinda disgusted. They are making a "documentary" or how to call it on the greatest entertainer in the world, called "the most shocking TV moments" and you won´t see there his
Billie Jean Motown 25 performance
the 1988 Grammy performance
the Superbowl performance
and the list could go on and on.

What they show you is Michael having hard time keeping himself from crying in the 1993 speech from Neverland defending himself against allegations having few times played him saying the word "penis" with many "experts" takling about this.

You will see all the footage that can be found of him surrounded by lil" boys to "prove" he is a child molester, of course they won´t say it out loud, but that´s the impression you get.

You will see the stupidest parts of the Bashit ducumentary adding that the freak fought back, of course, releasing his own document, but they won´t show you any of that with words that "nobody watched that anyway"

Etc. etc. No tell me it ain´t biased and sick.

Now who are those "experts" on VH1 appearing in all those documents having all the inside info about all the celebrities. They are always the same ppl, who just come on TV telling you "the truth". Now I know that it is obvious that these shows are here to "entertain" that they are not serious documentaries, but why the hell do they need to humiliate one of the greatest musical talents of all the time? It certainly has an effect, especially on the younger generation who hasn´t experience none of MJ´s work and now is being fed only with info about him being mainly this crazy freak who basically did nothing, but had tons of plastic surgery and most probably molested some boys.

Some of those VH1 shows are truly a tabloid.
[Edited 1/6/06 2:09am]

WE WANT NEW MUSIC!

Been saying this for years.

I'd love to see him releasing groundbreaking music again!

Thats a very interesting article, yes songs like "Kayne west - gold digger" yeah Mike owns that song,

Its not just alot of other artists Michael owns, but the big ones and its not just the "Beatles" theres Elvis and Bob Dylan who the media portray them as the greatest and Michael Jacksons owns them whos the King now fucker?

I think we will see a autobiagraphy from the man himself once his passed away, thats what i think.

That article is more opinion than it is written on the basis of pure facts. Yes MJ owns half the Sony catalogue and Yes that will be enough to keep him from ever going poor, but that has never been in dispute. MJ's problem is not the brilliant peices of business he conducted when at the height of his fame and power & sanity (peices of business that have everything to do with advisors and good fortune as much as they do with his own savy), but it is to do with the state he is in today.

No tours, no new music, by all accounts a dependency on drugs, and extremely lavish spending habbits. If he is so well off, why did he have to take multi million dollar loans out in the first place??? Answer, because his outgoings exceed his income. How many businesses can collapse through lack of cash flow, thousands, its the same scenario. If he's using the Sony catalogue as collateral, there's every possibility he could lose it if he's defaulting on loan repayments as reported.

MJ needs to release music and to tour to generate a cash flow capable of matching his outgoings. Yes the catalogue will contribute to this income, but clearly not enough. I think MJ fans do the man no favours by burying their heads in the sand with him. The only way he's ever going to get back any of his greatness is through people telling him like it is, not sicophants screaming about jealousy, hatred or racism everytime anyone comments on the reality of his current state.

CrozzaUK said:

agreed.

Diddy said:

Erm, No Michael owns half a portion of the publishing royalties, which are generally about half of the overall royalties. So Bob Dylan = 50%, Sony = 25%, MJ = 25% (i think this all depends on what kind of deal the artists signed back in the day). Indeed this is still quite a stakehold, and will earn him a nice little earner, but it doesnt mean he OWNS these artists, and im surprised you even used that terminology. He will also earn 25% of the royalties from the beatles catalogue but ask Billionaire Paul McCartney whether he feels like MJ owns him, and he'll probably laugh in your face.

At the end of the day publishing royalties do not really generate enough income for artists, thats why you see most major artists still touring late on into their careers as thats where they earn the real money. Prince, Madonna, U2, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney all earn the majority of their income through touring. New records are of course important in maintaining a profile and relevance, and to stimulate a demand for touring, but all the same thats where the money is.

If he aint paying my bills...who cares?

CrozzaUK said:

Oh geez you know what i mean, not literally own them, but there precious babys i could care less about tightass Billionaire Paul McCartney.

On your post above, why is it when its all the negative articles everyone believes the shit like its gospel but when once in a blue moon theres a good article on him people scream opinion and crap? This is the second article ive read about this subject in the media and you'll never hear it again for along time. And the whole article is true and one of the most fascinating ive read.

paul mcartney should have been a smarter business man and needs to stop b*tching about it.

and im sure mj isnt broke. he might be cash broke but isnt broke.

Paul McCartney is a joke. At least Michael used some of his lives fortune for good causes and worthwhile ventures.

McCartney is sitting with £600million doing absolutely nothing with it.

Also, MJ earned more from the Beatles Number Ones album than McCartney did so technically McC would be pissed off.

dirtyman2005 said:

that part is ill

dirtyman2005 said:

FunkyBrotha said:

I find that hard to imagine. If Paul earns 25% of the royalties from every Lennon / McCartney song, MJ earns exactly the same. Songwriter & Publishing is normally 50/50 of Songwriter royalties, and both own half of each. On top of that McCartney would get 25% of artist royalties, about 5% of the retail price (songwriter royalties are just under 5% normally). On top of that he probably gets a very small portion of the record company royalties as he will have some stake in Apple.

Lets put it this way, both will have done very very well from Beatles one, but i cant see a way MJ would have done better.

As for Paul being a joke, id suggest to you his legacy is cemented more with each year that passes, whereas MJs is deteriorating. His status as a songwriter and a MUSICIAN is global, and hes written some of the most well loved, well covered songs of all time. He pioneered music in the 1960's, and is still performing massive sell out tours across the globe 40 years later. His fortune is esitimated at $1.5bn. As for his charitable contributions, im sure we could all do more, but to my recollection, he's always involved in some charity, be it PETA, anti-landmines, anti-poverty.
Macca may have lost out in 1985, but in 2005 im pretty sure 99% of people would choose to be in Pauls shoes rather than MJ's.

Diddy said:

But thats just it, he doesnt own their precious babys. He owns half of half of the royalties they will get (ie, 25%). See my above post.

Cloudbuster said:

Then you agree with this guy that MJ will be remembered
more for his business successes and not primarily for his music.

thedoorkeeper said:

I actually meant that he ain't as broke as people make out because of his business successes.

dirtyman2005 said:

MJ has had not one iota of an impact on the Beatles rep as the greatest group of all time. Owning their song rights does not diminish them in any way.

This writer is so worshipping MJ it is laughable.
This is this guy's opinion column - not a news article.

the sony atv catalogue's most valuable asset is the beattles collection
worth about 2/3 of the value

beattles still sell shitload of records

The reason paul mccarthney sold his share was for tax reasons

sold for 47.5 to mj in 1985

mid 90s sony paid 100mil to mj to get a 50/50 split plus combined thier own catalogue

If u saw the bashir documnetory mj blew 6million in couple of hrs

he has deep problems and he recently didnt pay his neverland staff for a whole month!! and didnt have any heating in his ranch!! he also missed last weeks pay checks!

The problems r real this is not some tabloid trash

in the real sense he isnt broke he has more assets but all his assets r tied up!!

But since 1998( wehn he had no debt) till today he has a debt of $270mil

That makes his spending habits way above his earnings

At this pace he will be dead broke in maybe next 5-10yrs
[Edited 1/6/06 10:00am]

WHEW! Well, that's a relief...now he can continue to bottle his Jesus Juice and molest little boys.

Interesting...but ...why did he have his whole damn staff suing him for non payment ???

CinisterCee said:

I missed that the first time around, C.

OdysseyMiles said:

I find it hard to believe that a Prince fan is suggesting that MJ's ownership of the Beatles catalogue doesnt mean shit to McCartney. The fact that MJ owns this means that he has the power to do whatever he wants with McCartney's songs, he can prevent them being re-released, covered, used in commercials, played on the radio and on and on.

Also, u will find that Michael Jackson did earn more from Number 1s, since McCartney stated this himself at the time. The album was released under another record company which McC had no involvement with and he only received songwriter royalties. I think you are forgetting that there are 4 members 2 b paid not just McC.

He received NOTHING from the retail price as u suggest because he doesnt own his music and had nothing to do with the release because he has no say in how his music catalogue is presented.... *Hello prince/symbol fiasco*


Also in regards to MJ's situation...yes he is in financial difficulty , thats why he's living in Bahrain under the expense of a very rich billionaire. He will probably do this for a year and pay the absolute minimum amount required to keep him up and running at Neverland. Jermaine stated this during the trial, Michael has hardly spent any money since his arrest, in fact the only thing he has spent cash on is his military garb for his court appearances. He will probably re-negotiate his loan to buy him time to save some cash for repayments. Also there was the story that mj was selling off some of his assets, for example, he apparently has like a dozen Bentley's which he has never even used somewhere in storage.

That man will never be broke, no matter how much money he spends, imo. Jealous individuals will have to just accept that. It should be no surprise that, the bigger the income, the bigger the bills. "I'm down to my last billion" is nowhere close to being kicked out on the street....with NOTHING. His property is alot more valuable than alot of "insiders" would probably like to admit, and the guy is a businessman. And his old albums are still selling.

dirtyman2005 said:

1) The above comments regarding are simply rude and ignorant. Music was different back then.

2) Source of this article is who? A fan?

3) MJ owning half of the Beatles Catalog and getting Half of what Sony is making make me not like him that much more. Yes Yes Yes, what's the big deal of owning and making money EVERYONE ELSE DOES IT...I find music to NOT be a commodoty and feel tha tthe artist should retain most rights and get most of the share. Kudos to Mike for making money off of other artist without lifting a finger...just like the Record Execs.

4) People think he's "crazy" for entirely other reasons than this "article" suggests. Like the Baby thing...the WHOLE STORY behind it. His strange marriages. His numerous "Plastic Surgeries". Regardless if he has had them or not, it is percieved by the general public that he has and that he looks very wierd nowadays.

5) what would convince me that the guy still has it...COME OUT WITH A FRIKIN GOOD RECORD AND TOUR THE USA!!!!!