Here is the latest developments...

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2...53,00.html

Friday, July 19, 2002
By Roger Friedman

I was a little off about a salient part of Michael Jackson's now-ended deal with Sony Music. I said Jackson would leave Sony without the masters to his famous albums Thriller, Off the Wall, Bad, etc.

I stand corrected. According to very solid information I obtained this week, Jackson negotiated in the early '80s for the reversion of the rights to his masters. He will get them back in about seven years or so.

He might have had them sooner if he hadn't called Tommy Mottola a racist. But there were Al Sharpton and a cheering crowd and people waving signs — even Michael can get caught up in the moment. I'm sure he regrets all of that now.

What's more, I am told that Jackson is talking to a number of big record companies, and there's some hope of making a deal when all the Sony dust has settled. Certainly his manager, John McClain, who is also an executive at DreamWorks Records, would like to have him come aboard.

One hitch is that David Geffen, one of DreamWorks' founders, is an ally of Tommy Mottola in the often brutal, warlike atmosphere of the record industry.

But that may not be a problem if Geffen decides to side with Jackson. He's shrewd enough to see that Jackson would put DreamWorks on the map. Also, Jackson has a long friendship with another DreamWorks founder, Steven Spielberg.

More likely is a deal with Doug Morris and Universal Music Group. Morris has already rescued Mariah Carey from Mottola. If he takes Jackson too, the Japanese owners of Sony could just buy UMG and make Sony Music a division. That would be a funny ending. Morris, a less flamboyant presence in the business than most, would finally get his due.

Is Michael completely broke? The answer is no, but it's complicated. With all the music catalogs, he might be worth $750 million on paper.

"I didn't say he was floating in cash, though," cautions my source on this, who knows the numbers better than most anyone.

What about the million dollars I reported that Jackson gave to Marlon Brando for appearing in his Sept. 7 Madison Square Garden carnival?

"That's the problem," says my source.

Says another, separate source: "Michael put $1.75 million into Neverland Valley Entertainment with that porno guy, Marc Schaffel. He immediately disbursed a million to Brando, then the rest to others within a short time. He knows how to spend."

Schaffel, through friends, tells me that he has not received money for What More Can I Give?, the charity single. He insists that the funds he got from a Japanese outfit paid off the $2 million loan (this is a separate chunk of money from the funds Jackson invested in Neverland Valley) he took from Royalty Advance Funding — which I first reported here in April.

That left a balance of expenses totaling nearly $300,000. The Japanese money paid those bills. Schaffel says through pals there are more bills. He says if Jackson's people were correct in a Los Angeles Times story, and he had pocketed $500,000, Schaffel would just walk away from the project.

(For an interesting take on the whole Schaffel business, check out Tony Ortega's well-researched story at New Times Los Angeles online.)

So much confusion, so many names. But Michael Jackson's great flaw in all this is that he has been easily swayed by dealmakers, con men and charlatans.

Schaffel aside, Jackson was taken in by Shmuley Boteach. He went into a nutty deal with two guys named Derek Rundell and Cort Coursey for an online ticket sales venture. Last winter he announced a movie company with an actor no one's ever heard of.

He's vulnerable to all kinds of come-ons. Jackson is still involved in a long-running suit with the former head of his company, a man named Myung-Ho Lee. David Gest, who produced Jackson's 30th anniversary shows, became famous on Jackson's coat tails and married Liza Minnelli.

One source told me this week: "I've heard him say, 'Let's make a deal, don't tell my lawyers.' Then the lawyers find out and have to clean up the mess."

Well, we won't feel too bad for the lawyers. Jackson's primary attorney, John Branca, knows his efforts will pay off one day. His firm, Ziffren, Brittenham, Branca & Fischer, has a 5 percent stake in Sony/ATV Music Publishing, in which Jackson himself is a 50 percent owner.

"That's how they bill most of their clients, on a 5 percent basis," says one observer. You'd think that Ziffren et al. would want the publishing company to be sold for hundreds of millions, but my source says: "It's not going to be sold. And Sony will not foreclose on it. They don't have the right to take it from Michael. They simply guaranteed a loan."

Jackson also employs at least two other law firms. The second one, which handles litigation (lawsuits) is Lavely & Singer, run by the notorious celebrity-defending bulldog Martin Singer.

When Schaffel was "rubbing people the wrong way" last fall, Branca called Brian Wolf at that firm, and Wolf sicced a private eye on Schaffel to get the goods. When the P.I. turned up the news that Schaffel made adult videos, another firm stepped in. That was the one run by Zia Modabber, another celebrity defender.

Everyone in the chain has a purpose. The only one not always in lockstep, unfortunately, is Michael Jackson.

So what happens next?

I am told that Michael had a long friendship with Sony Japan President Akio Morita, who passed away in 1999 at age 78. The relationship translated down to his son, Masao Morita, who is the head of Sony Entertainment Worldwide and loves Jackson.

The word is that Mr. Morita, as Jackson calls him, was busy working on a video game with Michael using the Invincible songs. Neither of them bothered to tell Mottola this. When things went crazy here in New York between Mottola and Jackson, Morita was not pleased.

Martin Singer is now threatening to bring a lawsuit against Sony. Trust me, this will not come to court. If Singer makes enough noise about a forensic audit, Sony will go into a bookkeeping frenzy. This is one thing they do not like over there.

I know artists who recorded for Sony 25 years ago who are still not earning money from their hits because Sony says the artists owe them money. A court-mandated investigation into Sony's accounting practices is something Sony will avoid at all costs.

Singer knows that. Expect Michael to get his masters back sooner than in that seven-year period, and take his catalog of albums to a new recording company.

"Sometimes Michael is his own worst enemy," a Jackson insider concludes. "The racism thing wasn't smart. But he feels betrayed by Sony. He's been a good friend to Tommy, done a lot of things for him personally."

"Once Invincible came out, he wouldn't take Michael's calls," the source continues. "It was just bizarre. They would only do one video from the album, and it's sold seven million copies worldwide. And Michael is paranoid about Sony wanting the catalog. But they've been told it's absolutely never going to happen."

Funny how reports of sales of Invincible have gone from 5 million worldwide to 6 mil, and now to 7 mil...??

This whole fiasco sounds a little like these guys have been doing "favors" for eachother the past decade or two-- and now Michael's knees are sore and Tommy wouldn't call him back(when he said he would).

Why do i get the feeling that both Madonna AND MJ have slept their way to the top...and P would only sing about it.

Yep I found that Out about MJ over a Year ago.MJ didn't sign a Contract.if He had have He would have to wait until He was almost 80 Years Old to get the Masters back.the way I Understand it if the Contract had have stuck MJ would have to release a Album Every two Years to start getting His Masters back.and Since MJ is Famous for taking Gaps of time between Projects Tommy was Counting every Year He didn't release a Album against Him getting them Back.but MJ to His Credit didn't sign a Extension Deal.Sony wanted MJ to do a Christmas album&this was when MJ was still a JW.and Sony Never fully Marketed all His MJJ Records Acts aside from the Free Willy Soundtrack the first one&Brownstone's first album.there is so much to this story.

Excellent article fonkeywonder, we should all b so damaging 2 ourselves.

The bottom line is, no matter if Michael loses a company money, the owners of the companies r so star-struck by him they r continuously ready 2 hand out more cash 2 him based on an idea and a handshake. I think Michael really means 4 these projects 2 go 4th, but he spreads himself 2 thin and lawyers enter the picture.

I highly recommend the unauthorized biography titled: "Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness", written by J. Randy Taraborelli. It's one of the best I've seen and goes in2 extreme detail of his financial dealings and business smarts.

Props to FonkyWonder&June 7 for Knowing there Stuff on MJ on this Thread.I have that Book June 7&it is very detailed.Him&MJ are actually Cool.I got His Diana Ross Book as well.

SONY never spent that money on Michael but their "insiders" leaked that info to the media prior to the release of the album as a means of both undermining it (he did cop criticism from it), and as a PR tactic should Michael come forward (like he is doing now) and complain about the lame treatment he got from the company he helped put on the @#%$ map! Very nasty stuff indeed and unfortunately alot of people bought cause they do believe what the media puts out there. The whole thing like Friedman said for 25 years SONY HAS SCREWED artists out of royalties and now they were after MJ's catalogue and they used the press (like they did to Mariah last year and George Michael 10 years ago) as a means of destroying MJ because he had the nerve to criticse them! Maybe his methods were over the top (like I said before), but he has managed to bring up a taboo subject that alot of top CEOs like Tommy don't want their artists and the public to know about (how they screw their artists from their royaltlies, master recordings and record contracts!).

I REALLY BELIEVE IN SOME FORM OR FASHION TOMMY MOTTOLA HAS PISSED MICHAEL JACKSON OFF. IT'S MIGHT FUNNY THAT SONY HAS BEEN SAYING THAT INVINCIBLE HAS SOLD ONLY 2 MILLION WHEN IN FACT IT HAS SOLD MORE THAN THAT.

man... imagine if mj was not in this business as a kid or if he didn't know about what happened to the other artists. i wonder what maddy had to go through especially with the ppl. kinda hating on her at times. ...

mj is one smart man. ya haters have to look over plastic surgery and children. while u complian over silly things, mj has so much control over finances and power!!

keep your compassion for starving children from your own country, moron.

subyduby said:

subyduby said:

Big fucking deal. So does Puff Daddy and R. Kelly and I don't respect them either. If you're tired of the haters youre in the wrong place.

jnoel said:

again...u will never leave me alone and i will never care.

MJ should think very carefully before he signs another deal with a major company.He should sign a short-term deal and see how it goes.The best thing for him to do is record a new CD and use it as a "bargaining tool" when negotiating a new deal.He should make sure that the company is *EXCITED* about the project,and that they are willing to release several singles and videos.

eldog98 said:

'Invincible' has sold 2 million copies in the U.S.,but the total worldwide sales are actually around 7 million.

It will be interesting to see what the outcome of all of this will be. I think I'll reach deep into my collection and pull out "TRIUMPH" by the Jacksons (released in 1980). If you don't have this album and DESTINY(released in 1978) with Mike and his brothers then you are missing out on some great MJ music.