Why doesn’t The Michael Jackson Estate do more?
Fans of Michael Jackson were incredibly disappointed as 2020 came and went; with no formal celebration of Michael Jackson’s History album. According to the Michael Jackson estate, they had plans to celebrate History with “appropriate audio and audiovisual elements” and “still have plans to do so” but were unable to due to Covid. I guess we can overlook that, granted this didn’t seem to stop other artists and estates from releasing nice projects.
MJ the Musical looks to bring Michael back into the forefront, and while I agree this isn’t a bad idea by the Estate, a key issue remains; a vast majority of hardcore Michael Jackson fans won’t get a glimpse of this. For a US or Canadian fan, a trip to New York City is quite possible. For fans beyond, in places like Europe, Asia, South America and Africa, this is far less likely. Not to mention, the writers behind the Musical have gone on record with questionable statements about Michael Jackson, making many fans uneasy about supporting the musical.
In an interview about “MJ the Musical”, the show’s writer, Lynn Nottage, spoke to the New York Times and clarified an earlier statement that “the men come across as very believable”, but then retreated to “I’m not judge and jury”, (Paulson, 2019). Then why give them any ounce of credibility? The director-choreographer, Chris Wheeldon, answered similarly saying, “You can’t watch the documentary without being profoundly disturbed by it, but again, we’re not judge and jury”, (Paulson, 2019). You can find a link to the full article below.
John Branca, the co-executor of the Michael Jackson Estate, also recently confirmed that a Michael Jackson biopic is in the works. Fans are immensely concerned; who can be expected to accurately and respectfully portray Michael Jackson as a man, artist and performer? How can Michael Jackson’s life be stuffed into 2–3 hours? CAN his life be done justice in a Hollywood film? It remains to be seen, but there’s no question more fans are opposed to this than in favor of it.
However, the lack of major releases by the Michael Jackson estate isn’t really my focus today. What REALLY bothers me is the lack of basic things the Michael Jackson estate seem to do.
You’re probably thinking, “Why don’t you forward this to the Estate?”
Well, aside from a “FAQ” page on the official Michael Jackson website (that is updated once every year or two, maybe), the fans have no direct communication with the Michael Jackson Estate. Zero. Nothing. Occasionally, they seem to notice topics of conversation on social media, but they never respond to fans and in fact tell fans not to email them (at least Branca directly). Even his social media and streaming platform pages seem stale and redundant and could potentially use a rebranding, if not updates to animated covers and playlists. I only write this in the hopes that MAYBE they’re inspired to do SOMETHING.
1- Remastered Videos
This is the number 1 request by fans. The Michael Jackson estate has gone on to say that remastering some of MJ’s short films is not possible due to missing masters. Even so, they’ve already premiered a high definition version of Thriller in theaters. Unfortunately, this was for two weeks in US theaters for a movie that largely flew under the radar. In other words, the vast majority of fans never even got the chance to see this upgraded version of Thriller, aside from a few low quality clips and pictures posted by those fortunate enough to see it.
Smooth Criminal went viral months ago once casual fans got ahold of the Blu-ray version, and it was all the more mesmerizing in high definition. From the Bad 25 and Off The Wall documentaries, we’ve seen the Estate is capable of remastering footage into high quality, of not only his music videos but his tours as well. Michael Jackson is the greatest entertainer the world has ever seen, and his ability to create short films that aged well contributed to this status. It’s baffling that remastering his videos isn’t a higher priority. Even if not ALL of them can be remastered, why not release the videos that have been so far?
2- Vinyl collectibles
In 2021, Michael Jackson’s Thriller has already sold about 50,000 copies. The bulk of those sales came from vinyl records. Vinyl collection has seen a bit of resurgence over the past few years, and The Estate seems to have taken some type of notice of this. For the Diamond Celebration, they released each of his adult solo albums on picture vinyl. The quality of these vinyls seemed to be lower than they should have been, but that aside it was a great idea on their part. For the This Is It 10th anniversary, a major focus was a vinyl collection within the boxset. For Scream (2017), they released a glow in the dark vinyl as well. Why not more?
They could take clues from Thriller. For example, since Thriller is selling so well, why not a limited edition of Billie Jean? Maybe a nice matte glossy finish to the cover itself, 1000 copies or so. At the push of a button, it’ll sell out for music lovers. Over the period of a year, they could re-release each of the Thriller singles, if not even an entire limited edition boxset of all of them. If their goal is to secure new fans, why don’t they release products that would appeal to new fans instead of sending them to eBay to purchase vinyl that have been out of print for decades?
The 25th anniversary of History came and went with no action from the Michael Jackson estate. Though they claimed this was due to Covid-19, would Covid have stopped them from reprinting high quality vinyls for History? The original vinyls have been out of print since the ’90s. Why don’t they take advantage of today’s trends?
3- Streaming availability
This is a major one. Michael Jackson fans were miffed when the Ultimate Collection became no longer available on Spotify. But why ? While Jackson’s demos such as We’ve Had Enough, On The Line are commonplace throughout the fan community, Newer Michael Jackson fans are left somewhat unaware of extended versions of songs such as Bad, Another Part of Me, Smooth Criminal, etc. What is stopping the Michael Jackson estate from at least making the Ultimate Collection available ? It’s not even available through their website at this point.
But that’s not all.
Bad 25 was perhaps the greatest release since Michael Jackson’s passing. Though the major boxset still remains available, it’s hard to understand why the most key release of that bundle, the Live at Wembley concert, remains somewhat unavailable on streaming. If you have Apple Music, it IS available on the “Indispensable Collection”. However, unless you’ve decided to search it up, it’s incredibly easy to overlook. Nine years later, there is no CD available beyond the boxset and its presence on streaming platforms makes the concert almost a none-entity. This is only more concerning when one takes into account there is only one live album legitimately available from Jackson’s entire adult career. His Destiny, Triumph and Victory Tours taken with his brothers are a sorely underrepresented portion of his career and perhaps some of the most coveted footage from Michael Jackson’s career. There’s no shortage of specials and shows from the 70’s and 80’s that could be brought back to the forefront and presented almost as though they were new, especially if new fans are the target.
Streaming could be the key for MJ Estate releases. The Estate claims that they refuse to release demos because they would be “commercially unsuccessful.” In other words, what demos they do have they wish to be remixed for later posthumous albums. I strongly disagree with their methods, as it usually doesn’t even involve the people Michael worked on those songs with. The Xscape album, for example, was mostly produced by Timbaland. Make no mistake, Timbaland is an incredible artist and producer, but he never worked with Michael Jackson. How could he possibly have insight into what Michael would have wanted out of the tracks he was given? Even so, Michael did more than enough while he was here to remain commercially appealing and viable. His Estate does not need to remix his songs, especially not with anyone who didn’t originally work on those songs (at the very least).
Either way, the Estate could look into releasing certain projects for streaming. “Live at Yokohama” is one concert the Estate has spoken about releasing in high quality but decided not to due to the setlist. It’s been circulating as bootlegs for years now, but what’s stopping the Estate from remastering it for streaming ? This is a project that costs them virtually nothing to produce and has nothing but streams and revenue to gain from.
It’s also significant that fans are able to have full access to alternate versions and demos. If the Jackson Estate’s goal is to bring his legacy into the future, as they’ve claimed, surely they must recognize the importance of keeping his full artistry on display. Many fans have taken it upon themselves to organize Jackson’s music into custom formats, playlists and projects to have some semblance of releases and to recognize his work beyond his studio albums. Though the fans deserve utmost credit for their work, it’s a shame it’s left to the fans to continue Michael Jackson’s legacy the correct way.
4- Super Deluxe Releases
Ironically, John Branca took it upon himself to make two swipes at the Prince Estate as it pertains to their handling and ownership. The irony lies in that the Michael Jackson Estate routinely ignores fans’ concerns, desires, and thoughts whereas the Prince Estate is consistently releasing coveted material. The release of the Sign O’ The Times boxset created great anticipation in the Prince fan community. In the Michael Jackson fan community, it was a brutal reminder of how starved MJ fans are for similar quality content and fan acknowledgment. The Prince Estate actively produces content that not only fans want, but also openly acknowledged and fixes oversights and mistakes quickly. They even provide a section of their store dedicated to fan requests.
The Michael Jackson Estate has shown glimpses of well thought out fan releases. Though nobody in their right mind wanted a 10-year celebration of This Is It (which contributed to Michael’s death), the content put into the boxset was (all things considered) quite good. Bad 25 is arguably their best project; a remaster of the album, new demos, Live at Wembley on DVD and CD, a documentary, a re-released CD single, partnership with Pepsi and a few lackluster remixes. The rest of the content was good enough that the abhorrent and embarrassing remixes could be overlooked. It was a campaign that made a fan like myself, who missed out on this era, feel as though I was experiencing it all anew. By comparison, History 25 only saw a few clothing products come out. None of it was outstanding, and many fans are still waiting for their products to arrive. None of it seemed well-thought-out.
This is why the Michael Jackson Estate needs to tap into whatever aptitude went into Bad 25 once again. 2021 is a huge year for Michael Jackson. His detractors are being destroyed in the courtroom, and the public contempt bred as a result of 2019 is shifting back in his favor. But not only that, it’s the 50th anniversary for Michael as a solo entertainer. It’s also the 30th and 20th anniversary for Jackson’s albums “Dangerous” and “Invincible” respectively. Again, the stars are aligning for the Michael Jackson Estate to release some great content. It doesn’t even have to be enormous. A remaster of the album(s), a “making-of” documentary, demos, a remaster of performances and appearances from the time period, a coffee table book with rare pictures, a limited edition vinyl boxset of the album singles, etc could make a huge impact. This could easily snag “best new reissue”.
The lack of celebration for History 25 was a huge blunder. A lack of acknowledgment for Michael Jackson’s 50th anniversary would be even worse. At that point, why is there even a Michael Jackson Estate?
-Citations
Paulson, M. (2019). Michael Jackson Musical Creators: We’re Not Judge and Jury. The New York Times. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/theater/michael-jackson-musical-lynn-nottage.amp.html
