Michael Jackson Estate

John Branca and Michael Jackson (1987)

Michael Jackson Estate is a legal entity created after Michael Jackson's passing in 2009. It manages all projects (including releases like albums or singles) and incomes from sales, streams and radio plays of Michael's music. John Branca and John McClain are the current executors, and have been since July 1, 2009.

Releases

Ever since its creation, the estate has been releasing posthumous albums under Michael Jackson's name, usually putting out his previously unheard material. Most notable projects include:

• Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009, compilation album)
• Michael (2010)
• Bad 25 (2012, anniversary reissue)
• Xscape (2014)
• Scream (2017, compilation album)
• Thriller 40 (2022, anniversary reissue)

Besides music, the estate has released tons of merch, documentaries (Michael Jackson's This Is It, Bad 25, Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall, Thriller 40) and more. Ever since the singer's death, the Estate has also managed the official Michael Jackson website.

Controversies within the fan community

Jackson's fans and the Estate have been in a rather rocky relationship over the years. The legal entity often tends to be criticized for not preserving the artist's legacy enough, rarely releasing any projects, this includes music, HD/4K renditions of music videos or live shows.

Eddie Cascio's Songs

The Estate's first major controversy has surrounded what came to be in the year following its creation, that being Eddie Cascio's tracks included on the Michael album, which were accused of being performed by a sound-alike. Jackson's Estate to this day have defended themselves, despite of Teddy Riley (the producer) confirming otherwise. The entire situation led to the Estate getting sued by a fan in 2014 for breaking consumer protection laws, constituting unfair competition and fraud. After eight years, the legal entity settled the lawsuit with the three songs being eventually pulled from streaming and new physical copies of the album were released to the market. Sony and the Estate then released a statement, claiming that removing the recordings was "the simplest and best way to move beyond the conversation associated with these tracks once and for all".

Dangerous 25 & HIStory 25

"Do you ever read fan critiques of the Estate’s projects? How do you feel about the fans’ commenting on the Estate projects?" post on Michael Jackson Official Site

In 2016, Jackson's official social media announced, that the 25th anniversary of Dangerous was gonna be celebrated by the Estate through uploading music videos to YouTube and posting fun facts on the record. Following the fans learning the event would not have an anniversary reissue similarly to Thriller or Bad, their reception quickly changed into negative, since they felt it was too "limited" and demanded a proper album with previously unreleased material as done before.

Four years later, in 2020, the double album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I celebrated it's 25th anniversary as well, although once again with no recognition from the Estate. In August, michaeljackson.com had updated their FAQ, confirming that HIStory 25 was in the works, but that it had to be delayed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite of the delay, the entire project never came into fruition, with the legal entity later focusing on Thriller 40 instead.

Scream

In 2017, a new compilation album, Scream was released. Generally, it was promoted as though it was a new studio album, thus the fans became frustrated with the Estate for putting out what fans described as a "cash grab".

Thriller 40

Most recently, the biggest controversy has surrounded Thriller 40, its artwork, logo and the ever-changing release date of the documentary made for it. Although the issues eventually got resolved, the project was still mainly criticized for simply re-releasing old material and the documentary not bringing much new content than what was available before.

Other controversies

• In 2017, The Ultimate Collection album got entirely removed from streaming services, leaving fans complaining they can’t listen to their favorite songs anymore.
• Fans often criticize the official Michael Jackson social media as well due to posts including low quality or tagged images and often even spreading misinformation (e.g. claiming Dangerous was released in 1992).