The $250 million dollar advances and other payments for a March 2010 deal between the Michael Jackson Estate and Sony Records is just the icing on a cake that will delve through perpetual layers of sky-high royalty rates, licensing arrangements for films and television, and 10 recordings through 2017.
The deal comes on the tails of money-making strategies by estate executors for celebrities such as Elvis Presley and the Beatles who have reissued and reused old albums in new ways, generating major revenues across the entertainment board. Since Michael’s death in August of 2009, 31 million copies of his music have been sold worldwide and last year alone Jackson was the biggest-selling artist in the United States.
