Sony and Michael Jackson’s estate have reached a deal for ten albums over the next seven years worth at least $200 million for the Jackson estate, which faces debt in the nine figures, including $35 million owed to AEG Live, the promoter behind the London concerts that were canceled after the singer’s death. The deal retroactively covers the soundtrack to This is It, and Sony is already planning to release an album of previously unreleased tracks later this year.
Since Mr. Jackson’s death on June 25, Sony has sold an estimated 31 million of his albums globally. By the first anniversary of his death, his estate expects to have earned $250 million from sales of music, merchandise and tickets to the posthumous concert film “This Is It.â€
Sony will probably also re-release expanded versions of Off the Wall and This Is It, and Cirque du Soleil has expressed interest in licensing Jackson’s music for a Las Vegas show about the singer’s body of work.