Famed producer Quincy Jones is suing Michael Jackson’s estate, claiming that he is owed at least $10 million dollars. The claims are aimed at The King of Pop’s estate and Sony Music Entertainment, insisting that they improperly re-edited songs to deprive him of royalties and production fees, according to AP.
The producer worked with Jackson on three of his most popular solo albums, “Off the Wall,” ”Thriller” and “Bad”, and more recently on the movie “This Is It”, for which he claims he should have received Producer credit. Jackson’s hits “Billie Jean,” ”Thriller” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” are among the songs Jones claims were re-edited to deprive him of royalties and his producer’s fee.
The lawsuit states Jones’ belief that the Jackson parties “secretly entered into a venture agreement with Sony” where Sony and the Jackson Label would share profits according to The Hollywood Reporter. But Jones also alleges that rights to the master recordings “reverted from Sony to MJJ” and albums featuring the performances of Jackson were “distributed by the Jackson Label, instead of Sony, including albums embodying one or more of the Masters.”
Therefore, the defendants are charged with an effort to “divert” revenues to MJJ and “disguise” the revenues as “profits” instead of “royalties.”
According to the lawsuit, “By removing such Disguised Royalties from the pool of revenues upon which Jones’ royalties are calculated, MJJ purposely reduces the royalties … payable to Jones under both of the Agreements.”
Jackson’s estate disagrees with Jones’ stance and wrote in a statement that it was saddened by Jones’ lawsuit. “To the best of its knowledge, Mr. Jones has been appropriately compensated over approximately 35 years for his work with Michael.”
Jones’ attorney, Henry Gradstein, said, “Quincy has been frustrated with these matters for a number of years, felt he was not making any progress and needed to take more formal action.”
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