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Being a musician myself I can understand the magnitude of MJ dying and I seem to take it harder than most people. Here's a man(MJ) who changed not only dancing, was at the forefront of videos when they came out,and an incredible singer. Plus he the many charities he gave to instead of thinking of his family only. He brought choregraphy or the type of dancing/singing we see in many of the artist's shows from Madonna,Brittany Spears,Timberlake etc etc. His giving of time and money to needy causes puts him at the top of the list in helping others.He'll be remembered though through his music and where so many child stars fae away he some how came up with something totally different.There are not many innovators in life from Mozart,Beethoven in music to Bill Gates (computers),Frank Wright in architecture and when someone does come along they revolutionize the industry,this is what MJ has done.

If you have money there will be leechers after it and MJ is no different. From the doctors,lawyers and the many lawsuits that people tried to sue him to get his money this is what is sad. MJ does take responsibility you can't get to the point where you don't trust anyone.If a decent person came a long and told MJ something he didn't want to hear MJ would either drop you has a friend or not communicate with you . This is the downfall of being to powerful not trusting the right people and it led to his death I'm afraid. MJ was treated before having a drug addiction but he couldn't see this was a huge problem. You don't need all the pills the doctors kept telling you was needed. Maybe MJ felt he's different and no other artist goes through the stresses he does. Drugs are not the answer yet Michael couldn't get off them.

I think the main problem many have is MJ being around kids when he was a grown man. MJ probably needed a therapist more than doctors giving him pills because of the odd things he did. I forget one of MJ's friends told him it isn't ri ght having kids in your bed yet Jackson thought it was cute. The allegations against Jackson I don't think were proven yet the public image was tarnished. What's the best way to extort MJ if your a needy family sue him for sexual conduct.I believe the first kid got 13 million from MJ. If you add up the facts that MJ really didn't date women or men and that it must be kids he likes then people want to call him guilty by association. O n the flipside just suppose Jackson never layed a hand on the kids and he did what he said have them just sleep in his bed why should the man's reputation be ruined?

I wonder about MJ's kids also if Jackson is the real father. I don't want to open a can of worms but when you have 100's of millions of dollars on the line its important to make sure there are not issues in terms of bloodlines. Now if the media pursued it people would be up in arms saying hasn't MJ i ndured enough pain and you doubt these are his kids? In today's world nothing surprises me and I would want a DNA test to make sure these are MJ's kids. Just maybe the kids really are his good doctor's(the one that did the plastic surgurgy on Jackson). The mother also worked for the Doctor so who knows if some deviant plan was devised so MJ would raise the kids. You can't tell by looking at people always if they are related to one another but I really don't see any of MJ in those kids myself.

Yesterday's memorial/celebration was about MJ the musician,humanitarian,father and nothing else. MJ had plenty of negatives but the positives out weigh them much more. There is only one judge and if your religous you know that is god. If Jesus can forgive a murderer than Jackson's alleged crimes on earth will be forgiven provided he has asked forgiveness of his sins. I am not trying to be religous here since people can believe what they want but I choose to believe energy never dies and MJ is with the almighty in heaven having a great time and is looking down on us touched by all the people that loved him throughout the world.

I really compartmentalize all this stuff...MJ, Vick, whoever. I don't know these people. I really only consider their "product." Sort of a personality flaw of mine. There are guys getting killed in Iraq, etc., who are probably more deserving of our mourning but it is what it is. Riddle me this...why do they get your daughter to speak on international TV at your funeral anyway? Is it common to speak at your own father's funeral. Does the show biz never end? All I saw was the Mayer clip and her little clip. again, I compartmentalize...I thought Mayer played a nice piece of music. I don't consider why he was there.

A real plus is going to be this will give Black America the chance to make the asses of themselves that they've laughed at White America making of itself about Elvis. I think there is already a reported sighting of MJ's ghost at Neverland. God...are we a vapid culture or what?

BnB, that is something I thought about while people mourn MJ's death and their kids not having a dad think of all the kids who don't have a father or mother and don't have the millions MJ's kids will inherit. Your also right on there are soldiers dying over in Iraq yet few will pay attention to them like MJ 's death. Music is very powerful and in a way many people who didn't know MJ knew him through his music thus millions were effected by his work unlike someone dying over in Iraq. Each has their own meaning to a group of people and every loss of life is important.

All true. And it could be argued that music is "positive" as opposed to, say, "destructive" with soldiering. Just more of our celebrity infatuation. For every Pat Tillman there are several thousand "John Does" leaving fatherless children somewhere.

Wasn't MJ broke, which is what prompted him to go on this tour? I guess he'll get some money from the royalties of his songs being played a lot more over the next year. I'm sure MJ's kids will live a lot better than most people in this country, but I'm not sure they'll be inheriting millions. That estate tax is a killer.

Pudge, haven't you heard? The estate tax is a good thing!

Maybe I dont get it, but how could he have been 'broke'? Unless he was into real estate speculation, that doesnt make sense.

Didn't he own half of the Beatles catalogue? Hell, the PFP royalties on that alone would seem to set him up for life!

Unlike Octomom's kids, these kids should stand to get millions: his stuff is selling like wildfire now. What remains to be seen is how ugly the lawyers are gonna make this. If these kids are handed to a 'guardian' say Diana Ross, and she squanders every cent, ala Macauley Caulkin ( irony alert ) or Gary Coleman, these poor kids are not going to be 'poor', in the fiscal sense. BUt if custody, etc drags on in an ugly legal fight for year, that could cost $$$. But, enough to bankrupt the royalties of MJ?

Having no law degree, or even been in custody disputes, I am at a loss to explain how these kids could ever be broke? Anyone know a good lawyer that could help with these questions?

I'm no record industry insider/expert, but from what I understand artists are lucky to get a few dimes for every dollar of their stuff sold.

Royalties don't pay for the electricity bills at neverland ranch. And from what I've heard, royalties has really only been the only source of major income for Mr. Jackson over the last decade.

This is from a few years ago, but without being a financial wiz, I doubt anything has really changed since then:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4342255.stm

A bit more recent:

http://astrology.yahoo.com/channel/life ... om-481832/

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/ ... Q520090626

Artists and performers, yes. Songwriters, not so much. I thought he owned the rights to half of the Beatles songs? Hell, the royalties on that alone could power Neverland AND Al Gore's mansion


Wow, What these are saying is his legal woes and lavish spending are to blame. Maybe that's true, but something just does not smell right. This guy would make MC Hammer look like a piker.

Something in my gut tells me this guy was no idiot. I would wager a whole buncha his dough was hidden or spread out somewhere that the banks and govt could not 'find'.

It's all moot now, as he will make more $$$ in death then he would have on 3 of these last 'tours'.

Here's an article discussing the Beattles catalog.It alone could sell between 600- 1 billion dollars pretty good for a 47.5 million investment.




CNN) -- First the rumor went around that Michael Jackson was leaving the Beatles catalog to Paul McCartney in his will. Then the rumor was that McCartney was upset that Jackson didn't leave the Beatles catalog to the Beatle in his will.


Michael Jackson didn't leave the Beatles catalog to Paul McCartney in his will, McCartney says.

1 of 2 Neither is true, said McCartney in a posting on his Web site.

"Some time ago, the media came up with the idea that Michael Jackson was going to leave his share in the Beatles songs to me in his will which was completely made up and something I didn't believe for a second," McCartney said.

"Now the report is that I am devastated to find that he didn't leave the songs to me. This is completely untrue," he added.

The story of the Beatles song catalog is long and tangled. At the time McCartney and writing partner John Lennon wrote their songs, they retained only a portion of the rights in the publishing company created by the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, and London music publisher Dick James. (The company was called Northern Songs, a nod to the Beatles' Liverpudlian roots.) The company went public in 1965.

According to the myth-busting site Snopes.com, Lennon and McCartney each had 15 percent of the shares, Epstein (and his NEMS Enterprises) had 7.5 percent, James and partner Charles Silver had 37.5 percent and Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr had less than 2 percent. The rest was available for public investment.

Over the years (and partly due to the group's legal battles) the Beatles lost or sold their control, and the catalog of about 250 songs -- almost all of Lennon/McCartney's creations -- ended up in the hands of British media mogul Sir Lew Grade and his ATV Music Publishing. ATV added the Beatles' songs to its holdings, a cache that eventually grew to more than 4,000 songs. (Other songs in the catalog include those recorded by the Kinks, the Moody Blues and Elvis Presley.)

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In 1984, the catalog was put up for sale again. McCartney wanted to buy his creations back, but for various reasons wasn't a front-runner. Jackson -- who had taken to investing in music publishing at, ironically, McCartney's recommendation -- came up with the winning bid of $47.5 million. The sale went through in 1985.

In 1995, Sony paid Jackson $95 million to merge the catalog with its Sony Music. Jackson maintained 50 percent control. In 2005, Sony/ATV Music had more than 200,000 songs in its catalog, a CNN.com article reported.

To finance his lifestyle, Jackson borrowed money, using the catalog as collateral. Nevertheless, he never lost the asset. The entire catalog was estimated to be worth between $600 million and $1 billion in 2005, according to a 2005 article in USA Today.

As a songwriter, McCartney has continued to receive some royalties from his work, as has Lennon's estate.

McCartney said in the posting that he and Jackson may have "drifted apart," but "we never really fell out."

"At times like this, the press do tend to make things up, so occasionally, I feel the need to put the record straight," he wrote.

McCartney and Jackson recorded a pair of duets in the early 1980s, "The Girl Is Mine" and "Say Say Say." The latter hit No. 1 in late 1983.

Yikes! 600 mil for the lowball? That's AMAZING.

I like the 'drifted apart' How 'bout 'Linda wouldn't let the kids go over there anymore'?

Call me crazy, but there's a part of me that still thinks Paul Mac wouldn't mind beating MJ with his ex wifes leg, that is if he wasn't a pacifist

How about we put Paul's exwife and the psycho that murdered Steve Mcnair in one room and have them duke it out? Seriously, both ladies are or were psychos and while beauty may be on the outside you never know what's on the inside. Jackson will roll the money in with all the unreleased music, current music and the music rights he owns to different musicians catalogs. No, those kids have nothing to worry about in terms of money or career opportunities. Just say the word and their in what ever work they decide.

But the obvious question, is who's pocket(s) that money is going to now? Ain't no more checks being made out with Michael's name on them...