Jackson’s Earning Potential Is at the Heart of a Wrongful-Death Suit
He is one of the top-grossing artists in music. His influence is heard all over the Top 10, his songs have inspired two hit Cirque du Soleil shows, and Jay Z raps about him obsessively as the ultimate symbol of success.
Four years after his death, Michael Jackson still rules the music business.
Jackson’s importance to music and his continuing earning potential have been on display in a courtroom in Los Angeles this summer as members of his family battle with the promoter of his final concerts over who was responsible for his death, a question that may be worth more than $ 1 billion.
The darker part of Jackson’s legacy is also on display: the drug dependence, financial fecklessness, accusations of sexual abuse and the inescapability of his family, which first propelled him to stardom as a child and now continues to live off his fortune.
To judge by the market, that history is largely forgiven, if not forgotten. Forbes estimated that the estate made $ 145 million last year through a range of music and merchandising deals; the only living musician to come close, according to the magazine, was Dr. Dre with $ 110 million, mostly from the sale of his company Beats Electronics.
Cirque du Soleil’s tribute, “Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour,” has sold more than $ 300 million in tickets since it opened two years ago, and last month an elaborate new Cirque show, “Michael Jackson One,” opened in Las Vegas.
Projects like these keep money pouring into the estate even as Jackson’s album sales have slowed from a peak after his death. Since 2009, the estate is estimated to have earned at least $ 600 million.
“Time is an elixir,” [...]