A California appeals court has given a final green light to Michael Jackson’s estate to proceed with a sale of the music legend’s catalog to Sony Music valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The decision overturns objections raised by Michael Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson, who argued that the sale of the estate’s “single most valuable asset” violated her son’s wishes.

The court’s final ruling, issued on Wednesday (August 21), supports a preliminary rulinghanded down on July 17. Katherine Jackson had claimed that the sale was not in her son’s best interest and that the catalog’s value would continue to rise. However, the court determined that the executors of Jackson’s estate had the authority to proceed with the sale under the terms of his will.

“The will gave the executors broad powers of sale, with no exception for the specific assets at issue in this case,” the court said. “As such, the probate court did not err in concluding that it was Michael’s intent to allow the executors to sell any estate assets, including those at issue in the proposed transaction.”

“THE PROBATE COURT DID NOT ERR IN CONCLUDING THAT IT WAS MICHAEL’S INTENT TO ALLOW THE EXECUTORS TO SELL ANY ESTATE ASSETS, INCLUDING THOSE AT ISSUE IN THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION.”

CALIFORNIA’S SECOND DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL

The court also noted that Katherine Jackson “forfeited her contention that the proposed transaction violates the terms of Michael’s will” by failing to raise them in the initial probate proceedings.

The sale, first reported in February, will see Sony Music acquiring 50% of Jackson’s publishing and recorded masters catalog. MBW understands that the deal valued the Jackson estate’s music rights at around $1.5 billion, implying a sale price of around $750 million for the transaction. If confirmed, that would top the GBP £1 billion (USD $1.31 billion) at which Queen‘s catalog was valued in its recent sale, also to Sony Music.

Roc Nation has merged its Roc Nation Label and Equity Distribution (EQ) divisions into a single, unified entity called ROC Nation distribution.

The newly formed division will serve as a platform for “any artist”, providing them with the tools and resources they need to meet the demands of the current music industry, Roc Nation said Thursday (August 15).

Roc Nation’s Equity Distribution unit was established in early 2019. The division, led by Krystian Santini, is a platform that allows artists to distribute their music while retaining ownership of their masters. It also provides marketing, publishing administration and data analytics services.

“THE FORMATION OF ROC NATION DISTRIBUTION IS A NATURAL TRANSITION IN THE MUSIC SPACE. THE MISSION IS TO SUPPORT AND EMPOWER INDEPENDENT ARTISTS WHILE PROVIDING THEM THE TOOLS AND SERVICES TO DISTRIBUTE THEIR MUSIC.”

ROC NATION

As part of the restructuring, artists signed to the Roc Nation Label will be represented by ROC Nation distribution. Roc Nation’s distribution and management units represent artists including Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Uzi Vert, DJ Khaled, J Balvin, Yo Gotti, Robin Thicke, Mustard, Christina Aguilera and more.

The onward march of the ‘middle class’ of indie artists has been one of the music industry’s biggest talking points this year.

This trend was highlighted in recent months by Luminate stats showing that indies are nibbling into the majors’ streaming market share.

We also told you about K-Pop giant HYBE’s plans to launch an artist services business in the United States, citing “growing demand for change in the traditional business structure in the US market due to its fragmentation”.

Now we’ve discovered that more than half (60%) of the Top 10 songs globally on social media giant TikTok this summer were independently distributed.

On Monday (August 19), TikTok revealed its Top 10 Songs of the Summer for the US and globally. According to the platform, the songs are ranked “by total creations over Summer 2024.”

Below, you will find the Top 10 songs globally (as ranked by creations) on TikTok this summer, and the companies those tracks were released by. You can see the full Top 10 US Songs of the Summer list here.

Music icon and tech innovator will.i.am has unveiled a new platform that reimagines radio for the digital age, injecting artificial intelligence into the traditional radio format.

Developed by will.i.am’s creative technology company FYI, RAiDiO.FYI goes beyond traditional radio by offering an interactive and conversational experience. Unlike streaming services with AI DJs or playlists, RAiDiO.FYI offers a two-way dialogue between listeners and the platform’s AI personas.

AI personas act as personalized news curators, gathering and delivering the information that users want in real time. Users can choose from a variety of AI personalities, each with a distinct voice reflecting different cultures, from the vibrant streets of South Los Angeles to the underground scenes of East London and beyond.

Beatport, an online store focused on electronic music and DJ culture, has teamed up with Twitch to launch its own channel to support the DJ community.

The move comes over two months after Amazon-owned Twitch, known for livestreaming video games and esports, introduced its new DJ Category, allowing DJs to legally play music in their livestreams on the platform. As part of that launch, Twitch partnered with all three music majors, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music, and a large number of independent labels via Merlin.

Beatport’s Twitch channel will feature exclusive live sets from DJs in iconic locations worldwide, including rooftop performances in Barcelona, beach festivals in Ibiza, and intimate sessions from the Beatport London headquarters.

A quarter of music producers are now using AI in their craft – although a significant majority show signs of resistance to the technology, over fears of losing creative control.

That’s according to a survey from Tracklib, a platform that provides licensed samples and stems for use in music production.

The survey found that 25% of producer respondents are now using AI in the creation of music, although a large majority of those (73.9%) use it primarily for stem separation. Less than half (45.5%) use it for mastering and EQ plugins, while much smaller percentages use it for generating elements to use in songs (21.2%), and very few use it to create entire songs (3%).