{"id":1829,"date":"2024-07-18T17:20:57","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T17:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/music-lawyer-on-representing-michael-jackson-others\/"},"modified":"2024-07-18T17:20:57","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T17:20:57","slug":"music-lawyer-on-representing-michael-jackson-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/music-lawyer-on-representing-michael-jackson-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Music Lawyer on Representing Michael Jackson & Others"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tJohn Branca stopped collecting his clients\u2019 RIAA gold and platinum record awards decades ago. Those he has that are not in storage or at his office \u2014 approximately 20 \u2014 are displayed, along with other music memorabilia, in four rooms of his Italian villa-style home in affluent Beverly Park, a gated community in the Los Angeles hills. The records are etched with some of the most recognizable names and album titles in pop and rock history: the Saturday Night Fever<\/em> soundtrack, Fleetwood Mac\u2019s Rumours<\/em>, Santana\u2019s Supernatural<\/em>, The Best of The Doors<\/em> and others from Elton John, Nirvana, Backstreet Boys, Usher, Alanis Morissette, Enrique Iglesias and Michael Jackson.<\/p>\n

\n\tA partner and the head of the music department at L.A. entertainment law firm Ziffren Brittenham, Branca has represented 30 Rock\u00a0& Roll Hall of Fame inductees over his 47 years as an entertainment lawyer. But he\u2019s most closely associated with Jackson, especially since the pop legend\u2019s untimely death at the age of 50 on June\u00a025, 2009, brought on by a heart-stopping mixture of sedatives and the anesthetic propofol.<\/p>\n

\n\tBranca, who had represented Jackson on and off since 1980, had rejoined the pop star\u2019s team just eight days earlier, six years after Jackson had terminated Branca\u2019s services in a letter that offered no explanation for his decision. On July\u00a01, he was appointed co-executor of his estate with former record executive John McClain, based on a 2002 will that Branca produced for the court. Jackson left everything to his children (Prince, Paris and Bigi); his mother, Katherine Jackson; and charity, but his estate was almost $500\u00a0million in debt.<\/p>\n

\n\tNow 73, Branca was just 29 and working for then-prominent entertainment attorney David Braun when Jackson \u2014 who was seeking independence both from his family (including his notorious manager father, Joe Jackson) and as an artist \u2014 hired the young attorney. The two grew close: Jackson was best man at Branca\u2019s first wedding, which Little Richard officiated, and until their parting, Branca was instrumental in helping Jackson become an artist who, at his apogee, was the Taylor Swift of his time. But Branca sees it differently. \u201cI prefer to say she\u2019s the Michael Jackson of this time,\u201d he says with a wry smile, sitting in the so-called \u201ctennis house\u201d next to his personal court. \u201cIf there was a Mount Rushmore of pop artists,\u201d he adds, \u201cyou\u2019d have Elvis, The Beatles and Michael.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFifteen years after Jackson\u2019s death, Branca remains an effective steward of his estate. In addition to adding approximately $3\u00a0billion in net revenue to its coffers through publishing acquisitions and negotiating better terms for Jackson\u2019s catalog including ownership of his master recordings, among others, he has maintained the late artist\u2019s cultural relevance through a number of theatrical productions, documentaries and, next year, a biopic \u2014 all of which have kept Jackson\u2019s brand from being defined by T-shirts and coffee mugs while maintaining focus on his art instead of the allegations of sexual abuse that surfaced late in his life and followed him after death.<\/p>\n

\n\tBranca also remains a fierce defender of Jackson\u2019s crown as the King of Pop. He professes immense admiration for Swift\u2019s accomplishments, including her blockbuster 2023 concert film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour<\/em>, but he refutes media reports from earlier this year asserting that its box-office yields had surpassed those of the posthumous 2009 Jackson documentary, This Is It<\/em>, saying inflation wasn\u2019t taken into account. According to Box Office Mojo, The Eras Tour<\/em> grossed $261.7\u00a0million and This Is It<\/em> grossed $268\u00a0million \u2014 or, in 2024 dollars, roughly $267\u00a0million for the former and $390\u00a0million for the latter.<\/p>\n

\n\tThen there\u2019s the May New York<\/em> Times <\/em>story that compared Swift to Jackson, The Beatles and other artists, pointing out that the 10 solo albums Jackson released between 1972 and 2001 have been RIAA-certified platinum 72 times, with Thriller<\/em> accounting for 34 of them (making it one of the most successful albums of all time). Swift currently has 50 certified platinum albums \u2014 although the Times<\/em> article reported that her sales indicate the number will be closer to 90 once her \u201cTaylor\u2019s Version\u201d releases are counted. But Branca says Jackson\u2019s certifications do not account for his popularity overseas. \u201cTwo-thirds of Michael\u2019s sales are outside the United States,\u201d he notes \u2014 sales that the RIAA does not count when issuing gold and platinum albums. That international appeal has carried over to the streaming era: Jackson\u2019s combined U.S. streams for 2020 through 2022 made up 28% of his combined global streams, according to Luminate. He also points out that multiple streams of a single song can count as an album, which was not the case when physical sales were the only measurement of a record\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

\n\tBranca is a walking, talking compendium of numbers and reasons that Jackson belongs on that pop Rushmore, and preaches that gospel to his 29,200 followers on TikTok<\/a>, where he has posted 70 videos \u2014 the majority of them about Jackson, among others about Branca\u2019s own memorabilia and business philosophies. <\/p>\n

\n\t But regarding the estate\u2019s business dealings and litigation, he is a tomb.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen questions veer into that territory, his response is usually a version of \u201cThis isn\u2019t going to be another<\/em> story about the Jackson estate, is it?\u201d He has a point. In addition to the RIAA awards on his wall, over his career Branca has represented Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Neil Diamond, The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson, Paul McCartney and John Lennon\u2019s Northern Songs publishing catalog, the Elvis Presley estate, The Rolling Stones, Earth, Wind\u00a0& Fire and Motown founder Berry Gordy.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe son of an actress-dancer who appeared in a number of Elvis\u2019 films and an athletic commissioner for New York State, Branca grew up in the New York suburb of Mount Vernon and moved to Los Angeles at age 11. In his teens, he played guitar and keyboards in two rock bands, The Other Half and The Pasternak Progress. \u201cI signed a record deal at 16, but I was forced to go to college by my mother,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChristopher Patey<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tToday, Branca still projects a Beverly Hills version of that youthful rock\u2019n\u2019roll aesthetic. His car collection includes two Rolls-Royces (a white 2023 Cullinan and a blue 2016 Dawn). He sold the Ferrari 458 Spider that he once told Billboard<\/em> he would hang \u201cfrom the ceiling in my living room if I could\u201d \u2014 and he has turned heads at Grammy parties with a beautiful woman in tow. (Married three times, Branca is currently single.)<\/p>\n

\n\tBut that exterior flash conceals \u201can incredible strategist,\u201d says David Lande, a Ziffren Brittenham partner who also represents music clients. As such, Branca declines to discuss pressing questions regarding the estate, including Katherine Jackson\u2019s appeal of a judge\u2019s 2023 ruling that let the estate move forward with its then-confidential $625\u00a0million sale of 50% of Jackson\u2019s assets to Sony Music. (California\u2019s Second Appellate District Court in Los Angeles has since issued a tentative ruling that sides with the estate.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHe also deflects queries about the role that co-executor McClain plays in estate administration. A former executive at A&M Records and Interscope, and a key figure in Janet Jackson\u2019s success, McClain has A&R\u2019d all posthumous releases of Jackson\u2019s music, but he has otherwise been virtually invisible since Jackson\u2019s will was probated, in part due to health issues. Branca only says: \u201cFor all his genius, John shuns the spotlight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Sony assets sale is off-limits as well \u2014 but according to three sources familiar with the deal, the estate retained Jackson\u2019s public image and likeness rights, which means that Sony does not get a cut of projects such as the various productions of MJ: The Musical <\/em>and the biopic that is slated to open in April 2025. (Actor Miles Teller will portray Branca.)<\/p>\n

\n\tThose sources also tell Billboard<\/em> that the estate retains control and management of how the assets Sony acquired can be used moving forward. Branca says only that the sale will not change the business strategy that Jackson mandated when he was alive: \u201cEverything has to be authentic and true to the artist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe deal values Jackson\u2019s assets at $1.25\u00a0billion \u2014 the highest of any artist in history, including the recent $1\u00a0billion to $1.2\u00a0billion valuation assigned to Queen\u2019s coveted assets (which Sony is reported to be buying). Unlike the Jackson deal, sources say the Queen sale includes name, image and likeness rights.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe $3\u00a0billion that the estate has earned includes its take from box-office receipts from several Jackson-themed theatrical productions, which Branca says have grossed close to $2\u00a0billion, among them two Cirque du\u00a0Soleil shows; The Immortal World Tour, which ran from 2011 to 2014 and grossed $360\u00a0million, according to Billboard Boxscore; and Michael Jackson: One<\/em>, which has been playing at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas since 2013. On Broadway, MJ: The Musical<\/em> has grossed over $202.5\u00a0million and attracted almost 1.4\u00a0million theatergoers since opening in February 2022, according to The Broadway League. The jukebox musical opened on London\u2019s West End in March; will debut in Hamburg, Germany, in November; has toured North America since August 2023; and Branca says a fifth production will debut at the Sydney Opera House next February and tour the world. The U.S. touring version, he adds, \u201coutgrosses the Broadway show.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe recent success of the musical and anticipation of the biopic, Michael<\/em>, which stars Jermaine Jackson\u2019s son Jaafar Jackson in the title role, have deflected the spotlight from the disturbing allegations revealed in the 2019 HBO docuseries Leaving Neverland<\/em>, in which two men accused Jackson of sexually abusing them as children. (The case is currently in arbitration; Branca declines to comment on the film or the estate\u2019s lawsuit against HBO over it.)<\/p>\n

\n\tBranca does allude to the documentary when discussing his perspective on the use of artificial intelligence in the music industry. \u201cAI is a tool if it\u2019s used properly, and from what I\u2019ve seen, it will never replace the emotional attachment that a fan has to the real artist,\u201d he says. But he also contends, \u201cIt\u2019s important to have a regulatory environment where artists can control their [intellectual property] and their brand.\u201d And that control, he asserts, should extend beyond their lives.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLibel laws only extend to a living artist. Once they pass away, anybody can say anything, and in my opinion, that\u2019s reckless and not fair,\u201d he says. \u201cThere should be legislation that protects an artist\u2019s reputation and brand for a period after their death \u2014 whether it\u2019s 10 years or 20 years. You can still say things that are truthful, but you can\u2019t make stuff up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s an idea that would have a profound effect on journalism and media, and Branca has taken steps to make it reality. \u201cWe\u2019ve talked to the legislature in Vermont, which is very progressive, about a pilot program for protection of the deceased,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s been put in front of certain legislators who are interested in it, but it\u2019s embryonic at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOver the course of his career, Branca says he\u2019s proudest of \u201cfighting for artists\u2019 rights,\u201d a mission that extends far beyond his work for the Jackson estate. \u201cI got the Bee Gees the ownership of their recordings from [Australian music impresario Robert] Stigwood. I got Don Henley back the ownership of his Eagles songs,\u201d he says. For The Rolling Stones\u2019 Steel Wheels<\/em> tour, \u201cI negotiated the touring structure in which there was a single national tour promoter who guaranteed not only ticket sales, merchandising and all other rights in one bundle\u201d \u2014 a then-game-changing deal that is now standard practice for major artists \u2014 \u201cand brought them and their catalog to Richard Branson to establish Virgin Records.\u201d He extracted Carlos Santana from his Island Records contract and reunited him with Clive Davis, which resulted in the smash success of Supernatural<\/em> and, for John Fogerty, obtained artist royalties for the first time on his Creedence Clearwater Revival recordings.<\/p>\n

\n\tBranca attributes this conviction to growing up in the late \u201960s \u201cduring the anti-Vietnam, anti-establishment era.\u201d That said, righteousness runs in his family. His uncle, Ralph Branca, was a three-time MLB All-Star who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the \u201940s and \u201950s. To sports fans, he is the pitcher who gave up the \u201cShot Heard Round the World\u201d \u2014 New York Giant Bobby Thomson\u2019s walk-off home run that won the National League pennant for his team in 1951. But Ralph also ranks as a hero in the history of civil rights as the white team member who befriended MLB\u2019s first Black player, Jackie Robinson.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRalph embraced Jackie,\u201d says Della Britton, president\/CEO of the Jackie Robinson Foundation. On opening day of the 1947 season, when Robinson made his MLB debut, Ralph lined up next to him when other players refused. \u201cJohn\u2019s father [John\u00a0R. Branca; the son is John\u00a0G.] said to Ralph, \u2018Are you crazy?\u2019\u00a0\u201d Britton explains. \u201cAt the time, Jackie was receiving death threats, and Ralph\u2019s brother was worried that someone would take a shot at him, and if they missed, hit Ralph.\u201d Ralph\u2019s reply? Britton says: \u201c\u00a0\u2018I would have died a hero.\u2019\u00a0\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the tennis house, where his uncle\u2019s Dodgers uniform hangs framed on the wall, Branca wipes away tears as he talks about his uncle and his father, who was a high school pitcher. \u201cHe threw two no-hitters and was the New York State player of the year, but he got drafted in World War\u00a0II,\u201d he says. \u201cI read Ralph\u2019s autobiography, and he said that the [MLB] clubs overlooked my father because he was 5\u00a0foot\u00a010 or 11 inches and he didn\u2019t throw 95 [mph] like Ralph. But he said, \u2018Today, Johnny would be looked at like Greg Maddux: control, control, control.\u2019\u00a0\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLike his late uncle, Branca serves on the board of the Jackie Robinson Foundation. Dylan, the youngest of his three children, is a pitcher on New York University\u2019s baseball team, and Branca funded an indoor practice facility in downtown Manhattan so that the players did not have to take the ferry to Staten Island. He also funded the Branca Family Field at the University of California, Los Angeles\u2019 Jackie Robinson Stadium. (Branca got his law degree at UCLA and is a donor and board member of various schools there.)<\/p>\n

\n\tHis most recent philanthropic effort is tied to music. In June, he announced a $5\u00a0million gift to establish the John Branca Institute of Music at his undergraduate alma mater, L.A.\u2019s Occidental College. His contribution will support the expansion of the college\u2019s music program \u2014 one of Billboard<\/em>\u2019s top music business schools for the past several years.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe gift came with Branca\u2019s caveat that the institute must \u201cfocus on contemporary music. I said, \u2018Go back as far as you need to go back, but you must include the rock era \u2014 you know, Muddy Waters and Elvis through to what\u2019s going on today,\u2019\u00a0\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019re going to do a class on the creation of a song and how it\u2019s marketed. They\u2019re going to come at it from a more liberal arts perspective, so somebody majoring in economics or philosophy can benefit and get a real knowledge of the music business. They may teach a class on Taylor Swift. They may teach a class on Michael Jackson, which would be pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd while he may not want to be known solely for his work with Jackson, Branca isn\u2019t looking to put the man in the rearview mirror. Asked if he would have considered selling 100% of the estate\u2019s assets to Sony, he shakes his head. \u201cNo,\u201d he says. \u201cI feel it\u2019s important to pass Michael\u2019s legacy on to his kids. So owning his name and likeness; always having 50% of the catalog and management control; the personal property: the warehouses, his Rolls-Royces, his chess set \u2014 everything goes to the kids. That\u2019s how it should be.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAdditional reporting by Ed Christman.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tThis story will appear in the July 20, 2024, issue of <\/em>Billboard.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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