Paul Anka Awarded 50 Percent of Michael Jackson’s “This Is It”

[Brad from Georgia]

According to this article, Paul Anka will receive half of all proceeds from Michael Jackson's just-released "This Is It." Turns out it apparently is a retitled "I Never Heard," a tune that Anka cowrote and recorded with Jackson back in 1983.

[musicgeek]

The wording of the article's a bit confusing - I'm not sure what the last portion was trying to say. No, Safire doesn't have any rights as the artist; song performance/publishing/distribution rights are held by the copyright holder, who must pay royalties to the songwriter(s). (Now I'm really curious about the Satriani/Stevens/Coldplay thing, and am off to Google!)

[Brad from Georgia]

To be fair, I read a longer account of the tohu-bohu in The New York Times, but could not find the Times article online. I may have been misremembering the source with my comments.

[snopes]

Originally Posted by Brad from Georgia

To be fair, I read a longer account of the tohu-bohu in The New York Times, but could not find the Times article online. I may have been misremembering the source with my comments.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009...on-Single.html

[Brad from Georgia]

Thank you, mr. snopes!

[Just Jocko]

Well, it was pretty stupid of his estate to put out a song that they got off of a tape in a box, without first researching it to determine who owned the royalties. Just because Jackson sang it doesn't mean they have a right to release it and keep the proceeds. Considering how many songs Jackson himself owned the rights to at some point, his people should have known better.