Michael Jackson‘s estate has gone ahead and removed three tracks from his posthumous album, “Michael,” on all streaming platforms following claims the late singer never actually sang them. The Michael Jackson estate, alongside Sony Music, announced they had withdrawn the songs “Keep Your Head Up,” “Breaking News,” and “Monster,” which were all lifted from the record released in 2010.
Fans were adamant that the songs did not include Michael’s vocals, alleging it was singer Jason Malachi’s vocals that were used instead. And while Sony Music had denied these claims in the past, on Wednesday, the record label decided to pull the songs “as the simplest and best way to move beyond the conversation associated with these tracks once and for all,” they told USA Today. “The album’s remaining tracks remain available.”
“Nothing should be read into this action concerning the authenticity of the tracks –it is just time to move beyond the distraction surrounding them.” Back in 2014, a Michael Jackson fan named Vera Serova filed a class-action lawsuit against Sony Music for allegedly selling her and other fans a product that had been misrepresented, given that the person who sang the aforementioned tracks sounded nothing like the late King of Pop, she argued.
Vera also contended that there was “elaborate artistic fraud” being committed by selling the tracks to Michael’s estate for a presumed sum of millions of dollars. An appeals court eventually ended up ruling in favor of Sony and the MJ estate because it simply couldn’t be determined whether Michael was the singer on those songs or not.
“Because [they] lacked actual knowledge of the identity of the lead singer on [Breaking News, Monster, and Keep Your Head Up], they could only draw a conclusion about that issue from their own research and the available evidence,” the court documents revealed.
Furthermore, the judges ruled that any claims made about the album artwork, songs, or promotional materials amounted “to a statement of opinion rather than fact.”
This comes amid reports that the Michael Jackson estate has generated over $2 billion since the star’s untimely death from an accidental drug overdose from Propofol at his Holmby Hills home in 2009. The “You Are Not Alone” singer was just 50 at the time of his passing.
According to a report via the Mirror, the estate was pulling in just under $380 million a year from music sales, merchandise, and other global licensing projects. It’s a far-cry from the value of Michael’s band prior to his death, when he had found himself in over $400 million in debt.