Academic

Michael Jackson's Will

By Kevin Maillard

In case you didn't know, or are pretending not to, Michael Jackson, who was a singer of popular music, died yesterday.  Fans worldwide have mourned the death of the musical superstar, and news of the death clogged the internet yesterday.  Twitter, the social networking site, shut down yesterday, as did AIM, the instant messaging service. Sales of his songs increased 721 times on Amazon, with similar increases on ITunes, reports the NY Times.

Clearly, the world is keenly interested in the death of Michael Jackson, and so should academia. The unraveling of his complicated estate will be of acute interest to law professors.  Before his death, Jackson was saddled with $500 million in debt, and his upcoming concert tour in London, starting July 13, was intended to offset it.  He also held the rights to The Beatles and Elvis Presley's songs, buy purchasing the catalogs and owning half of Sony/ATV Music Publishing.  His attorneys say that his three children will not be responsible for his debt, but remain speculative as to who will be appointed their guardian.

Can this be only the beginning of the legend of Michael Jackson? What else can we predict as an issue in the outcome of his death?

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on June 26, 2009 (boomark / email).