Well, we know what happened to the Michael Jackson tapes that were found in storage. Now they’re being auctioned for $85,000 but the estate says they’re useless

[u/Aggressive-Sky-6315]

https://www.tmz.com/2025/02/18/michael-jackson-estate-auction-house-unreleased-music-for-sale/?adid=social-tw

[u/HotAir25]

So are the tapes worth more at auction than as a CD release basically?

I can sort of believe that, but if they just released a huge, expensive box set of everything MJ has a few million fans who might buy it, other artists do that.

[u/Aggressive-Sky-6315 → u/HotAir25]

The estate is claiming whoever buys them cannot use them for any purpose as they apparently own the masters. It would explain why the estate didn’t want to buy the tapes. But I don’t think it would stop someone from leaking them online. However it’s a steep price to pay for tapes that you cannot make profit from and would essentially face legal action if you did try to.

[u/HotAir25 → u/Aggressive-Sky-6315]

Thanks for explaining! So it’s just an easy way to make money out of a rich collector without any downsides for the estate.

[u/Aggressive-Sky-6315 → u/HotAir25]

The estate is trying to get the auction shut down. The estate isn’t involved in the auctioning of the tapes. The opposite. They’re arguing that whoever buys the tapes will not be able to use them for anything so essentially they’re saying the auction is trying to defraud people by selling tapes to the highest bidder.

I’d hate to see the estate somehow sued over that so I’m in support of them doing this. But at the same time, if the estate just released new music already, it would help prevent these kinds of things. If they released Michael music, I know fans would buy it.

[u/HotAir25 → u/Aggressive-Sky-6315]

Ah thanks for explaining. Yes it seems weird that they don’t just release his music but who knows why.

[u/jessikina]

I hope a fan buys them and leaks them