Musgrove told The Hollywood Reporter he approached the Jackson estate, which declined to purchase the tapes but also provided legal guidance that suggested copyright on the records remained with the estate.
That effectively leaves the recordings in legal limbo, with any attempt to release them commercially likely to trigger protected court proceedings over the music’s ownership.
Jackson at the height of his popularity, in the music video for Thriller.Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
The inventory includes a studio mix master tape of a song titled Son of Thriller and a rap duet with LL Cool J titled Truth on Youth.
In total there are 16 tapes, with several versions of the songs. The tapes include some recordings of songs that were eventually released.
It is believed the recordings were laid down between 1989 and 1991.
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In a sense, the story is almost uniquely American. Under US law, a storage unit is declared legally abandoned between 60 and 90 days after non-payment. The fine print varies by state, but at that point the units can (and are often) auctioned off to prospectors who gamble on their contents.
Since Jackson’s death, the Jackson estate has continued to mine his image and music for commercial ventures, including a musical computer game, Michael Jackson: The Experience, several albums of unreleased material, including Xscape, and a jukebox Broadway musical, MJ The Musical, which opened in 2022.
A biographical film based on his life, titled Michael, is scheduled for release in April 2025.
The film will star Jackson’s nephew – Jaafar Jeremiah Jackson, son of Jermaine Jackson and Alejandra Genevieve – as Michael.
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