Sony/ATV’s Bandier: Michael Is "A Great Partner"

Sony/ATV’s Bandier: Michael Is "A Great Partner"

(18-4-2008) In an interview with Reuters, Sony/ATV CEO Martin Bandier said that he is very excited at the possibility of the Beatles archives finally going digital.

After last month’s TV ratings success in licensing the Beatles’ tunes to American Idol, Bandier is keen to do more deals with the valuable archive. He thinks making the songs available in a digital format will create even more opportunities for his company, EMI and Apple Corp, which manages the Beatles’ affairs.

“One of the things that I think the Beatles are working on closer with EMI - and hopefully getting closer to finalizing it - is to allow for the digital use of Beatles on the Apple (iTunes) store and everywhere else. It would be incredible.”

But it isn’t his decision to make as EMI and Apple Corp lead those discussions.

“All we can do is sit on the sidelines and root like crazy,” said Bandier.

Sony/ATV is a joint venture between Sony Corp and Michael Jackson. Bandier says the entertainer has been a great partner even as speculation floats from time to time that Michael may want to sell his share to repay some of his loans.

“I don’t think that Michael’s interested in selling his share.

For me, he’s been a great partner, has been supportive and has an amazing reputation among the artistry and makes a call when we need him to reinforce our position with artists.“

Source: Reuters

Justice! said:

Sony/ATV’s Bandier: Michael Is "A Great Partner"

Source: Reuters

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I love that title. LOL! It's gonna make the hater's want to throw up. LOL!

Big Apple said:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Justice!
Sony/ATV’s Bandier: Michael Is "A Great Partner"

Source: Reuters

I love that title. LOL! It's gonna make the hater's want to throw up. LOL!

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Haters will just say that Michael Jackson has absolute power to not prolong Bandier's contract -- he can do that just on a whim. Since Sony/ATV MP is equally owned company, there is absolutely no way how Sony (parental company) can force prolongation Bandier's contract as head of Sony/ATV MP without Michael's consent (or vise versa).

“All we can do is sit on the sidelines and root like crazy,” said Bandier

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Just for those who are not deep into business matter: this quote is just consequence of typical music business practice such as rights owners making long time exclusive contracts with music/video carriers' manufacturers/distributors like EMI Records.

Back in 1993, Michael Jackson's ATV MP (then yet solely owned) signed such contract with EMI Records, receiving $200 million including advance payments. In 1998 deal was automatically (by default) prolonged, despite Sony Music Entertainment's wish to move manufacturing and distribution of Beatles' music to itself. This matter could be one of the reasons why former SME president Thomas Mottola could very well like to force Jackson to sell his stake in S/ATV MP via Michael's bankruptcy, for example.

Without Jackson's consent, S/ATV MP can not cancel contract with EMI and can not even send "no prolongation" notice to them -- just like it happened 1998. For Jackson to be not agreed with moving Beatles songs manufacturing and distribution to SME was common business practice that prevents corruption that often happens in cross/internal-dependent businesses.

So S/ATV MP, which exclusively gave away for years copyrights to EMI, is indeed only waits of whatever outcome from negotiations between EMI, Apple Corporation and Apple Incorporated (informational technologies company, which owns and globally operates "iTunes Music Store"). It is just normal thing as S/ATV MP sold copyrights for certain period of time to another company -- EMI.

Big Apple2 said:

I love that title. LOL! It's gonna make the hater's want to throw up. LOL!

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Why does Bandier call MJ as partner? I would think that he works for both Sony and Michael, so why is he seemingly speaking for Sony?^_^

Denisr, what you are saying makes no sense to me. You seem to be saying that EMI paid MJ $200 million for just 5 years service. Then you say that the cntract continued by default. If it was worth 200 mil for 5 years, why would it not be worth anymore, wouldn't MJ be paid a further 200 mil to prolong the contract. that isnn't the kinbd of money that any business man woulld forget. This makes no sense at all.

Are you sure you know the matter before you say something makes no sense? Advance payments to Jackson were $70 million for two years and overall estimated value of contract was $200 million, so it was exactly sensible for five years. So this and deal's prolongation are not related: contract could be ended (just being expired -- exactly as it happened in 1993 with ATV MP contract with MCA Records) or could be prolonged. Eventually, the contract was prolonged.

Datsymay said:

Why does Bandier call MJ as partner? I would think that he works for both Sony and Michael, so why is he seemingly speaking for Sony?^_^

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because technically.. he was hired by Sony...and Sony/ATV is a partnership..

but Michael was part of that hiring decision to get Martin Bandier on board... Michael shares in everything Sony/ATV does.. Sony can't do anything without Michael

denisrs said:

Are you sure you know the matter before you say something makes no sense? Advance payments to Jackson were $70 million for two years and overall estimated value of contract was $200 million, so it was exactly sensible. So this and deal's prolongation are not related; contract could be ended (just expire -- exactly as it happened in 1993 ATV MP contract with MCA) and could be prolonged. Eventually, the contract was prolonged.

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What has this got to do with the reason why Bandier is waitng for Emi to sign with Apple?
Why make claims that MJ could be forced to sell because of Motolla? It doesn't make any sense at all to me.

Rasta Pasta is correct: according to merging deal terms from 1995, Sony (parental company) deals with financing investments and day-to-day operations. Bandier works with Sony all the time, and with Michael only on strategic matters or in cases where he needs "political support" with certain music acts to sign them.

Datsymay said:

What has this got to do with the reason why Bandier is waitng for Emi to sign with Apple?
Why make claims that MJ could be forced to sell because of Motolla? It doesn't make any sense at all to me.

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yeah..Mottola is gone, MJ is still there...so...that makes no sense to me either.

denisrs said:

Rasta Pasta is correct: according to merging deal terms from 1995, Sony (parental company) deals with financing investments and day-to-day operations. Bandier works with Sony all the time, and with Michael only on strategic matters or in cases where he needs "political support" with certain music acts to sign them.

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So who is Michael's equal to Bandier, and why did Michael make a welcoming speech when Bandier was appointed? I thought he worked for Sony/atv.^_^

Datsymay: now it is different thing that makes no sense for you, but it is also easy: if manufacturing and distribution of Beatles songs would be moved to SME (now Sony-BMG ME), then Bandier would not be just sitting aside since this whole thing would be in essence inside of one company Sony (in large scale understanding).

Bandier would be in talks about possible "iTunes Music Store" deal, even though formally he would be still only related to company that in the past sold exclusively copyrights to separate other enterprise, which would be Sony-BMG ME.

Sony offers candidatures for higher management at Sony-ATV MP. That is how Bandier was voted by the board of directors (which has only two representatives -- one for Michael, and another for Sony) to become chief executive officer of S/ATV MP company.

yall seem to know yall stuff.

Datsymay said:

So who is Michael's equal to Bandier, and why did Michael make a welcoming speech when Bandier was appointed? I thought he worked for Sony/atv.^_^

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Bandier does work for Sony/ATV.. where the Sony = Sony the parent company ...and ATV = Michael J...

but Sony does the paychecks....the hiring.. the admin.. the day to day... Micheal doesn't have to do none of that.. his nails stay clean .. all the time.. (gangsta)... AND Sony has to get his approval on everything business move or operational change they make.. becuz of his 50/50 partnership...anyway you slice it.. Michael is the DON...


as for the EMI deal with Michael .. thats been over a long time ago.. when the admintration of ATV was changed from EMI to Sony..

Thanks for the clarification Rasta. Do you have any idea what Denisr was saying about Mottola forcing MJ to sell his share?

thanks for the article.. I like it

as for the EMI deal with Michael .. thats been over a long time ago.. when the admintration of ATV was changed from EMI to Sony.

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To be correct, ATV MP was neither administered (in music rights management sense) nor managed (in common business sense; though you hardly meant that) by EMI, even though some media reported that 1993 deal was with EMI Music Publishing -- the essence was actually manufacturing/distribution, rather than administering in "pure" music business sense. ATV MP administered Beatles song to appear in diapers advertisements, however being publisher at the same time. Now S/ATV MP continues this, being also Beatles' publisher and administer.

"Pure" administering is when Mijac MP outsources administering of its catalogue to Warner Chappel/Tamerlane (and collecting fees duty to BMI). Mijac MP does not have enough staff to handle administering itself so it contracted Warner Chappel/Tamerlane to do that. ATV MP (now S/ATV MP) did not have to give away administering since it had staff and offices to do it itself and thus increase profits even more, keeping administering revenue to itself. It has to deal only with the following parties: EMI, which is exclusive copyright holder/manufacturer/distributor and Performers Rights Society of UK to give author/performer money to Apple corporation (which further distributes money to companies like MacLen and others).

As to business sense, ATV MP always had its own management and many offices around the world. Even when Michael bought it back in 1985 the company already had offices from Australia to Europe to USA. Sony MP also had its own management and offices. After the merge they cut excessive management staff and shut down excessive offices to reduce costs and improve profitability. That was one of the key points of the merge: generating more revenue on less relative expenses.

Edit: this post was updated with more details, to be more accurate.

Datsymay said:

Thanks for the clarification Rasta. Do you have any idea what Denisr was saying about Mottola forcing MJ to sell his share?

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Basically this is what Michael and his people were saying all those years, I am surprised that you are new to the idea. But, anyway, Mottola thing was brought only that newcomer/inexperienced fans could know the context why exactly Bandier of S/ATV MP can not do anything with ongoing negotiations on Beatles' songs on "iTunes Music Store". The short answer is that a) this is regular business practice and b) result of Michael not agreeing with moving copyrights from EMI to SME/Sony-BMG ME.

denisrs said:

Basically this is what Michael and his people were saying all those years, I am surprised that you are new to the idea. But, anyway, Mottola thing was brought only that newcomer/inexperienced fans could know the context why exactly Bandier of S/ATV MP can not do anything with ongoing negotiations on Beatles' songs on "iTunes Music Store". The short answer is that a) this is regular business practice and b) result of Michael not agreeing with moving copyrights from EMI to SME/Sony-BMG ME.

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so are you saying it's a standard business practice to throw empty threats at Michael because he doesn't agree with something?

No, standard practice is that Bandier, head of publishing company, has nothing to do with negotiations between exclusive copyrights holder EMI (under contract), authors/performer company Apple Corporation and new type of distribution provided, which is Apple Incorporated with its "iTunes Music Store".

"Throwing threats" at Michael could be the way to make the situation opposite to regular business practice, where manufacturing/distribution and publishing would not be independent -- and, with some parties (like Michael) presenting only in one of the processes (publishing), which could lead to corruption.

If there would be no second party in this whole thing, like S/ATV MP being solely owned by Sony as well as SME (before merging with BMG), there there would no conflict of interest.

Or if Michael would have representatives in SME (now Sony-BMG ME) business. Then situation would be fair for both parties and thus controllable. Corruption is always possible, but the probability of it to happen would be totally different.

Datsymay said:

Thanks for the clarification Rasta. Do you have any idea what Denisr was saying about Mottola forcing MJ to sell his share?

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I guess he is referring to the 2001 situation Michael had to Mottola..

and in all honesty.. its past history...

i could have done without rehashing that..

lets look to the future and realize that Michael does have a very strong partnership with Sony..

I never read Denisr' posts because I don't understand them due to the way he structures his sentences. But whatever he is saying, I know that Michael is a very important gangstah at Sony/ATV. He is the Michael Corleone of music publishing. And I'm loving it!

AllTheLovelyFlowers said:

I never read Denisr' posts because I don't understand them due to the way he structures his sentences. But whatever he is saying, I know that Michael is a very important gangstah at Sony/ATV. He is the Michael Corleone of music publishing. And I'm loving it!

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Me too. Michael Jackson is BAD. That is why I feel that thoes people who underestimate Michael and treat him like some baby, do so at their peril. Do not underestimate Michael jackson. He is Joe Jackson's son.

motown lady said:

language barrier aside..unk:rock on denisr, Rasta...Dats..TSCM...LeslieHU!​

Man we are so blessed to be MJ fans! How many fans sites have peeps regularly contributing from all corners of the globe!^_^​

Thank you! You all contribute much in seperating fact from fiction... helping us read between the lies published by the media​

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I second that emotion!

My English, of course, is far from being perfect, it is mediocre to low-grade (though sometimes I do happen to phrase smoothly); sorry about that.

The fact that I often write about complicated subjects, rather than simple outright one-liners, opinions or emotional remarks (not that those are bad or anything; just another kind of messages), makes situation even worse.

Thus I do not expect everyone to be able to track continuity in logic reasoning, where are so many premises taken into account to derive the deduction. Sometimes it is like near to half hundred (!) premises and it can be really hard to grasp it at whole simultaneously.

So if it is too hard, then better follow ATLF practice with skipping my posts/researches/articles, rather than wasting your time on reading something from where you can not derive any sense.

denisrs said:

My English, of course, is far from being perfect, it is mediocre to low-grade (though sometimes I do happen to phrase smoothly); sorry about that.

The fact that I often write about complicated subjects, rather than simple outright one-liners, opinions or emotional remarks (not that those are bad or anything; just another kind of messages), makes situation even worse.

Thus I do not expect everyone to be able to track continuity in logic reasoning, where are so many premises taken into account to derive the deduction. Sometimes it is like near to half hundred (!) premises and it can be really hard to grasp it at whole simultaneously.

So if it is too hard, then better follow ATLF practice with skipping my posts/researches/articles, rather than wasting your time on reading something from where you can not derive any sense.

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Your English is a whole lot better than many english speaking people's. Don't be put off, it's getting better too. I love reading your posts. You should post more often,

denisrs said:

My English, of course, is far from being perfect, it is mediocre to low-grade (though sometimes I do happen to phrase smoothly); sorry about that.

The fact that I often write about complicated subjects, rather than simple outright one-liners, opinions or emotional remarks (not that those are bad or anything; just another kind of messages), makes situation even worse.

Thus I do not expect everyone to be able to track continuity in logic reasoning, where are so many premises taken into account to derive the deduction. Sometimes it is like near to half hundred (!) premises and it can be really hard to grasp it at whole simultaneously.

So if it is too hard, then better follow ATLF practice with skipping my posts/researches/articles, rather than wasting your time on reading something from where you can not derive any sense.

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Yeah, you're English it's very good, but sometimes you have a gift to present things a bit more complicatted that they really are. I think this is the 'result' of an academical and methodical upbringing. Sometimes intelectuals complicate things with their proustian sentences. The difference between Socrates and Kant....

Keep up with the good work!

If my English would be better structured in phrasing (which is often can be hard to read, just as ATLF mentioned), then it would be easier to understand what I write even if something complicated discussed. So I fail where I fail, I can only sorry about that and attempt to do better in the future; until then, I still think that ATLF is probably right about skipping my posts if you find them poorly understandable. I wish I could write as smooth as the likes of WBSS21, TSCM and others, but I am no good at it yet.