天王杰克逊身后再赚2.5亿美元

       Months after his death, Michael Jackson set a music-industry record, thanks to a deal between his estate and Sony Corp. valued at as much as $250 million, according to people familiar with the terms。
        离世多月之后，迈克尔•杰克逊(Michael Jackson)创造了音乐行业的新纪录。据知情人士透露，这要归功于他的遗产管理人和索尼公司(Sony Corp.)签订的一份价值高达2.5亿美元的协议。

　　The deal -- touted by both Sony and Mr. Jackson’s estate as the most lucrative recording contract ever -- guarantees the estate at least $200 million. It will cover 10 albums over seven years, using previously unreleased songs and new packages of familiar ones。
    这份协议被索尼公司和杰克逊的遗产管理人称为是史上最赚钱的唱片合约。它确保至少两亿美元将归于杰克逊的遗产之下。它将利用以前未发表的歌曲以及通过精选集的方式在七年内推出十张专辑。

　　The dollar amount is especially striking against the backdrop of the music industry as a whole, in which U.S. album sales have plunged 52% in a decade. Superstar deals worth tens of millions of dollars per album were rare even at the peak of the CD-sales boom in the late 1990s. Yet it also underscores that the biggest acts are becoming even more essential to record labels, as individual fans purchase fewer albums each year。
    美国专辑唱片销量十年间下降了52%。在这样的音乐行业整体背景下，这一协议金额显得特别惊人。即便在上世纪90年代CD销售的热潮达到顶峰之时，也很少有超级巨星签订每张专辑价值数千万美元的协议。这份协议更彰显了，随着个人音乐爱好者购买专辑的数量逐年减少，唱片公司需要进行最大手笔的投入。

　　Since Mr. Jackson’s death on June 25, Sony has sold an estimated 31 million of his albums globally. By the first anniversary of his death, his estate expects to have earned $250 million from sales of music, merchandise and tickets to the posthumous concert film ‘This Is It.’
    自 6月25日杰克逊离世后，索尼公司在全球售出了约3,100万张他的专辑。预计通过销售音乐和特许商品以及他离世后上映的音乐会电影《就是这样》(This Is It)的票房收入，到他去世一周年时，其遗产可赚取2.5亿美元。

　　The advances being paid by Sony are to be offset by sales of albums as well as revenue generated by licensing Mr. Jackson’s music for uses like videogames, movies and theatrical performances. But unlike the megadeals struck in recent years by concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment Inc. with Jay-Z and Madonna, the Jackson deal doesn’t give Sony income from merchandise sales or fees for licensing his name and likeness。
    销售专辑的收入以及通过准许将杰克逊的音乐用于视频游戏、电影和戏院演出等所产生的特许收入将冲抵索尼公司预先支付的款项。但与音乐会推广公司Live Nation Entertainment Inc。近几年与歌手Jay-Z和麦当娜(Madonna)签订的百万美元的大协议不同，杰克逊的协议不包括特许商品的销售以及对他名字等的特许使用费。

　　In an interview, Rob Stringer, chairman of Sony Music Entertainment’s Columbia/Epic Label Group, said his company was confident it would more than recoup its hefty investment, which he characterized as more than just a record deal. ‘We see it as a partnership,’ Mr. Stringer said。
    索尼音乐旗下的哥伦比亚/Epic集团(Columbia/Epic Label Group)公司董事长斯汀格(Rob Stringer)在接受访问时说，公司有信心不仅能收回这笔巨额投资，还能盈利。他称这不仅是一个创纪录的协议。斯汀格说，我们把它当成一次合作。

　　The deal should give Mr. Jackson’s heirs plenty of breathing room with respect to the crushing debt load he had built up in his final years。
    鉴于杰克逊在最后几年债台高筑，这项协议将给杰克逊的继承人充足的喘息空间。

　　The estate is likely to pay off about $125 million in debt by the end of this year, including $35 million owed to AEG Live, the promoter that was to stage a series of concerts by Mr. Jackson in London. The estate is likely to refinance another $325 million backed by Mr. Jackson's two biggest assets: Sony/ATV Music Publishing, his venture with Sony that owns copyrights to 251 Beatles songs; and his 2,600-acre Neverland Valley Ranch outside Santa Barbara, Calif。
    到今年年底，杰克逊的遗产可以用以还清他欠下的约1.25亿美元的债务，其中包括欠AEG Live公司的3500万美元。这家公司原准备帮助杰克逊在伦敦举办一系列的演唱会。杰克逊生前与索尼公司的合资公司Sony/ATV Music Publishing拥有披头士乐队(Beatles) 251首歌曲的版权。位于加州圣巴巴拉郊外的梦幻庄园(Neverland Valley Ranch)占地2,600英亩。杰克逊这两项最大的资产可能将给他的遗产再带来3.25亿美元的收入。

　　A $300 million loan backed by Sony/ATV and held by Barclays PLC matures at the end of the year, and before Mr. Jackson’s death it loomed as a major financial challenge。
由Sony/ATV公司担保并由巴克莱公司(Barclays PLC)提供的一笔三亿美元的贷款将于今年年底到期。在杰克逊生前，这笔贷款是他的一个主要的财务问题。

　　In striking the deal, Sony is betting that the appetite for Mr. Jackson’s music will prove more than just a spike generated by his unexpected death and the ensuing round-the-clock coverage. A record contract struck in the early 1980s gave Mr. Jackson ownership of his recordings. Sony had the right to distribute those recordings through 2015. The new deal extends that right until 2017, and adds the rights to material recorded since then。
    索尼公司签订这项协议押注人们对杰克逊音乐的兴趣不仅仅是由他的意外死亡及之后的不间断报道造成的昙花一现。上世纪80年代初签订的一项唱片合约让杰克逊拥有自己唱片的所有权。索尼原本有权在2015年以前销售这些唱片。新协议把索尼公司的销售权延长到2017年，杰克逊在上世纪80年代之后录制的音乐素材也被囊括其中。

　　The new deal, like the one from the 1980s, was negotiated by John Branca, Mr. Jackson’s long-time lawyer and now an administrator of the estate。
　  新协议与80年代的协议均由长期担任杰克逊律师的布兰卡(John Branca)负责谈判。他现在是杰克逊的遗产管理人。

　　The deal retroactively covers the soundtrack album to ‘This Is It,’ plus a range of other releases, some of which have been mapped out, with others to be determined later. An album of previously unreleased songs is likely to hit stores before the end of this year, and another collection is due out later. The deal is also likely to cover expanded reissues of Mr. Jackson’s albums ‘Off the Wall’ and ‘Bad,’ as well as collections of remixes. A DVD album of all of Mr. Jackson’s music videos is likely to be created at some point。
    协议中涵盖了杰克逊大量的音乐专辑，包括他生前的最后一张专辑《就是这样》(This Is It)，以及其它许多版本的作品，其中一部分已列入发行计划，其它的以后待定。一张由以前未发行过的歌曲组成的专辑可能将在今年年底前上市销售，另一张合集计划稍后再进行发售。协议可能还包括扩大再发行杰克逊的“Off the Wall”和“Bad”这两张专辑，以及混录版的合集。日后也可能会推出囊括所有杰克逊的音乐电视(MV)的DVD专辑。

　　Speculation has circulated that Cirque du Soleil would create a Las Vegas show based on Mr. Jackson’s music, as it has done with Beatles’ music. If it does, a soundtrack of some kind would likely be part of the deal。
　　外界一直在猜测太阳马戏团(Cirque du Soleil)将根据杰克逊的音乐编排它在拉斯维加斯演出的节目。它之前曾利用披头士乐队的音乐编排过自己的节目。如果它真的这么做，此类配乐可能也是这个协议的一部分。

　　The estate could probably wipe out the debts entirely by selling its half of Sony/ATV, although such a drastic step is viewed as unlikely now that Mr. Jackson’s posthumous business is generating so much cash。
　　杰克逊生前拥有Sony/ATV公司一半的股份。只要把股份卖了，就能清偿其全部债务，但既然杰克逊身后的生意赚了这么多钱，看来不太可能使用这种极端的手段。

　　Mr. Jackson acquired ATV for $47.5 million in 1985. Sony in 1995 paid $150 million to become a 50% partner in the venture. Mr. Jackson's half is now valued at at least $1 billion。
    杰克逊1985年以4,750万美元购得ATV。1995年，索尼以1.5亿美元的代价成为其合伙人，拥有合资公司50%的股份。杰克逊的股份现在至少价值10亿美元。

　　Ethan Smith