Embark on an unforgettable experience as your group of three enjoys an exclusive lunch with the legendary entertainment attorney, John Gregory Branca, in Los Angeles!
Background:
An entertainment lawyer and manager who specializes in representing rock and roll acts, he is also co-executor of the Michael Jackson Estate. He was instrumental in the production and release of Michael Jackson's Thriller short film and helped Jackson purchase ATV Music Publishing in 1985 for $47,500,000 (which held the copyrights to The Beatles' and Little Richard's songs). Within a few years the catalog was worth more than $400,000,000.
In 1990, Jackson terminated Branca's services due to perceived proximity to Walter Yetnikoff, the CEO of CBS Records, and a consultant to Sony Corp. Jackson also expressed concerns about Branca's representation of other artists such as the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith.
Additionally, Branca requested a 5 percent interest in the Beatles catalog. Three years later, Jackson sought Branca's advice on merging his ATV catalog with Sony, resulting in Branca rejoining Jackson's team in exchange for a 5% share of the ATV catalog. In 1995, Branca proposed a merger of Sony's music publishing operations and ATV, resulting in Jackson becoming a significant owner of a larger company and receiving $150 million from Sony.
Branca received 5 percent of this, amounting to $7.5 million.In 2003, Jackson fired Branca only to rehire him again in 2009.Branca produced Jackson's final will and testament, which designated Branca as executor. Projects for the estate that Branca initiated include the concert film Michael Jackson's This Is It, which Branca served as Executive Producer; and which is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest-grossing documentary film at the global box office;Cirque du Soleil's "Immortal" which toured from 2011 to 2014 and closed as the eighth-highest-grossing tour of all time; a second, permanent "Cirque" show, Michael Jackson: One at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, which opened in June 2013 and of which he is also a producer; a bestselling Ubisoft video game; a Spike Lee documentary, Bad 25, which Branca also served as producer; the 2014 #1 hit album Xscape; and the "Slave to the Rhythm" "holographic" Jackson performance featured at the Billboard Music Awards, the first of its kind. Additionally, Branca and the estate brought in Tony Award winning Director/Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage to create MJ the Musical, which opened in February 2022, and an upcoming feature film about Jackson's career produced by Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) producer Graham King that Branca hopes will become “the largest grossing, most acclaimed biopic in the history of Hollywood.”
In 1991, Branca put together what's considered rock's first mega-deal, a four-album deal for Aerosmith with Sony, estimated to be worth $50 million. In 2005, Branca brokered a ground-breaking 360 deal between Korn and EMI, which made EMI a partner in all of Korn's operations. EMI earned a stake in all of Korn's touring and merchandise, instead of only handling the band's CDs, which has typically been the record company's role. A few months later, Branca, with his partner David Lande, expanded the circle to include concert promoter Live Nation. The duo has since put together Live Nation 360 deals for Shakira and Nickelback. Music publishing. In 1985, Branca facilitated one of the most famous music publishing deals in history, the purchase of ATV Music Publishing for Michael Jackson.
In 2008, changes in the tax law that allowed songwriters to pay a small capital gains tax instead of a larger income tax prompted Branca to advise some of his clients that this was the perfect time to sell their music publishing catalogs, thereby establishing new precedents in valuation. Ensuing sales included: Kurt Cobain and Nirvana copyrights; Steven Tyler's Aerosmith publishing catalog of 160 songs to Primary Wave Music Publishing for $50 million; Julian Lennon's share of The Beatles' royalties, and the catalog of the legendary song-writing team of Leiber & Stoller to Sony/ATV, which created a new yardstick by which the worth of catalogs was measured. He also sold Berry Gordy's Jobete Music to EMI, which changed the method and standard by which catalogs were valued. In 2009, Branca beat out Wall Street investment banking houses to represent the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and sold their catalog for an excess of $200 million, despite predictions by The Wall Street Journal and others that the catalog wouldn't fetch more than $150 million. He also represented Sony Corporation of America in the $2.2 Billion acquisition of EMI Music Publishing and EMI and Sony/ATV in the sale of the Virgin Music catalog. In addition, Branca helped songwriters such as Don Henley of Eagles regain copyrights of their songs, or to help them secure royalties that they've lost, as he did with John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival. At Branca's first wedding, Michael Jackson was best man and Little Richard served as minister. Branca helped Buddy Arnold form the Musicians Assistance Program, which later merged with MusiCares, which provides help to members of the music industry who need treatment for drug and alcohol addiction, as well as assistance for other financial, medical and personal crises. He currently serves as Chair Emeritus of Musicares. For his support, the Grammy Foundation honored him with its 2012 Service Award. Additionally, he is on the Board of the Grammy Museum.
50% of the hammer price for this purchased package will be remitted to the benefiting charity upon successful fulfillment