Skip to main content

    Michael Jackson's back catalog allegedly stolen in last year's Sony hacking debacle

    Michael Jackson's back catalog allegedly stolen in last year's Sony hacking debacle

    /

    As if last year's PlayStation Network hacking incident wasn't enough of a black eye for Sony, it's looking like Michael Jackson's entire music catalog was stolen during the breach

    Share this story

    Michael Jackson music
    Michael Jackson music

    As if last year's PlayStation Network hacking incident wasn't enough of a black eye for Sony, it's looking like Michael Jackson's entire music catalog was stolen during the breach. This theft, which reportedly accounts for some 50,000 individual tracks and a wide variety of unreleased material, was discovered last May in the aftermath of the attack which left PlayStation Network and Qriocity (now known as Sony Entertainment Network Music Unlimited) users without service for about a month. Two men from the UK were arrested back in May in connection with this theft and just appeared in court to deny the charges; the men were released on bail and are due to stand trial in January 2013. Sony paid $250 million to the Jackson estate back in 2010 for the rights to everything Jackson ever recorded, and while the company hasn't acknowledged exactly how widespread the theft is, multiple sources have reported that the entire collection was taken. Jackson's estate certainly made a pretty penny when it sold off his music, but it might be wishing the rights to Jackson's music were sold to a more secure company.