陳韋廷譯
It is one of the twice-told tales of the music business: Decades ago, Michael Jackson received some sound investment advice from Paul McCartney.
這是個音樂事業圈中人盡皆知的故事：數十年前，麥可傑克森從保羅麥卡尼那兒獲得一些很好的投資建議。
Back in the early 1980s, McCartney showed his friend a notebook full of songs he owned, by artists like Buddy Holly. The real money, McCartney suggested, was in music publishing, the side of the business that deals with the songwriting rights for big catalogs of songs. As McCartney himself has told it, Jackson perked up and said, "I'm gonna buy your songs."
He did. And it was the smartest deal Jackson ever made.
早在1980年代初期，麥卡尼向朋友出示一本筆記簿，上面盡是他所擁有，出自巴迪霍利等眾多歌手的歌曲曲目。麥卡尼當時表示，真正能賺大錢的是音樂出版，亦即這行業裡處理大規模歌曲曲目創作權的一方。正如麥卡尼本人所說的，傑克森興奮地說：「我會買下你的歌。」
他的確買了，而這也是傑克森一生之中所做過的最聰明的交易。
In 1985, Jackson bought the ATV catalog, which included 251 Beatles songs, along with a few thousand others, for $47.5 million. It proved to be Jackson's most valuable asset, helping to finance a lavish lifestyle even as Jackson's own musical career reached a low point in the years before his death in 2009.
傑克森在1985年時以4750萬美元買下了聯合電視台（ATV）所擁有歌曲的版權，包含251首披頭四的歌曲，以及幾千首其他歌曲。後來證明這是傑克森手中最有價值的資產，儘管傑克森在2009年過世前的最後幾年裡，自身的音樂事業陷入了低潮，這筆資產仍然支撐著他奢華的生活。
Now those songs have helped provide a windfall for his estate. On Monday, Sony said it had agreed to pay $750 million for the Jackson estate's share of what is now Sony/ATV — a collection of more than 1 million songs, with hits by Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga, chestnuts like "Moon River" and "Mona Lisa," and of course the Beatles songs.
Sony's buyout caps an extraordinary turnaround in Jackson's finances that began after his death. Jackson died more than $500 million in debt, having drawn on his share of Sony/ATV as a lifeline through a $270 million loan in 2006, years after his last hit but shortly after he was acquitted of child molestation in a trial that damaged his public image around the world.
如今，這些歌曲為他的遺產管理委員會增添了一筆意外之財。索尼周一說，已同意支付7.5億美元買下傑克森遺產管理委員會所擁有的Sony/ATV股權。Sony/ATV手中擁有超過1萬首歌曲，有泰勒絲跟女神卡卡的熱門歌曲、老歌如「月河」和「蒙娜麗莎」，當然還有披頭四的歌曲。
索尼的這項收購使得傑克森死後開始的財務狀況有了不尋常的轉變。傑克森去世時負債超過5億美元，曾利用他的Sony/ATV股權當成救命索，在2006年時貸款了2.7億美元。當時距他上次推出轟動歌曲已過數年，但離他在一場猥褻兒童審判中被判無罪的時間點並不久，而那一場審判也損壞了他在全球各地的公眾形象。
The Jackson estate has long since paid off most of Jackson's personal debts. But the latest deal will allow it to clear its last obligation, a $250 million debt that was tied to Jackson's holdings in Sony/ATV.
The deal for the song catalog could now push those earnings above $1 billion, a big return for a financial move that began as a simple conversation between two music legends.
傑克森的遺產管理委員會早已還清他大部分的個人債務。不過，這個最新交易將讓他償清最後債務，一筆與傑克森在Sony/ATV中股份相關的2.5億美元債務。
這筆歌曲版權交易現在可能會將獲利數字推高至10億美元以上，而這對以兩位音樂傳奇人物之間簡單對話為起頭的財務行動來說，是個很大的回報。
