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The Beatles: Rock Band set list not compromised by Michael Jackson's death


One of the more profitable items in the late King of Pop's idiosyncratic collection of odds and ends was his ownership of ATV, a music publisher that owned the rights to over 200 songs from the Beatles' repertoire. Years after this acquisition, Jackson agreed to a merger with Sony, forming Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Jackson retained 50 percent of the publishing rights to the Beatles tracks until his recent untimely death -- despite rumors to the contrary, he never sold his stake in the merged company.

Why is this news relevant to you, dear reader? Well, many faux-rockers have been worried that Jackson's passing would affect the final set list for The Beatles: Rock Band. Fortunately, Harmonix recently confirmed to IGN that the game's tracks won't be compromised by MJ's death, or the dispersal of his assets -- including the Sony/ATV stake -- that will take place in the coming weeks. However, we expect that Elephant Man Bone Collector 3 will miss its fall launch window by a sizable margin.

Tags: harmonix, michael-jackson, music, rock-band, sony-atv-music-publishing, the-beatles-rock-band

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