Three Michael Jackson-related songs were deleted from all major streaming services, including Spotify and iTunes, last week.

The songs ‘Monster’, ‘Breaking news’, and ‘Keep your head up’ were first made available in Michael (2010), a posthumous album made up of previously unreleased songs and material that Michael Jackson was working on at the time of his death.

The tracks were taken down because critics and fans have long held the idea that some of the vocals on these songs are not Jackson’s.

The decision to remove the songs from streaming platforms, however, was made collectively by The Estate of Michael Jackson and Sony Music, not by the streaming platforms.

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They called it  “the simplest and best way to move beyond the conversation associated with these tracks once and for all”. “The album’s remaining tracks remain available. Nothing should be read into this action concerning the authenticity of the tracks – it is just time to move beyond the distraction surrounding them,” said a statement issued by Michael Jackson’s Estate and Sony Music, who own the rights to and a portion of the profits from the album.

Immediately following the release of Michael in 2010, the discussion about the three tunes started. Jackson could not finish the album, Sony Music, along with musicians and friends of Michael Jackson, finished it.

Various members of the Jackson family, including one of Jackson’s sisters and his mother, claimed that the songs did not appear to be by Jackson, which fueled the fire.

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Taryll Jackson, one of his nephews, stated, “How they constructed these songs is very sneaky and sly. Many people who have worked on this project either have strong doubts and questions while others know the truth yet decided to turn and look the other way.”

Vera Serova, a fan and lawyer, strived to lead a class-action lawsuit in 2014, claiming that the liner notes for the three songs, which credit Jackson as the singer, were a complete misrepresentation under California’s Unfair Competition Law and the Consumers Legal Remedies Act.

Serova, a copyright and music industry law expert, also claimed that Jackson’s friend Eddie Cascio wrote the songs and sold them through Jackson’s Estate and Sony Music through his company Angelikson Productions. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Cascio denied this.

Serova also claimed that the songs were sung by Jason Malachi, who admitted to singing the pieces on Facebook in 2011. His manager later revealed that his account had been hacked. It’s worth noting that Malachi’s near-perfect rendition of Michael Jackson’s Mamacita confused and wowed fans back in 2007.

Serova’s case also included MJJ Productions, which handles Jackson’s music licencing and publishing, Cascio and James Porte, co-writers of the three songs, and Angelikson Productions.

Sony had maintained that the tracks were recorded in Cascio’s basement in New Jersey. Both teams hired audiologists and musicologists to confirm their versions.

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An appeal from Sony and the estate in 2018 caused a California appellate court to dismiss Serova’s appeal regarding the album, saying that it comprised “protected free speech” because the issue now also involved public interest. 

Serova and her group challenged the ruling and took it to the Supreme Court, arguing that since the recordings generated significant revenue, the issue could not have been one of free expression. Although there were discussions about the subject in May, the Court has not yet made a ruling. 

 people hold the opinion that if the songs had genuinely been performed by Jackson, the label and the Estate would never have withdrawn them and that continuing to do so would simply subject them to additional legal action.