M+E Daily
Sony Mulls Album-Only Release For Jackson’s ‘This Is It’
Story Highlights
Contrary to earlier reports of an Amazon exclusive, Sony Music will release Michael Jackson’s This Is It on iTunes, according to All Things Digital. But whether the label will allow the Apple store and other outlets to sell individual tracks from the posthumous greatest-hits collection is still unclear.
This Is It, marketed in tandem with the performance film of the same name (in theaters Oct. 28), was originally reported by Digital Music News to be heading to Amazon.com’s MP3 store as an album-only exclusive. iTunes was being excluded from the release, the report said, after insisting on individual track downloads.
Sales of Jackson songs and albums alike soared this summer. Days after his June 25 death, Jackson became the first artist to sell more than 1 million song downloads in a week, according to Billboard. Jackson downloads for the week ended June 28 — including the singer’s tracks with the Jackson 5 and the Jacksons — topped 2.6 million units, a 5,317% increase over the previous week’s cumulative sum of 48,000.
Jackson also leads in album sales for 2009 to date. Earlier this month, Billboard reported that the late singer’s Number Ones collection has moved 1.8 million units.
As for physical packages of This Is It, Sony is marketing a $19.99 CD edition and a $49.99 vinyl edition, both of which include alternate versions of Jackson staples along with the newly-released title track.
