Observations on Forbes’ 2024 list of top-earning dead celebrities

Forbes’ annual list of top-earning deceased celebrities always presents an interesting gathering of the dearly departed. It can be especially interesting to compare the newest list to those of prior years. For example, this year, Michael Jackson comes in at $600,000,000, whereas last year, Jackson topped the list at $115,000,000. The various Michael Jackson-themed stage productions reportedly contribute significantly to Jackson’s earnings.

Also apparent in reviewing the 2024 list is the role that licensing of the Right of Publicity has played in contributing to the reported figures. Arnold Palmer’s licensed iced tea and lemonade by Arizona, and the alcoholic version by Molson Coors, shows just how profitable a personality-branded beverage line can be: $14,000,000 in 2024. Whitney Houston’s $13,000,000 is aided by a licensed slot machines.

Though a frequent citing on prior lists, J.R.R. Tolkien is not on the 2024 list, but fellow authors Charles Schulz and Dr. Seuss continue as perennials. Inevitably, when a surprise death occurs, that person often will appear on the list for at least a year. Paul Walker, Nipsey Hustle, Tom Petty, and Juice WRLD all made the list for a year or even two after passing, but have not been seen since. This unfortunate distinction goes to Matthew Perry in 2024. The circumstances of his passing may add a bit of sustained attention to his premature passing, and his memoir also provides a contribution to his reported $18,000,000.

One-time sales of catalogs or assets can also either rocket the numbers upward, or put a person on the list for one year such as 2023’s Ray Manzarek. This year, it seems likely Ric Ocasek will be in this category with a reported $45,000,000 sale of his interest in his music catalog to Primary Wave.

Forbes’ methodology includes looking at sales and streaming figures, licensing, acquisitions or sales, or any other sources between the period of October of the prior year through September of the current year. Forbes also reportedly utilizes data from Luminate, and considers input from those in the industries.

Here’s a link to the 2024 list: Forbes 2024 Top-Earning Deceased Celebrities

A few thoughts on Forbes’ annual top-earning dead celebrities list

Departing from the usual Halloween release date, Forbes issued its annual top-earning deceased celebrities list on Friday, November 13th in 2020. A few takeaways, in no particular order:

1. Unsurprisingly, given the worldwide pandemic, almost all the reported numbers are down. Some may have more immunity than others, and those that went up, like Dr. Seuss were bolstered by television, movie and media deals. Some of that may be one-time bursts.
2. Elvis Presley was closing in on a 50% decline. Graceland, as a tourist destination, no doubt accounts for much of that given closures in 2020.
3. Prince is down yet again another year further from his death, as has been the trend. The summary on Prince mentions only music sales.
4. Those with the misfortune of making 2019’s list due to early departure, XXXTentacion and Nipsey Hussle, are gone.
5. Those with the misfortune of making 2020’s list due to early departure include Kobe Bryant and Juice WRLD. It will be interesting to see if Kobe Bryant is a one-time, one-year entrant or will make next year’s list as well.
6. Not-much-of-a-prediction: Eddie Van Halen will be on next 2021’s list. Though he passed away over a month prior to the release of the 2020 list, that is neither enough time to account increased sales, nor enough time to process his passing into a list that was no doubt already well underway in October.
7. The article includes a statement about its methodology, which includes sources I use when appropriate in valuations.

Last, a word about the often used term “delebrity” in relation to deceased celebrities. I get it, though it’s never really hit me as particularly clever or useful as a term. More importantly, no one I know who actually works with the heirs, family, and estates of notable deceased icons uses this term. It’s hard to take someone seriously who uses this term in their scholarship, publications, or writings. But keep using it, those who do, because it provides a revealing tell.

Here is a link to Forbes’ 2020 list: https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2020/11/13/the-highest-paid-dead-celebrities-of-2020/?sh=37a974e03b4b&utm_source=Licensing+International+Database&utm_campaign=b3b89e5adb-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_12_18_01_57_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ec0e484a60-b3b89e5adb-397655773&mc_cid=b3b89e5adb&mc_eid=a31363c945

Highest Paid Deceased Celebrities for 2016

Forbes has just released the annual “Top-Earning Dead Celebrities” for 2016.  The most notable aspects of this year’s list are the new entries of recently departed personalities, and the amount of the number one earner.  Here is a link to Forbes’ coverage:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2016/10/12/the-highest-paid-dead-celebrities-of-2016/#5a1f53dd8d2e

Arnold Palmer (#3), Prince (#5) and David Bowie (#11) are the unfortunate new members on the list due to their recent respective deaths in 2016.  In Palmer’s case, he had already created a vast business empire so the revenue sources that put him on this particular list were already in place.  For Prince, who perhaps is the most surprising entrant on this list due to the especially shocking news of his death, the earnings are due to the surge in music sales that often follow the death of a notable artist.  The same could be said of Bowie, but Bowie’s numbers also benefited from the release of a new album that closely coincided with his passing.

The other notable surprise in this year’s list is the amount assigned to the number one entrant, Michael Jackson, at $825 Million.  Compare that figure to the number two spot, Charles Schulz, at $48 Million.  It is worth noting that Jackson, since his death, has almost always taken the top spot, and while never quite at the $825 Million mark, the drop off from first place to second has often been very steep.

Valuing and taxing Prince’s “image rights”

Interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about the coming challenge of valuing the “image rights” of Prince’s estate.  Here is a link:  Valuing Prince’s Image Rights

There are some interesting points, as well as some common mistakes, threaded into this article which illuminate the complexity of valuing Prince’s image rights.  I must refrain from elaborating, as I would be one of a small handful of qualified candidates to perform such valuation.  There aren’t many candidates who are qualified for the task.

As the article notes, the valuation could become a “battle of the experts” but there certainly is a way to value Prince’s image rights in a supportable way.  Much relies on a truly qualified expert bringing the appropriate perspective to the matter.  It won’t come from books or formulas.  The valuation must be done by someone who is very well-informed about Prince’s career, beliefs and principles.  (As it turns out, that criteria may make me the most qualified potential expert on the matter.)

Reference in the Wall Street Journal article to the Michael Jackson estate’s representatives claiming a valuation of around $2,000 and the IRS countering with $434 Million shows the critical and sensitive nature of the upcoming Prince valuation.

If only Prince was simply still alive.  But fellow artists and musicians, take note:  if your attorney isn’t talking to you about the right of publicity, find one who is.

Prince knew the value of his intellectual property

Prince knew the value of his intellectual property, and fought battles other artists didn’t or couldn’t.  And won, in the case of control over his publishing and catalog.  I hope that this awareness extends to Prince’s Right of Publicity.  Hopefully, he had advisers in his life who could raise his awareness on this point.  He could have been quite the advocate for publicity rights recognition.  Maybe it’s time for the Minnesota legislature to put a statute in place in his honor.

Godspeed, Prince.  #RIPPrince

Hollywood Reporter’s “Hollywood Hologram Wars” quotes Faber of RightOfPublicity.com / Luminary Group

Nice to be quoted in Eriq Gardner’s new piece in The Hollywood Reporter entitled “Hollywood Hologram Wars: Vicious Legal Feud Behind Virtual Mariah, Marilyn and Mick.”  The article does a great job examining the business potential and burgeoning adoption of so-called hologram technology as well as corresponding growing pains and legal issues, particularly between those developing the technology itself.

In answer to Eriq’s question of “what’s the licensing and business potential for this technology?” I also said that it depends on:

a) what is being counted (fees to the estate, to the owners of the technology itself?); and

b) gross or net; and

c) how the market responds.

If the market responds well to an Elvis live show on a world tour, those gross earnings alone could be well on the way to the billion mark.  And if it follows with a Johnny Cash or Michael Jackson tour,  yes, it will reach billion dollar potential. And, will people be interested in seeing Michael Jackson “live” once, or over and over?

Here’s the link to Eriq Gardner’s The Hollywood Reporter article:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/hollywood-hologram-wars-vicious-legal-798401