Sony Hit with Class Action Lawsuit over Missing Michael Jackson Songs

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A new class action lawsuit claims that three of the songs included on one of Michael Jackson’s posthumously-published albums weren’t sung by Jackson, though Sony Music Entertainment marketed them as such.

Plaintiff Vera Serova filed a putative class action lawsuit against Sony Music in a California court Thursday, claiming that she would have paid less for the album if she had realized three songs weren’t sung by Jackson himself.

The album “Michael,” according to Serova, had a certification on its cover that all the songs in the compilation were sung by Jackson. But, after listening to the album she had purchased, Serova hired an audio expert to analyze the tracks, and her expert concluded that the songs “Breaking News,” “Monster,” and “Keep Your Head Up,” were sung by a Michael Jackson vocal impersonator.

The three songs are known by the location of their production as the Cascio tracks. Sony assured listeners both on the album cover and in later dust-ups over the album’s production that he was indeed the singer, according to the lawsuit.

“Michael” was released in the United States in December 2010, according to the Sony class action lawsuit, approximately 18 months after the singer’s death, through Sony’s Epic Records division. The songs on the album were all previously unreleased tracks. According to Sony and the other defendants in the class action lawsuit, Jackson recorded the three tracks known as the Cascio tracks in the basement recording studio of a friend’s home, the Cascio family. Even before the release of the album, members of Jackson’s family claimed that the songs were not actually vocalized by Jackson himself.

In November 2010, before the release of the album, according to the Sony class action lawsuit, attorneys representing Sony released a number of reasons they claimed the songs were sung by Jackson, including statements from Jackson’s former producers, music director, and vocal director.

According to the Sony class action lawsuit, “[i]n reliance on defendants’ claims that Jackson performed the lead vocals on the Cascio tracks, plaintiff Vera Serova purchased ‘Michael’ on compact disc. Plaintiff is informed and believes that Jackson did not actually perform the lead vocals.”

Serova claims that her analyst’s determination that the songs were not sung by Michael Jackson himself constitutes fraud and violations of California’s unfair competition law and the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, and she is seeking to represent all Class Members who purchased the album in reliance on Sony’s claim that Michael Jackson actually sung each of the songs on the album.

Serova is represented by Ray E. Gallo and Dominic R. Valerian of Gallo LLP.

Counsel information for the defendants could not be immediately determined.

The Sony Michael Jackson Songs Class Action Lawsuit is Vera Serova v. Sony Music Entertainment, et al., Case No. BC548468, in the Superior Court for the State of California, County of Los Angeles.

UPDATE: On June 30, 2016, a California federal judge rejected Sony Music Entertainment’s bid to dismiss consumer protection claims from a class action lawsuit accusing the company of duping consumers into buying albums containing Michael Jackson songs performed by other vocalists.

UPDATE 2: On Aug. 28, 2018, a California appeals court dismissed a Sony class action lawsuit finding that even if a Michael Jackson album released after the pop king’s death included voice impersonators, the estate’s right to claim Jackson sang the songs is protected by the First Amendment.