Talk:Michael Jackson

Edit request on 4 December 2012

he donated more than 300 million dollars to charity.

Saikrishnan78 (talk) 08:34, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

 Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 10:37, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

Edit request on 11 December 2012

How is whether the heal the world foundation was shut down relevant to his overall contributions to charity. I think this information should be placed in the "contents" section.Billydeecooper (talk) 01:50, 11 December 2012‎ (UTC)

Pianist

Michael Jackson was not a professional pianist. This is not a controversial statement. It's a very basic fact. Now, in pop music, there are many singers who are also professional pianists: Randy Newman, Billy Joel, Elton John, Rufus Wainwright, Stevie Wonder, and Ray Charles are all good examples. But Jackson is not an example of one of these singer-pianists. Jackson is a wonderful singer, no doubt. But it is very misleading to list him as a piano player.

• For better or worse, the commonly accepted Wikipedia standard seems to be to describe celebrities in terms of pretty much everything they've ever done in the public sphere. That's why Bruce Willis is listed as a "musician," for example.Flourdustedhazzn (talk) 08:20, 28 December 2012 (UTC)

Associated acts

Michael Jackson was also associated with Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, USA for Africa, Janet Jackson and a lot more people. Somebody type down these people. It's not like MJ was the King of Nothing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 100.40.7.210 (talk) 20:04, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

Funeral broadcast

The article currently contends that over one billion people watched the broadcast of Mr. Jackson's funeral. The citation meant to support this astounding claim actually insists that the number was somewhere between 2.5 and 3 billion people. Given the obvious falsehood of this claim, the citation should be deleted. Ideally, so should the claim, since it is preposterous. Flourdustedhazzn (talk) 08:06, 28 December 2012 (UTC)

Agree - reworded "Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief and a live broadcast of the public memorial service viewed around the world" - lets see what others say.Moxy (talk) 03:39, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

Did Michael Jackson really sell more than 750 million units?

According to several secondary sources the total amount of Thriller album sales, as well as the total sales of all his musical work, are wrong. Throughout time, numerous contradicting figures have been published, that we should consider before making any final claim.

Some sources, listed chronologically

• Tour Dates [UK] (2004) 135 million albums (including 47 million alone for Thriller)

• Pitchfork Media (November, 2004) 150 million records

• BBC News (2005) 135 million albums

• Pitchfork Media (2005) 150 million records

• Daily News and Analysis (2009) 300 million records

• China Daily (2009) 300 million records

• Daily Telegraph (2009) 300 million records

• CNN (2009) 350 million records

• Jam! / Canoe.ca / World Entertainment News Network(2009) 300 million records

These are the sources that we also should take in consideration (some, because there are other more):

• Wall Street Journal:

According, the Wall Street Journal, the claim that Michael Jackson sold around 750 million, is an inflated figure which was originally stated in 2006 by a primary source, Raymone Bain, who was the singer publicist at that time, without any factual evidence and probably in an effort to promote album sales. Reference. Later, this exaggerated figure was included in Wikipedia citing a fansite (Exclusivemj or MJTMC) as the source of the information (clearly a primary and a non-reliable reference according to Wikipedia standards). At that moment, this piece of information was published on Wikipedia, it turned into a fact that various sources adopted without contrasting it with more serious and reliable sources, as is the case of MTV and Billboard in 2006. In 2009, at the moment of Michael Jackson death and funeral, this figure was restated once more by several reliable and non-reliable sources, supporting their statements on Wikipedia and Raymone Bain.

• ImpreMedia:

ImpreMedia, is another source that states that the 750 million sold is an statistical fallacy.

• International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI):

Adrian Strain, a musical expert and a representative from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has said: When we were asked how many albums Michael Jackson sold, we were as embarrassed as anybody. We had to go to the Guinness Book of World Records." This statement demonstrate that even the musical industry, has difficulty finding the real amount of albums sold, which cause them to repeatedly commit mistakes.

Therefore, as there are reliable secondary sources that state that the 750 million units sold is a true fact, there are sources that state the contrary. In an effort to keep the neutrality and reliability of the article I suggest the addition of a note next to the 750 million statement (350-400 million), as follows:.

According to the Wall Street Journal and other newspapers, the 750 million units sold by Michael Jackson is an inflated figure that was initially claimed by Raymone Bain, who was the singer publicist at that time, without any factual evidence and probably in an effort to promote album sales. From 2006 until present time, several sources such as MTV, Reuters and Billboard have claimed that Michael Jackson has sold 750 million units, however, Adrian Strain, a representative from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has said that this figure is unreal. (ref=, ref=, ref=....)

In that way we will prevent biased information and allow the readers to judge by themselves what to believe. We don’t have to act as judges of the information, we have to present both realities and let the readers decide what to think and what to do with both facts. Is our obligation as contributors and writers of Wikipedia to present information with all its sides and shades, and to be truthful. We don’t have to cherry-pick statements, we have to show all that’s in front of us, especially when it comes from reliable and trustworthy sources.

Thanks. Best regards, Chrishonduras (talk) 19:26, 15 January 2013 (UTC)