Music publishing and other copyright assets of M.C. Hammer, whose legal name is Stanley Burrell, have been put up for sale nine years after the multi-platinum rapper first filed for bankruptcy in California. The court-appointed publishing administrator says that the catalog is still generating “substantial income.”
The sale will include a 50% interest in “U Can’t Touch This,” which hit No. 1 in 1990 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, and a 90% interest in “2 Legit 2 Quit,” which peaked at No. 5 on the Hot 100.
Wixen Music Publishing in Calabasas, Calif., has been the court-appointed administrator for the publishing assets of five Hammer companies since shortly after the 1996 bankruptcy filing. The delay in offering these assets is the result, in part, of litigation with EMI Music Publishing, EMI Records and others, Randall Wixen tells Billboard. All the claims have been resolved.
The bankruptcy trustee is attempting to locate 33 songwriters who had deals with the Hammer publishing companies. They risk losing their royalties if they do not contact attorney Terrance Stinnett with Goldberg, Stinnett, Meyers & Davis in San Francisco by Dec. 31. After that date, the royalties will by paid to the state of California as unclaimed property.
According to an ad placed in the Nov. 5 issue of Billboard, bids are due by Feb. 28, 2006. For more information, contact Randall Wixen at 24025 Park Sorrento, Suite 130, Calabasas, Calif. 91302.
