Since his death last week, there has been speculation about how much music Michael Jackson didn't release when he was alive. Because his current albums are selling like crazy, and his status as the King of Pop, any future compilation release is sure to do brisk business. Apparently, according to former Sony CEO Tommy Mottola, there is an endless supply of music in Jackson's vaults:

"There are dozens and dozens of songs that did not end up on his albums," said Tommy Mottola, who from 1998 to 2003 was chairman and CEO of Sony Music, which owns the distribution rights to Jackson's music. "People will be hearing a lot of that unreleased material for the first time ever. There's just some genius and brilliance in there."

 

The releases, Mottola said, "could go on for years and years — even more than Elvis."

Among the recordings in the vault, says Mottola, are recent collabos with Akon and Will.I.Am, and songs dating back to Thriller. 

It's unclear at this point how much music exists, exactly, but the bigger hurdle is who actually owns the music. Does Sony because they fronted the cost? Or does Jackson's family since they were nver released. I think either way we can surely expect some kind of massive box set in the future. [Yahoo]