Jacko's unreleased Sept. 11 charity single leaks to radio

A year after it was supposed to be released, Michael Jackson’s all-star Sept. 11 charity single ”What More Can I Give” has finally hit the airwaves — as a bootleg. There’s still no planned release of the record to consumers, as no one can agree on who owns the rights to the song, and the likelihood of it ever serving its purpose — raising money for the victim’s of last year’s terror attacks — is still as tiny as Jackson’s nose.

MTV reports that the song has been airing six times a day, without permission from anyone, since last Friday on New York’s WKTU-FM. Station program director Frankie Blue is a friend of Jackson’s but told MTV that the station’s copy did not come from the singer. ”This song is a gift to the world,” Blue said, defending his unauthorized broadcasts of the tune. ”Michael and everyone donated their time for it, and it deserves to be heard. The song is called ‘What More Can I Give,’ and I can give the world a song they can cling onto and hopefully make them think about what they can give.”

F. Marc Schaffel, who produced the recording, told MTV that he’d sent about 200 copies to the artists who’d performed on it (including ‘N Sync, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Carlos Santana, Ricky Martin, Celine Dion, and Destiny’s Child) and their representatives, and that someone had leaked it onto the Internet.

Before last week, listeners had heard the song only once, when Jackson and others performed it at a benefit concert Jackson co-organized last October in Washington, D.C. At the time, Jackson expected to sell the record at McDonald’s restaurants and earn $50 million for terror relief. But the song and the Schaffel-produced video were shelved because — well, it depends who you ask.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Jackson’s management tried to cut all ties with Schaffel last fall when it learned of his past as a producer of gay and straight porn films. Without Jackson’s knowledge, his advisors lobbied Sony to quash the single by withholding clearance from its other artists (like Martin and Dion) who’d performed on it. But Schaffel has blamed Sony, saying the label didn’t want the song to steal the thunder from Jackson’s album ”Invincible,” released in late October. The McDonald’s deal fell through on issues of timing and practicality, the fast-food chain told Schaffel.

Who owns the song now? Jackson’s camp has said he does; Schaffel has said he does (and he also has the master tapes and the video footage); and a Japanese company called Music Fighters has said it does, as the result of a deal Schaffel told MTV was never finalized.

The station told MTV that it has received hundreds of emails and countless phone calls each day from fans wondering where they can buy the single. ”It’s a loose train; there’s no stopping it,” Schaffel said. ”But I would hate to see it out there and not do its intended purpose, which was to raise money for the victims of September 11th and children’s charities.”