MJ: the good news thread

Yet people kept listening to Jackson's music. During the same 31-week period, Billboard found that streaming consumption of Jackson's catalog never saw a decline — on-demand streams of Jackson's catalog actually increased by 22.1%, outpacing the industry's 21.8% growth.

"After I saw the documentary and played Michael Jackson, I got on the mic and said, 'I hope no one here saw the documentary,' and people didn't say a word," says Jeff Wittels, owner and DJ at Retroclubnyc, a New York dance club that spins '70s, '80s and '90s hits. "They couldn't care less."

WFEZ Miami, which reaches 1 million listeners, "backed off" on the amount of spins of Jackson's music after the documentary aired, according to branding and program director Gary Williams. "But as far as complaints go, I maybe got two emails," he says. "As soon as we went back [to playing Jackson's music], we got a positive response."

"These are some of my top-­testing songs, and you want to give the listeners what they want," adds WRRM Cincinnati program director Brian Demay. "If the listeners haven't complained, don't sacrifice your product."