Although Paul McCartney may have
written dozens of hit singles, he’s
never owned many of the songs he
produced. While writing for The Beatles
alongside John Lennon, ownership of the
compositions went straight to Northern
Songs - a company founded by the band’s
manager Brian Epstein.
In 1967, after Epstein’s death, the company
was sold to ATV Music after a bidding war
with Lennon and McCartney. ATV was
consequently bought by Michael Jackson, in
the process ruining his relationship with
McCartney.
10 years later, Jackson merged ATV Music
with Sony, the Japanese company purchasing
the remainder of Jackson’s stake earlier this
month.
However, thanks to a US copyright act, the
Wings frontman has begun the process of
reacquiring his own back catalogue.
According to Billboard, the US Copyright Act
of 1976 allows writers to reclaim their songs
from publishers, with songs written before
1978 reclaimable 56 years after initial
release. In other words, the McCartney-
Lennon back catalogue will be reclaimable
starting 2018.
Ringo Starr's photos of The
Beatles
“In order to reclaim publishing ownership of
a song a songwriter must file with the U.S.
Copyright Office, terminating the publishing
anywhere from 2 to 10 years before the 56
years elapse, in order to obtain ownership of
that song’s publishing in a timely manner,”
Billboard notes. Accordingly, McCartney
reportedly filed for termination for 32 of his
and Lennon’s songs on the 15 April
2015. Unfortunately, the copyright will only
belong to McCartney in the US.
While the bassist’s half of the songs will
return to him, Lennon’s will not belong to his
estate. Yoko Ono sold the rights to his music
to Sony/ATV Music in 2009, those rights
lasting the entire copyright’s lifetime (70
years).
COMMENTS
Login
Mon Mar 21, 2016 12:40 am
