Lennon/Mccartney Songs........

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 7:08 pm

After a little research, I came up with this:
The Beatles assigned their publishing rights to Northern Songs, a company created by Beatles manager Brian Epstein and music publisher Dick James in 1963. The Beatles (particularly John Lennon and Paul McCartney) were soon earning so much money from songwriting royalties, record sales, concert performances, and merchandise licensing that they were losing over 90% of their income in taxes, and they were advised to find a way of receiving their revenue in the form of capital gains rather than income (the former being taxed at a much lower rate), such as selling their song rights or putting their money into a public company. The Beatles opted for the latter route, and Northern Songs went public on the London Stock Exchange in 1965. Initially, Lennon and McCartney each retained 15% of the shares, George Harrison and Ringo Starr held 1.6% between them, Brian Epstein's NEMS company was assigned 7.5%, and Dick James and Charles Silver (Northern Songs' chairman) retained a total of 37.5%. In 1969, however, the Beatles lost a buyout bid for control of Northern Songs when Dick James and Charles Silver sold their share of the company to Sir Lew Grade, head of Associated Television Corporation (ATV).

In 1984, ATV's 4,000-song music catalog was put up for sale, and Michael Jackson (who had coincidentally been introduced to the benefits of song ownership by Paul McCartney himself) eventually outbid all other prospective buyers for it, including Paul McCartney, who wanted to buy back the rights to the Beatles' songs but was apparently unable or unwilling to raise enough money to pay for the thousands of other songs in the ATV catalog as well. So, for $47.5 million, Jackson acquired the publishing rights to most of the Beatles songs. (The four songs issued on the Beatles' first two singles -- "Love Me Do" b/w "P.S. I Love You" and "Please Please Me" b/w "Ask Me Why" -- were not part of the package since they were published before the formation of Northern Songs, and the rights to those songs are now controlled by McCartney's MPL Communications. ATV also did not own the rights to George Harrison songs published after Harrison's songwriting contract with Northern Songs expired in 1968, but they did hold the rights to various other Lennon-McCartney songs not recorded by the Beatles.)

Another key point here is that although Michael Jackson receives 50% of the royalties generated by Beatles songs by virtue of his ownership of the publishing rights, Paul McCartney and John Lennon (and Lennon's estate, now that he's dead) have always received their 50% songwriter's share of the royalties for all Lennon-McCartney songs. Neither ATV's nor Michael Jackson's acquisition of Northern Songs changed that, and Michael Jackson does not now receive royalties that would otherwise be going to the Beatles had he not acquired the publishing rights to their songs (except that, obviously, if Paul McCartney had managed to outbid Jackson for the publishing rights to the Beatles catalog, he and Lennon's estate would be splitting 100% of the royalties rather than 50%).

As a closing note, we should mention that Sony Corp. paid Michael Jackson $95 million in 1995 to merge ATV with Sony and form Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a 50-50 joint venture, so it's probably more correct to say that Jackson now owns half the rights to the Beatles catalog.

simer4001 · Post by **simer4001** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 9:16 pm

Thanks Steve. Great work. Adam, all I know is that McCartney himself says he went to Ono about purchasing the rights and she stalled the negotiations. I'll try to find the interview and transcribe it for you. He mentioned that he thought they could get the rights for $30 million. Let me see if i can dig it up. Anyway thats why I say she cost them the rights. Let me ask you this. Even if Paul didn't go to her and he was willing to pay for it all himself, do you think Yoko would have stood by and let Paul own all the songs? I'm sure she would have done something to interfere.

Steve, thanks again for your research.

adam_swapp · Post by **adam_swapp** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 9:38 pm

McCartney is a master of revisionist history. I wouldn't trust his version of events to be either unbiased or accurate.

As to Yoko, I'm not sure what she could have done to interfere. And if I may say so, it sounds like you might have a bit of anti-Yoko bias coloring your interpretation of events.

rickinroma · Post by **rickinroma** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 10:12 pm

...as it sounds like Adam doesn't particularly love Macca

)

360dave660 · Post by **360dave660** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 12:24 am

There is a great piece in a Mojo retrospective of the beatles that does a few pages of the northern songs stock market ownership battle in '69. I'll read it tonight and see if it is there are any other ideas that might appear.

teeder · Post by **teeder** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 7:43 am

Francesco,

You caught that too?

Brian,

Just think what a smuck Sir Paul would be portrayed as if he had bought the rights witout going to Ono first!

adam_swapp · Post by **adam_swapp** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 9:50 am

Seems I've struck a nerve with the McCartney apologists.

The fact is, McCartney could have purchased ATV in 1984 - by himself. He didn't do so, and it was solely his decision not to consummate the deal. He may have approached Yoko, but he sure didn't need her approval or acquiescence - nor did she have the power to stop him.

Nonetheless, if you want to blame Yoko, go ahead. After all, I'm sure she was the cause of Linda's cancer, too.

simer4001 · Post by **simer4001** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 10:25 am

I agree that Paul may have been able to buy the rights himself. I don't know for sure, but I think Kevin has a point that it would have made McCartney look evil to purchase the rights without consulting her.

As for Yoko, she stalled the deal Adam. I think you can check several resources to prove that. Macca went to her and she hemmed and hawed. Personally, I dislike Yoko for many things, this is one of them. As for McCartney being a revisionist...I can't think of any examples of how he has stretched or changed the truth.

I think the simple fact is that Paul is the keeper of the Beatles and Yoko resents him for that.

As for Linda's cancer comment. I think that is out of line and disrespectful, but I understand how you think I am coming off. Which is fine. However, I would be so bold as to say the she has been a cancer on Lennon's legacy. Just my humble, very humble opinion.

I'm not a McCartney apologist. Sure I'm a fan, but I don't agree with his politics and many of his personal beliefs. Hell if I go to a McCartney concert why the heck can't I have a hamburger. Because Paul says I can't. Eat me! That ticks me off! But in this case I think he is rights and like I said before... I think time has always proven him right.

apollo11 · Post by **apollo11** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 11:55 am

If I remember correctly, McCartney had put a bid which he thought would safely win the Beatles catalog. Remember, at the time, he was worth $500 million. He was the owner of MPL Communications, and was a music publisher in his own right, so I'm sure had the funds and/or backing to make the purchase. It isn't like he needed Yoko's help in buying the song rights. He had approached Yoko about going in with him; this was probably solely based on a monetary standpoint, not out of the goodness of his heart. Can you image if they went in together? We already know of the legendary sqabbles at Apple Records which took years to sort out. There is still bitterness, and a lot of that is between Yoko and Paul, although many of the problems go deeper than money.

I don't think Yoko can be blamed at all for helping McCartney in NOT winning the high bid. She must not have really cared either way to own the catalog, as you never hear anything regarding her being upset that she doesn't own it. The fault in not obtaining the rights lies with McCartney, plain and simple. He underestimated the value of the songs and was conservative on his bid (conservative because he lost.) If he truely wanted the catalog, he would have won the bid, by a landslide. Also, I can picture Yoko not being interested in being a partner with McCartney. I can also picture the opposite---they could not be partners in a venture of this magnitude. It hasn't worked in the 37 or 38 years they've known each other.

It is his fault for letting the songs go for $48 million to Michael Jackson. He didn't bid high enough. He is the one who was sore at Jackson for outbidding him, thus souring their once-friendly relationship. McCartney owns a lot of songs not written by him, including the entire catalog of Buddy Holly. He has experience with the business, and let his own catalog slip away.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 12:12 pm

My 2 cents: If I wrote a bunch of great songs with a childhood friend and they became world famous, lost the rights to them, and got a chance to buy them back I would buy them back whether my dead friends widow went in with me or not. I would do it simply because they were half my songs and I wrote them, I couldn't think of anything worse than to lose something like the fruit of your labor, you write songs that change the world and you lose them. I would have killed to get them back if I were McCartney. Maybe I'm ruthless but that is how much music means to me. I was baffled when I learned that they had lost them and more baffled still when I learned that for whatever reason McCartney didn't snap them up. One of the wierdest people who ever existed ended up with them, what went on there?

simer4001 · Post by **simer4001** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 12:53 pm

I'm trying to figure out why Yoko balked. I remember something that made it a bad deal for her. She may be evil

but she is a smart business woman. I would think that if it made sense to her to not buy them and screw Paul at the same time then it was a win/win for her. It had something to do with the fact that John was dead and somethng reverting back to his estate. I can't remember but I guess I could look it up. I must have something on it because I read it somewhere. I'll check around. By the way...Yoko still sucks!

Now I'm just having fun messing with you guys!!

The thing that always got me was that John and Paul let it slip away. I know the business was different back then, but they had to have a sense of their value. I always found it ironic that Paul copyrighted his LSD induced aerosol paint job on his RIC, but let the publishing get away. It's sad really.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 1:32 pm

That is one of the funniest posts I have seen here in a while.

adam_swapp · Post by **adam_swapp** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 2:37 pm

I don't think it's fair to say they "let it slip away". The publishing rights were originally owned by Northern Songs, which was a publically traded company. Lennon and McCartney never had a majority interest. When Lew Grade acquired a majority interest, Lennon and McCartney were forced to sell. More to the point, it should be noted that Lennon and McCartney attempted to buy the company at that time (1969), but were rebuffed. Apparently, the James and NEMS shares were sold without prior notification to Lennon and McCartney that they were on the block.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 2:48 pm

Lots of McCartney fans here, esp. among the bassists. I must admit that this comes close to a Paul vs. John debate. We had them in high school daily back in the 60s. The two of them as immature, girl-crazy competitive chums, besides cutting a wide swath through the younger females of Liverpool and a few more in Hamburg, used their competitive and opposite natures to fuel an amazing creative partnership. When the edge went out of it, the center could not hold. Linda and Yoko, both strong and somewhat manipulative females, had an undeniably powerful pull on both poles of the situation. I'll never understand the Allan Klein thing, and the total strangeness of the whole shortlived Apple projects situation, except as a poor and far too idealistic way of wasting money, much of which was not hard-earned so was disposed of without too much regret. When I heard that Jacko had purchased the catalog, I shook my head in amazement at how far out of hand the whole darned thing had gone...Now what's he gonna have to mortgage to pay his lawyers?

simer4001 · Post by **simer4001** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 3:01 pm

He can always put himself on ebay!