Aw, It's Too Bad He's Not Around To See This
It was one of the most spectacular moves in music history. Michael Jackson managing to grab the rights to the Beatles catalog from under Paul McCartney's nose. Jackson claimed he did it to save the songs, but not only had rumors long circulated that he had his eye on the Beatles catalog, but he promptly leveraged it into a $1 billion loan that he would pay back with the expected royalties and rights licenses. At the time of Jackson's death, Sony had paid to be part owner of the catalog.
While my own feelings on McCartney's music can be iffy at times, he remained the one member of the Beatles to be a genuine human being and a great guy. I thought the whole thing was bullshit, but what can you do?
Turns out, he just has to wait five years.
There's a funny little thing in the US copyright act that was enacted in 1976. Made to bring the US more in line with the international community, it included bits about reclaiming ownership. Songwriters, for example, can reclaim ownership of songs after 56 years.
That means McCartney can reclaim a significant portion of the Beatles catalog starting in 2018 from their 1962 days all the way up to their 1970 compositions in 2026.
All McCartney has to do is live until he's 76.
And all the lawyers in the world can't stop it from happening.
And that is what we call "just desserts."
While my own feelings on McCartney's music can be iffy at times, he remained the one member of the Beatles to be a genuine human being and a great guy. I thought the whole thing was bullshit, but what can you do?
Turns out, he just has to wait five years.
There's a funny little thing in the US copyright act that was enacted in 1976. Made to bring the US more in line with the international community, it included bits about reclaiming ownership. Songwriters, for example, can reclaim ownership of songs after 56 years.
That means McCartney can reclaim a significant portion of the Beatles catalog starting in 2018 from their 1962 days all the way up to their 1970 compositions in 2026.
All McCartney has to do is live until he's 76.
And all the lawyers in the world can't stop it from happening.
And that is what we call "just desserts."