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Sir Paul McCartney set to regain rights to Beatles back catalogue
Sir Paul McCartney is set to win back the rights to The Beatles songs.
The veteran rocker, 71, lost ownership of the publishing rights to the songs he co-wrote with late bandmate John Lennon. Sir Paul was furious when his former friend Michael Jackson outbid him to buy the Associated Television Corporation (ATV)’s back catalogue, which includes The Beatles’ tracks, in 1985.
The King Of Pop paid a reported $47.5million for between 160 and 260 Beatles classics, including Yesterday and Let It Be. However, the 1976 US Copyright Act means Sir Paul will now be able the claim back the titles once more in five years, according to The Sun.
A source told the paper: ‘Paul’s been fuming for decades. It’s as much personal as business. Now he’ll get back what’s rightfully his.’ The Act means songs written prior to 1978 turn into the property of the songwriter after 56 years.
Sir Paul and Michael, who recorded several songs together in the ’80s, including The Girl Is Mine, famously fell out over the purchase.
No doubt Sir Paul, who has a reported £680 million fortune already, will be looking forward to receiving royalties and licensing money for tracks he wrote in the ’60s and 1970.
Years ago, he complained at having to pay Michael royalties every time he wanted to perform a Beatles song: ‘The annoying thing is I have to pay to play some of my own songs. Each time I want to sing Hey Jude I have to pay.’
While it is unknown how much the back catalogue would be worth nowadays, in 2005, Sony paid Michael $95million for 50 per cent of the rights.
When Jackson died in 2009, Sir Paul denied reports he was ‘devastated’ not to have been left the rights by the tragic singer in his will.
He said at the time: ‘The report is that I am devastated to find that he didn’t leave the songs to me. This is completely untrue. I had not thought for one minute that the original report [about the will] was true, and therefore the report that I’m devastated is also totally false.’
In an interview after Michael’s death, Sir Paul admitted his resentment against the singer had faded somewhat: ‘I got off that years ago. It was something for a while I was very keen on and you can see why, naturally… [but these] sort of things can eat you up.
‘I feel privileged to have hung out and worked with Michael. He was a massively talented boy man with a gentle soul. His music will be remembered forever and my memories of our time together will be happy ones.’
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