It’s old news that Michael Jackson owned half of the copyrights to a large portion of Beatles songs, and that Sony/ATV Music Publishing owned the rest. But apparently, according to the US Copyright Act of 1976, songwriters are able to regain control of publishing rights on pre-1978 compositions after 56 years. This is all music to Paul McCartney’s ears. Pun intended, dudes! Behind said Act, McCartney will be able to regain control over Beatles compositions from 1962 in 2018 and songs from 1970 in 2026. So at the tender age of 76, just nine years from now, Paul McCartney (who already is worth about $737 million) will be raking in the dough.
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August 11th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Depends. Macca’s own publishing co. owns a lot of old stuff from other people, dead people – for example. So whoever owns the rights to the Beatles’ stuff right now (MJ’s mom? kids’ trust fund?), might renew ownership or whatever it is these people do and keep them for a while longer.
Of course, they might also sell them tomorrow.
-G.