Michael Jackson owns all of the Beatles' songs

[HalfManHalfBiscuit]

I know many people have forgotten this fact. The songs must not have been that great for the Beatles to sell them to a freak. This is just a fact. I guess they were hard up for the money.

Actually, I am pretty glad that Michael Jackson owns all of the Beatles' songs so I won't have to listen to them.

[Wickerman]

1. I thought Paul bought most of them back?

:shrug: after Yoko sold them to MJ.

[silvermachine]

9. Yes he did.

EOM

[vpigrad]

2. To a freak? Your biases are showing again. (ntxt)

[LoZoccolo]

3. Oasis songs are owned by Oasis.

I'm not saying that Michael Jackson is guilty, but if his lawyers do anything shady, you know what helped pay for it.

Score one for Oasis.

[ComerPerro]

8. They can have 'em

:puke:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

37. Only because no one would buy them

[Wat_Tyler]

41. I DID!

And only $2.50! SWEET!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

42. I'll take them off your hands for a buck and a quarter

I think I have Lo Zoccolo out looking for a co-signer right now

[JimmyJazz]

4. Paul didn't sell the catalog to Michael and, in fact, is angry

that Jackson outbid him for the rights:

http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20031210.html

[xxqqqzme]

5. Jackson out bid McCartney when

the songs were sold @ auction.

Wow jazzy that is wierd same thought posted same time.

Paul wanted the songs because he did not want Beatles songs turning up promoting velveeta or fords.

[pinniped]

38. Or stupid shoes made in sweatshops.

Nike = Revolution

[JohnnyRingo]

6. Actually I was content to see Jackson own the songs.

He refused to sell rights to the songs for commercial use.

If Jackson loses this newest trial, I fear having to hear endless loops of "Good Day Sunshine" on laxitive commercials.

It's like the Venus de Milo being used to sell deoderant.
Or the Mona Lisa selling toothpaste.

[asthmaticeog]

7. You're mistaken.

As soon as Jackson bought the songs, "Revolution" became a Nike ad.

[JohnnyRingo]

13. I thought someone else owned "Revolution"......

...I looked it up and you're right.

Half right anyway, I thought I'd read somewhere that the music world feared economic collapse of MJ because of the fate of the songs.

<excerpt>
Nike used this for commercials in 1987. Capital Records, who owns the performance rights, meaning The Beatles version of the song, was paid $250,000. Michael Jackson, who owns the publishing rights, meaning use of the words and music, also had to agree and was paid for the song.

http://home.att.net/~chuckayoub/Revolution_Lyrics.html

[HalfManHalfBiscuit]

11. Soon we will hear "Helter Skelter" in a Depends ad

I too fear a Beatles commercial renaissance.

[silvermachine]

10. Hmmm

<<<I guess they were hard up for the money.

Hardly.

[johnnie]

12. Jackson doesn't own them as much now

And the Beatles never owned them to sell. Paul owns some now though. Sony owns a lot of the rights too because Jackson needed to do it to get a record deal.

[NightTrain]

14. What a mind-bendingly stupid post!

Oh, and it's quite liberal of you to refer to Michael Jackson as "a freak." What's next, calling Stevie Wonder "a blind, ignorant nigger?"

[Wat_Tyler]

17. Nonsense.

Everybody knows that was Ray Charles.

(and now, anybody who doesn't get what I'm referring to will think I'm a racist, right? ;-) )

[njdemocrat106]

26. No, the racist would be Elvis Costello, right?

And didn't Stephen Stills put Costello up to it?

[Wat_Tyler]

28. Stephen Stills and Bonnie Bramlett, IIRC.

A very drunk Elvis Costello decided to say the most offensive thing he could to shut them up. Ray Charles said 'No one should take heed of drunk talk'.
It really fucked Costello's career in the US. As much as I love him, I find it hard to sympathize.

[njdemocrat106]

36. Man, Ray was a class act

I like Costello too, but I probably would have decked him if I were on Ray's shoes.

[Wat_Tyler]

39. I think Costello himself would've decked a guy that said that.

Ray was right, drunk-talk ain't worth shit.

[Swede]

22. Yeah,MJ's just your average androgenous,bleached pedophile,

aerobic chamber sleeping,amusement park owner.

[mondo joe]

29. You're a bigot for leaving out elephant-man-skeleton-owning

Why do you hate elephant men?

[Enraged_Ape]

35. Michael Jackson is, alas, a freak

This liberal can think of no better word to describe him.

Stevie Wonder, on the other hand, is a genius. And one who never carved up his face, dangled babies over hotel railings, or slept with small boys.

[ZoCrowes]

15. Uhm

they sold the publishing rights in the 60s under some really shady deaings. When they went back up on the market Paul was outbid by Jackson. They did not sell them to him. He does not own the rights to the songs themselves he just owns the publishing (where much of the money is made though.)

[Wat_Tyler]

16. No he doesn't.

Jackson owns Northern Songs, which published many of Lennon and McCartney's songs - but not one of George Harrison's songs.
Ironically, Paul McCartney advised Michael Jackson, during the making of Say Say Say in 1982 to put his money into song publishing. Jackson then went and outbid McCartney for his own songs, leaving McCartney furious.
Is this bizarre Oasis/Beatles match-up you and your alter-ego LoZoccolo keep pushing meant to be funny? I would say you were flogging a dead horse, but by this point, you're flogging a space on the ground where the horse used to be.

[liberalpragmatist]

40. You know - I'm a huge Oasis fan and this whole thing...

... IS getting tired. I LOVE the Beatles and have no issue with saying that they're a MUCH more important group and better artistically and musically even if i absolutely LOVE Oasis' 90s stuff.

I still don't get the whole bizarre Beatles-baiting that LoZoccolo and the creater of this thread keep doing. It bemuses me. I think it's funny, but it does get old.

I think it's mainly to annoy people and be obnoxious. After all, what is Oasis if not obnoxious? I love 'em for it and I think our friends LoZoccolo and HalfManHalfBiscuit are just taking a cue from their favorite group.

[elperromagico]

44. Northern Songs did publish some of George Harrison's songs.

From the time that George began writing songs in 1963 until his contract expired in 1968, his songs were published by Northern Songs.

However, I doubt any of the songs are big sellers. His real Beatles classics ("While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Something," "Here Comes the Sun," et cetera) were all written and published after 1968 by George's own company, Harrisongs.

[MrSlayer]

18. Blame Yoko Ono.

She didn't want to pool with McCartney to avoid letting Jacko get them.

[mondo joe]

19. I wonder which one he puts on to get a little friend in the mood

[Wat_Tyler]

20. Never mind that. I just bought Oasis's back-catalogue for $2.50 and

some tic-tacs. I'm going to sell Wonderwall to all the adult diaper companies I can find!

[ZoCrowes]

23. I'm a huge Oasis fan

but that just made me laugh my ass off

[Wat_Tyler]

24. Great! Wanna buy them? $3. Tell you what, $3 and you'll get a roll with it

Can't say fairer than that, eh?

[ZoCrowes]

25. But I dont want Roll With It

that song sucks. I'll give you $3.50 and you can give me Slide Away and Champagne Supernova. Deal?

[Wat_Tyler]

27. Alright, Stop Crying Your Heart Out, D'You Know What I Mean?

Little By Little, Some Might Say, Stand By Me, Whatever and I'll get you your songs. Definitely Maybe.

[liberalpragmatist]

31. You can't hate Oasis THAT much if you know all those song names

nt

[Wat_Tyler]

33. Hate? Hate implies that I care.

I just happen to have a sponge-like ability to recall useless trivia.

[ZoCrowes]

32. Sweet then i will

sell them for $20 to some British Soccer Hooligan with 6 teeth and a stupid haircut who just screams "Oasis" for 20 minutes straight.

[Wat_Tyler]

34. You mean Liam?

[Maddy McCall]

21. Jackson doesn't have very many resources left -- he's broke.

He can't even pay his staff, and tomorrow many of them won't even show up. His mom will be feeding his llamas, and his brother is trying to score $200,000 from the "inner circle" to pay back wages to the staff, but no one is biting.

[Dookus]

30. Can't he get a loan from Janet?

She seems to be doing pretty well.

[Maddy McCall]

45. Maybe Janet knows a risky investment when she sees one.

I haven't heard her saying very much to the press during the trial.

[elperromagico]

43. The Beatles never owned the publishing rights.

The publishing rights were owned first by Northern Songs from 1963-1969. This included all of the Lennon/McCartney songs written from 1963 until the breakup, all songs written by Paul and John as solo artists until 1973, and George's songs from 1963-1968.

The songs were owned by ATV Music from 1969-1986.

Then ATV was bought (at enormous expense) by Michael Jackson in 1986. Paul and Yoko made a bid for the songs, but it fell apart; Paul claimed that Yoko wouldn't put up enough money, but why didn't he - one of the richest men in rock - simply buy them himself?

In 1995 Jackson was given $95 million to merge ATV with Sony. He still owns 50% of the publishing rights.

Only a handful of Beatles songs are actually owned by the Beatles: their first four singles and all of George's songs from mid-1968 until the breakup.

However, one should remember that throughout the last 42 years, Paul and John (now John's estate) have received 50% of the songwriting royalties from the Beatles catalog.

As for recording rights, those never belonged to the Beatles either. They have always belonged to EMI/Capitol.

Here's a more in-depth summary, if you were being anything other than a smartass: http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/jackson.htm