Paul McCartney will be adding even more dosh to his personal fortune in 10 years’ time. He has just found out that the copyright to The Beatles’ back catalogue will finally return to him within the next decade, without any high profile legal wrangling as expected.
SonyATV, the publishing company that owns the rights – the major shareholder being Michael Jackson – obviously didn’t realise the publishing rights had a time limit.
Speaking to the Daily Express, McCartney said, “In about 10 years a lot of the back catalogue returns to me, just legally. Some of the important rights are about to return which I didn’t realise”.
This news is ironic as rock’n’roll lore says that Michael Jackson only originally bought The Beatles’ back catalogue after advice given to him by McCartney himself, to invest his growing fortune by acquiring publishing rights.
As McCartney puts it, “You know what doesn’t feel very good is going on tour and paying to sing all my songs. Every time I sing ‘Hey Jude’ I’ve got to pay someone.”