Famecrawler
Michael Jackson Leaves Beatles Catalog To Paul? (Video)
Ending what may have been most long-standing and high-profile feuds in music history, it’s being reported that MJ has left Paul McCartney the rights to over 200 Beatles songs. Jackson has owned the entire Lennon-McCartney songbook since 1985, when he one-upped Paul and Yoko in a bidding war — which royally irked Sir Paul.
Before the falling out, MJ and Paul had been musical collaborators on songs like “The Girl is Mine” and “Say Say Say” (video below). After the bitter auction, the lovefest was over… for the rest of MJ’s life. Said an insider earlier this year:
“Michael is worried about his health so decided it was time to look at his finances.
“Most of his estate has been divided up between his three children. But Michael told his lawyers he was sad he no longer talks to Sir Paul and said he wanted to make things right.”
That’s a pretty huge gift, especially considering that Michael left behind 3 children and a mountain of debt (estimated at $500M). Still, many will see the move as giving back to Paul what was rightly his. If it were me, those precious jewels would be staying in the family.
No matter what you think about the move from the Jackson kids’ perspective, it definitely helps set the pop universe back to equilibrium — or at least as close as it can get without a king.
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7 Comments
[...] his kids won’t have to deal with the crushing debt their dad was in. I was happy to hear that Michael left the Beatles catalog to Paul McCartney. It needed to be back [...]
Michael Jackson Tops The Charts | Famecrawler commented on Jun 27 09 at 11:01 am[...] his kids won’t have to deal with the crushing debt their dad was in. I was happy to hear that Michael left the Beatles catalog to Paul McCartney. It needed to be back [...]
Michael Jackson’s Albums Are Now #1 Sellers | FameCrawler | Babble Australia commented on Jun 28 09 at 8:32 am[...] just hoping that the news about MJ leaving his Beatles royalties to Paul McCartney is true. That’s a cool [...]
Michael Jackson Snubs Dad in Will | Famecrawler commented on Jun 30 09 at 1:30 pmCN commented on Jul 01 09 at 6:30 amWhat Jackson owned was 50% of a music publishing company that administered and collected the publishing royalties for a large number of songs, including most, but not all, of the Lennon and McCartney catalogue. Lennon and McCartney continued to receive their 50% share of the royalties, as they would have done irrespective of which publishing company was administering the royalties. Jackson’s involvement actually gave him very little in the way of rights or ownership of the Beatles’ songs, but it has always made a good news story. The problem is always that it is never explained properly. So I very much doubt that it was possible to bequeath the catalogue of Beatles songs to Paul McCartney, as they form a valuable part of a company that Jackson only part owned. His stake may well be sold, but the proceeds are more likely to be used to pay other creditors.
ira commented on Sep 29 09 at 2:38 amI truly hope he did NOT leave the catalog to paul. I guess the press thinks readers are really stupid to believe this story. MJ was a good business person, if he bought the catalog in the first place. He would not just give it away!
ira commented on Sep 29 09 at 2:41 amCN’s comments sound more reasonable.
mimi commented on May 11 10 at 11:12 amPaul has enough money, if he was not so mean with his bidding the cataloge would have remained with him…
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