Jackson would later go on to sell half of his ATV stake to Sony for $95 million, which resulted in the music publishing company Sony/ATV owning the rights to not only Beatles songs, but also songs by artists like Bob Dylan, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Marvin Gaye, Hank Williams, and Roy Orbison. Michael Jackson performs on stage during is “HIStory” world tour concert at Ericsson Stadium Novemin Auckland, New Zealand. Jackson would later allude to this incident in his biography ‘Moonwalk’ (1988), where he said, “Paul and I both learned the hard way about business, and the importance of publishing and royalties and the dignity of songwriting.” McCartney clearly wasn’t pleased to be outbid by his friend over his own songs and even remarked, “I think it’s dodgy to do something like that, to be someone’s friend, and then buy the rug they’re standing on.” This bitterness soon grew into a rift and the once-friendly duo hardly ever spoke again as they began to drift apart, by McCartney’s own admission. (Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Popular American musician Michael Jackson (1958 – 2009) waves during the filming of the long-form music video for his song ‘Bad,’ directed by Martin Scorcese, New York, New York, 1987. McCartney must have had a change of heart later on, but by then it was too late, as Jackson acquired the rights to the Beatles catalog in August 1985. Apparently, Jackson’s lawyer Branca had previously checked with both McCartney and Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono (Lennon was killed in 1980) if they planned to bid for the catalog, and was told they weren’t planning to do so at the moment. Robert Holmes à Court’s lawyers were concerned that Jackson might have been bidding on behalf of his friend McCartney, although this wasn’t the case at all. ![]() The deal reportedly first took shape in late 1984, but negotiations stretched into the following year, with both parties allegedly getting cold feet at various points. At the behest of Jackson, his entertainment lawyer John Branca eventually offered $47.5 million for the entire catalog, which included the Beatles hits ‘Hey Jude’, ‘Yesterday’ and ‘Let It Be’, as well as 4,000 other songs and a library of sound effects. McCartney was in prime position to swoop in and take what was rightfully his, but he was outbid by an extremely wealthy Jackson. In 1985, 16 years after they had gained the rights to 251 Beatles compositions, Associated Television, which was now owned by the Australian billionaire Robert Holmes à Court, announced that they would be auctioning off their entire publishing catalog. (L-R) Paul McCartney poses with Michael Jackson, Michael Grant and Junior Waite of Musical Youth at the British Record Industry Awards in February 1983 (Getty Images) Although Macca probably thought young Jackson was joking at the time, this was exactly what would come to pass. He also advised a young Jackson that this was the best way to keep the money rolling in and Jackson joked to McCartney that one day he would own the Beatles catalog himself. “It meant that whatever the lion’s share of the songs we did were taken by someone else.” Now a little wiser, McCartney began to acquire the rights to well-loved songs for himself, which included the catalogs of cherished artists like Buddy Holly. ![]() “Very early on we got managed into a little situation,” McCartney revealed during a 1989 interview. ![]() But that also meant that Macca was no longer receiving compensation for Beatles songs that he had written and performed. In 1969, the British company Associated Television (ATV) took over Northern Songs in contentious fashion, leading McCartney and Lennon to pull out of their contract for future compositions and they also promptly sold off their shares. Beatles Paul McCartney (left) and John Lennon (1940 – 1980) at the Variety Club Showbusiness Awards held at the Dorchester, London. So securing the publishing rights to songs was certainly a lucrative business and McCartney must have been feeling the pinch after he lost his stake in Northern Songs, the publishing company he had part ownership of, along with fellow Beatle John Lennon. A separate licensing fee was also due to the track’s songwriter, which is why some hit songwriters who weren’t even performers could rake in guaranteed moolah for many years, after merely a penning a few hit songs. For a bit of context, every time an artists’s copyrighted song was used for commercial purposes, a licensing fee was then paid to the record label, who in turn paid the artist in royalties.
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