George Harrison Thought It Was Strange That Michael Jackson Bought The Beatles’ Catalog Because He Was Supposed to Be Paul McCartney’s Friend
George Harrison thought it was strange that Michael Jackson bought The Beatles‘ catalog because he was supposed to be Paul McCartney‘s friend. Jackson bought all of Paul and John Lennon’s songs, plus some of George’s, in 1985.
Michael Jackson bought The Beatles’ catalog in 1985
In 1963, music publisher Dick James was new to the music publishing world. However, he wanted to be The Beatles’ publisher. To wow the band’s manager, Brian Epstein, he organized the group’s first TV performance on Thank Your Lucky Stars.
Then, James suggested he and Epstein start Northern Songs to house Lennon-McCartney songs (as well as George and Ringo Starr’s). Epstein and The Beatles signed the necessary contracts “not really knowing what it was at all about,” Paul said (per Beatles Bible).
“John and I didn’t know you could own songs,” Paul said. “We thought they just existed in the air, we could not see how it was possible to own them. We could see owning a house, a guitar or a car, they were physical objects. But a song, not being a physical object, we couldn’t see how it was possible to have a copyright in it. And therefore, with great glee, publishers saw us coming.
“We said to them, ‘Can we have our own company?’ They said, ‘Yeah.’ We said, ‘Our own?’ They said, ‘Yeah, you can. You’re great. This is what we’re going to do now.’ So we really thought that meant 100 percent owned. But of course, it turned out to be 49 percent to me and John and Brian, and 51 percent to Dick James and Charles Silver,” Paul explained.
By 1965 the company had been restructured. John and Paul each owned 15%, Dick James Music held 7%, his family had 15%, Dick James Music’s co-director Emmanuel Charles Silver had 15%, and NEMS Enterprises owned 7%. Harrison and Starr held only 1.6% between them (per Beatles Bible).
In 1968, George and Ringo opted not to renew their contracts with Northern Songs. The following year, The Beatles’ fruitful relationship with James soured when he sold Northern Songs to Sir Lew Grade, who ran the British television network ATV, without offering the group an opportunity to buy it. He profited hugely from the sale, and John and Paul lost control of the rights to their songs.
In 1985, the rights to The Beatles’ catalog and others went up for public auction. Jackson bought the collection of 4,000 songs, including 250 by Lennon-McCartney, for $47.5 million.
George Harrison thought it was funny that Michael Jackson bought The Beatles’ catalog because he was supposed to be Paul’s friend
It’s possibly good that John and Paul limited the number of George’s songs per Beatles album. Otherwise, James would’ve owned more of his songs. In a 1987 interview with Creem Magazine, George said he was glad he didn’t write too many Beatles songs.
Later, in 1988, George told CNN that it was strange that Jackson bought The Beatles’ catalog because he was supposed to be Paul’s friend. The pair had recorded “Say Say Say” for Paul’s 1983 album, Pipes of Peace. However, during their collaboration, Paul gave Jackson some music publishing advice, to which the “Thriller” singer replied, “One day, I’ll own your songs.”
CNN asked George how he felt about Jackson owning The Beatles’ catalog. “I thought it was very strange because he was supposed to be Paul’s friend,” George replied. “Personally, I only have about 10 or 12 songs that was in that catalog. I’d still like them back, Michael. They don’t make him that much money. I want them to give to my boy in my will.”
Paul and Jackson’s relationship crumbled
According to Far Out Magazine, once the sale of The Beatles’ catalog was final, Jackson said, “You can’t put a price on a Picasso… you can’t put a price on these songs, there’s no value on them.”
However, Jackson never wanted to sell the catalog back to the group that made it. So, his relationship with Paul crumbled.
On The Howard Stern Show, Paul said he’d written Jackson many times offering to buy the catalog. However, Jackson repeatedly refused. So, they were not on speaking terms ever again. “The trouble is I wrote those songs for nothing and buying them back at these phenomenal sums, I just can’t do it,” Paul said.
However, Paul eventually got The Beatles’ catalog back. According to American Songwriter, Jackson later sold 50% of ATV to Sony for $95 million. At Jackson’s death, Sony fully controlled all of The Beatles’ songs.
After a 2017 lawsuit, “Paul finally reached a settlement with Sony/ATV over copyright to the Beatles catalog under the US Copyright Act of 1976, which states that songwriters can reclaim copyright from music publishers 35 years after they gave them away,” American Songwriter wrote.
So, The Beatles finally own their music. George and John can rest in peace.
