Paul McCartney has begun proceedings to acquire his half of the publishing rights for The Beatles’ back catalog.
He filed paperwork at the U.S. Copyright Office in December to start his bid to regain the ownership of all The Beatles’ music, which was credited to him and the late John Lennon, according to Billboard.com.
The pair had lost their rights in 1969 when a stake in their publishing company Northern Songs was sold to Associated Television (ATV) and their attempt to get the rights back failed but under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, songwriters are allowed to regain their publishing rights after 56 years, and The Beatles’ catalog hits that milestone in 2018. Songwriters are told they should file a claim with the Copyright Office between two and ten years ahead of that date.
McCartney filed a termination notice for 32 songs in December but John Lennon’s half of the publishing – all Beatles songs were credited to Lennon-McCartney, regardless of who wrote them will remain with Sony/ATV which reportedly made a deal with Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono.
ATV was bought by Michael Jackson for $47.5 million in 1985 and the company merged with Sony Music Entertainment a decade later.
Last week, it was announced that Jackson’s estate was selling its 50 per cent stake to Sony executives for $750 million .
