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[McMaul]

Howdo, peoploids. I just read this on my fave drummers myspace page. (Phil gould from level 42) The conversation turned from the benefits of Vinyl, to royalties. This is what one guy posted up. Please discuss, I think it is fascinating.


"
 LOL! You don't know what I know about Harrison's history in the Beatles! The dude got screwed in more ways than just not having songs on albums. But he was the smart one when it came to business . I know McCartney's rich, but George figured that stuff out when he was 21! Ya know Harrisongs, the publishing company he had post-1968? That was originally set up in 1964, when he wasn't writing any songs at all for the Beatles. Ssssssometime after he and Ringo weren't included at all in the Northern Songs deal. George Martin was asked for a share in Northern. Not Harrison or Starr. (And they helped write Eleanor Rigby!!!! Harrison even wrote 3 lines of verse for Come Togeher -- never bothered to shoot for credit for it.) It proved wise later on, until McCartney sued them all. It meant that what he earned on ATMP, went to all of them. And then McCartney went on tour with the money that his albums weren't earning but Harrison's, Lennon's and Starr's were.

LOL! Betcha sorry you said that one now.LOL! I looked into it when I noticed that Harrison set up a publishing company back in 1964, not 1968, and that whole "George wrote better songs near the end" mythos. He "gave better" songs when he wasn't earning 1.6% mechanical royalties being a Northern Song artist (while Lennon & McCartney each earned 15% on Harrison penned songs) and actually earned 100% of the mechanical royalties with Harrisongs, shafting Allen Klein when he assumed Ringo and George would be under an umbrella company called Apple Publishing (some 'White Albums' got pressed with this information but were withdrawn when Klein was informed George & Ringo would not be under Apple Publishing.) When Northern went public shares, Harrison sold just in time for his 3 year contract to end, and then went with Harrisongs that was formed in 1964.

I said to Beatles fans, do you not think it odd that a person who was squeezed out of a publishing deal in 1963 (which gave away the rights to 56 Lennon and McCartney songs in the end), stopped contributing songs until 1965, but set up a publishing company for his own work in-between that time, then signed with Northern, pushed to get more songs on albums, but totally went an Indian /Avant Garde route with his songs, until his 3 year contract was up, sold his shares and then got his publishing company up and running at 100% and started giving songs like Here Comes the Sun, Something, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, but had for a long time songs like Isn't It A Pity (written in 1966 - Lennon rejected it), All Things Must Pass (tried but rejected) and tons of others?

I thought it genius. He was one of the best poker players around, if not for that bad Apple decision. But ya know, you're in a band, you hope for the best.

Jon Astley didn't do all that great on the All Things Must Pass remaster either Phil. Hate to say it, but I'm hearing you on that one.

Posted by Steven St.Thomas on Friday, October 20, 2006 at 9:58 AM
[Reply to this]
 
 
 
 Phil Gould
 
 You know John Lennon once said the Beatles were the biggest band because they were the biggest bastards! I can see that in many ways. To front that kind of pressure, you maybe have to have a suit of armour that thick. Of course, it's not so easy being in close proximity with such a mindset.

Lennon and McCartney carved up the empire, that's for sure, and got themselves into a real financial quagmire with Dick James et al. But they were the pioneers in all of these kind of deals and mistakes were bound to be made. Maybe George could see these things more clearly from the sidelines and make his moves accordingly."

Oh, howdo by the way, I am Dug Mcleod, Dark lord, and a pal of Mr Kites.
 
 

[mr kite]

Thats a fastenating piece there McMaul , me old buddy , i guess George was a bit of a dark horse  

[Bobber]

Tons of others? Interesting info, but I really don't think George was holding back a lot in those early days. That would suggest that he wrote songs like WMGGW, Something en HCTS many years before they were published.

[BlueMeanie]

That's an interesting post Dug. But I'm not sure the writer has his facts straight. Does he ever say where he got that information from? And if Isn't It A Pity was rejected by John in 1966, why was it tried during the Get Back sessions in 1969? That is, as George had so many songs?

unsubstantiated conjecture.

[harihead]

Steven St.Thomas proposes an interesting view. I don't doubt that George was smart enough to pull off some clever protection of his songs after seeing what John and Paul went through. I just don't think it probably happened like that.

What George probably saw was John and Paul reaping in tons of money because they were the credited authors of so many songs. I don't think any of them figured Northern was a bad deal until a bit later; in the beginning they were happy to be published and get their extra percentages off the songs the band made. None of them knew how much money they were making, although it was true that George kept better track than the others (in the beginning; starting '67 Paul took over as the chief nagger of Epstein for financial information).

George himself said (on Anthology) he didn't have too many songs in the mid-sixties. Of course, he could have been lying to hide this clever behind-the-scenes maneuvering, but it doesn't seem his style. I think the major fault with SST's premise is that it assumes all song-writing is done with the focus on money. I think creativity--great songs-- require a certain amount of inspiration, and don't just come because you're suddenly getting a bigger percentage. I think George was quite happy to play his guitar in the Beatles and that's it. Later on, when he found he had something to say, it came out in all these songs. But he was never a write-to-order kind of guy. He's one who works best from inspiration.