Something very interesting has come my way, and I am looking for advice on how best to deal with it.
I was at a friend of mines place for a BBQ last weekend and he put on a Beatles CD. I remarked to him what a great band I thought they were, and he started to tell me a very intriguing story.
A friend of his went out with one of the Beatles when she was very young. She still has old reel to reel tapes in her possession of the band practicing and playing from the early days before they were signed. He said that he had mentioned to her previously selling them for her and taking a percentage, and she had expressed an interest in this, but he had never pursued it.
Well this sounds like an amazing opportunity to me and I want to act on it as soon as possible before someone else does or before the recordings are lost.
So I thought I should ask some Beatles fans what they thought the best way of approaching this would be.
My questions more specifically are:
Can these recordings be listened to without damaging them and what would be the best way to extract the information stored on them?
What would the legal status of the recordings be? (As my friend tells it, the lady recorded the band herself with their permission and so has full rights to them.)
What king of contract should I sign to make sure that myself and my friend have sole agency to sell the recordings?
To whom should we try and sell them (McCartney, The BBC and Ebay come to mind) and depending on what they contain, is their any indication or precedent of what they may be worth?
I am not sure what is on the tapes, or whether they are still usable, but I think that this is something not to pass up. So any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.