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[The End]

Sir Paul McCartney to get back Beatles rights

Sir Paul McCartney is to get his hands back on the rights to The Beatles' back catalogue of songs - which he lost 21 years ago.

The musician lost the rights to the majority of the Fab Four's hits to then close friend Michael Jackson in a bidding war in 1985.

Jackson paid nearly £40 million for the collection leaving McCartney, who dueted with Jackson on worldwide hit 'The Girl Is Mine' in 1982, fuming.

Now the former Beatle has learned the rights to many of the songs, which include 'Come Together' and 'Getting Better', are set to return to him automatically.

He revealed to Britain's Daily Express newspaper: "In about 10 years a lot of the back catalogue returns to me, just legally. Some of the important rights are about to return which I didn't realise."

McCartney, 64, has previously admitted he hates the fact he has to pay Jackson money every time he plays one of his own songs on tour.

[zipp]

Strange that the examples are Come Together and Getting Better.
Any reason for this do you think?

[The End]

Strange that the examples are Come Together and Getting Better.
Any reason for this do you think?

Nah, probably some random journalism!

Strange that the examples are Come Together and Getting Better.
Any reason for this do you think?

i dont get the connection?

[zipp]

i dont get the connection?

They're both cited in the article.
The question is why?

[Mairi]

YAYYYYYYYYYY I'm so happy.

This is the best Beatle news in years!!!! (besides the fact that Paul split with the peg-leg, I mean)

[pc31]

things are coming together for him and it's getting better...maybe it was a personal spin on irony by the journalist...

[zipp]

things are coming together for him and it's getting better...maybe it was a personal spin on irony by the journalist...

You may be right pc.
At the moment they're quoting Can't buy Me Love and You Never Give Me Your Money!

[Bobber]

The Guardian explained last week what the thing about rights is all about.

Preserving a copy of the future

The British Library and the recording industry are arguing about proposals to extend the lifespan of copyright. Wendy M Grossman looks at the issues behind the row

Thursday October 19, 2006
The Guardian


Will you still need me, the songs asks, will you still feed me, when I'm 64? To which the music publisher replies: that depends. Will you still be in copyright and of commercial value?
In mid-September, the British Library launched an intellectual property (IP) manifesto setting out its views on the future of IP in Britain. The timing makes sense: the government, in the form of the Gowers review, is studying the matter, and its report is due soon. Meanwhile, the recording industry is lobbying to extend the term of copyright in sound recordings from 50 years to 95, as it is in the US - a move opposed by the British Library Sound Archive.

"Under UK copyright law," says Ben White, copyright and compliance manager at the British Library, "we are unable to copy for preservation purposes film or sound material that sits in our permanent collection." A further complication is the fact that about 10% of the archive, which includes more than a million discs and 185,000 tapes, is unpublished. Much of that is known as orphan works - pieces whose owners are unknown. We know who owns When I'm 64, but who owns the archive's recording of Nelson Mandela's speech at the Rivonia trial?

Even more frustrating for the librarians, the copyright in unpublished works is perpetual; under the law they cannot be copied, even for preservation.

"We're neutral on term extension," White says, "but I think it needs to be based in evidence." He emphasises that extension increases the number of orphan works. The British Library wants an exemption for preservation purposes such as exists in the US.

Richard Mollet, director of public affairs for the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the industry's trade association, thinks issues of term extension and preservation copying should be kept separate.

"Many record companies maintain, at considerable expense, custom-built archives to collect and preserve and make available material over which they hold rights," he says. "The British Library isn't the only archivist in town. The idea that if it weren't for the British Library no archiving would be going on is false." An exemption would solve the British Library's problem. The BPI does, however, want term extension.

"We think the extra 45 years is very important," Mollet says, calling the 1950s a "big bang moment" for the world impact of British music. "Copyrights are the asset bases of British record companies. If we enhance the asset base, we can go on to make other, more exciting entrepreneurial investment decisions. If we increase the length of the term, we increase the value of these assets. We think they should remain in British ownership, because that's where they came from."

Industry people often use the phrase "the Beatles extension" because the first Beatles recordings, owned by EMI - which has called for term extension in evidence submitted to the EU and the UK - will come out of copyright in 2012. When I'm 64 is 39 years old.

The term extension at issue covers sound recordings - that is, the performance of the song. It does not cover publishing or songwriting, for which copyright is for the composer's life plus 70 years.

Publishing royalties

It's the difference between Paul and Ringo. McCartney, as a credited songwriter, gets publishing royalties whenever When I'm 64 is recorded, sold or played. Starr gets royalties only when a copy of his performance on that Beatles track is played or sold. Without term extension, McCartney's estate will continue collecting publishing royalties until 70 years after his death, while Starr's stream of recording royalties will slowly dry up as song after song comes out of copyright. (Paul also gets recording royalties, of course.)

Much of the Beatles' catalogue was sold to Michael Jackson, who outbid McCartney for the publishing rights in 1985 and has since sold them to Sony Records. McCartney has to pay royalties to sing many of his own songs. There are plenty of other, less famous musicians whose recordings are out of print yet locked in the ownership of someone who refuses to release them.

"Locked" is, however, a fighting word to Mollet: "We falsely hear it said that copyright equals locked up." Not so, he insists: "It's allowing companies to make available their back catalogues."

Nonetheless, even without term extension, Glenn Gould's 1955 performance - now out of copyright -of Bach's Goldberg Variations is still available; it was recently reissued by Sony. And there are no industry figures for what proportion of revenue comes from old material.

But the British Library's concern goes further - into the digital future. Digital media add to, rather than remove, complications. Bits don't deteriorate like wax cylinders. But analogue media are forgiving; you can listen to a crumbling Betamax tape , and, even more important, look at it and see that it is deteriorating. However, corrupt one bit in an MP3 or digital video file and it fails invisibly.

Because of this, says Karen Coyle, a California expert on digital libraries, "you can't wait until it starts to deteriorate. You have to begin to preserve it immediately. None of the laws account for that."

In addition, just copying the bits isn't enough. Can you read the word processor files you created on your Amstrad in 1986? For preservation purposes, you must pick stable, open formats, and design your archive so that every few years you can go through and check that everything is still readable.

Ruth Savage, at the UK's National Council for Archives, adds: "Archivists are quite aware of the problem, but usually the parent bodies are not and they can't understand why you can't just put it on CD-Rom, because they last forever, don't they? Even non-specialists can understand that tapes can degrade. Everyone has old tapes. But there is some sort of reverence for digital media."

Complex layers

Digital rights management (DRM) adds another layer of complexity. White examined 30 licences offered to the British Library, and found that only two granted as many rights as the law does.

"That's a different issue," says Mollet. "When the EU looked at this a few years ago, they were clear in stipulating that copyright law has salience over consumer law. The rightsholder is protected first."

Preservation issues also affect the film archives. Brian Robinson, communications manager for culture and heritage at the British Film Institute, says: "There may be a paper trail that will lead to a company that went out of business in 1936."

A lot of what he calls "paper rights" - that is, copyrights but not physical copies - were bought up by companies created for that purpose. Can a film whose ownership is unknown be shown legally?

"The cultural institutions are quite correctly identifying that they have film or recording stock that's rotting away because of cost and, in some cases, ambiguity around whether it would be within the law to make preservation copies of that work," says Paula le Dieu, managing director of the new media company Magic Lantern and former head of the BBC's Creative Archive. "But they need to continuously be thinking about what the next problem is that they face: having made those digital copies, what access are they going to provide for the public?"

After all, she says, "a vast, vast collection of British cultural heritage is locked away on dusty shelves, of no apparent value or not enough value that people have been prepared to make even the most basic preservation efforts with that material, and why can't the public access that material? Preservation is not enough."

[Bobber]

Does this mean the Beatles catalogue will be free of charge after fifty years?


No copyright extension for songs

The copyright on sound recordings will not be extended after an independent review commissioned by the Treasury. Sir Cliff Richard and Jethro Tull had been among artists lobbying for copyright to last 95 years, rather than the present 50.
The decision means that from 2008 Sir Cliff's earliest recordings will start to come out of copyright. The review was conducted for Chancellor Gordon Brown by Andrew Gowers, a former editor of the Financial Times.
His first big hit was Move It, recorded in 1958, when he was hailed as the British Elvis.
It also means the earliest official recordings from The Beatles, from 1963, will be out of copyright in 2013. Music journalist Neil McCormack told BBC Radio Five Live it was a blow to the industry. "This was set before the advent, the big boom of rock and roll. The boom in popular culture which has led to a whole vast number of people making their living from these royalties.
"You can make a record in 1955 and have been getting royalties... been living on that and suddenly they're gone."

[GreenApple]

Does this mean the Beatles catalogue will be free of charge after fifty years?

I made this point last year or this year and nobody responded.

My music teacher told me bout this on friday, that some of Elvis' songs now have no copyright!

[raxo]

Ray Coleman
MCCARTNEY
YESTERDAY AND TODAY


"The Songs Michael Jackson Bought

            Published here for the first time, this list of 263 songs (including 'Yesterday') identifies all the Beatles' compositions in the golden Northern Songs copyrights which were bought by Michael Jackson in 1985.

'Across the Universe' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'All I've Got to Do' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'All My Loving' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'All Together Now' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'All You Need Is Love' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'And I Love Her' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'And Your Bird Can Sing' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Another Girl' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Any Time At All' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Baby, You're a Rich Man' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Baby's in Black' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Back in the USSR' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'The Back Seat of My Car' (Paul McCartney)
'Bad to Me' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'The Ballad of John and Yoko' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Because' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite!' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Birthday' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Blackbird' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Blue Jay Way' (George Harrison)
'Can't Buy Me Love' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Carry That Weight' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Catcall' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Christmas Time (Is Here Again)' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney-George Harrison-Richard Starkey)
'Cold Turkey' (John Lennon)
'Come and Get It' (Paul McCartney)
'Come Together' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Cowboy Music' (George Harrison)
'Crippled Inside' (John Lennon)
'Cry Baby Cry' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Crying' (George Harrison)
'A Day in the Life' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Day Tripper' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Dear Prudence' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Dig a Pony' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Dig It'* (John Lennon-Paul McCartney-George Harrison-Richard Starkey)
'Do You Want to Know a Secret' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Doctor Robert' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Don't Let Me Down' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Dream Scene' (George Harrison)
'Drilling a Home' (George Harrison)
'Drive My Car' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Eight Days a Week' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Eleanor Rigby' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'The End' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Every Little Thing' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Every Night' (Paul McCartney)
'Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Everywhere It's Christmas' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'The Family Way' (Paul McCartney)
'Fantasy Sequins' (George Harrison)
'Fixing a Hole' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Flying' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney-George-Harrison-Richard Starkey)
'The Fool on the Hill' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'For No One' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'From a Window' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'From Me to You' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Gat Kirwani' (George Harrison)
'Get Back' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Getting Better' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Girl' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Give Me Some Truth' (John Lennon)
'Give Peace a Chance' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Glass Box' (George Harrison)
'Glass Onion' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Glasses' (Paul McCartney
'God' (John Lennon)
'Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Good Day Sunshine' (John Lennon-Paul Mccartney)
'Good Morning Good Morning' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Good Night' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Goodbye' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Got to Get You into My Life' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Greasy Legs' (George Harrison)
'Guru Vandana' (George Harrison)
'Happiness is a Warm Gun' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'A Hard Day's Night' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Hello, Goodbye' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Hello Little Girl' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Help!' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Helter Skelter' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Her Majesty' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Here, There and Everywhere' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Hey Bulldog' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Hey Jude' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Hold Me Tight' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Hold On' (John Lennon)
'Honey Pie' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Hot as Sun' (Paul McCartney)
'How' (John Lennon)
'How Do You Sleep' (John Lennon)
'I Am the Walrus' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I Call Your Name' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I Don't Want to Be a Soldier' (John Lennon)
'I Don't Want to See You Again' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I Don't Want to Spoil the Party' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I Feel Fine' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I Found Out' (John Lennon)
'I Need You' (George Harrison)
'I Saw Her Standing There' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I Should Have Known Better' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I Wanna Be Your Man' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I Want to Hold Your Hand' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I Want to Tell You' (George Harrison)
'I Want You (She's So Heavy)' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I Will' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I'll Be Back' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I'll Be on My Way' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I'll Cry Instead' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I'll Follow the Sun' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I'll Get You' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I'll Keep You Satisfied' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I'm a Loser' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I'm Down' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I'm Happy Just to Dance with You' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I'm in Love' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I'm Looking through You' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I'm Only Sleeping' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I'm so Tired' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I've Got a Feeling' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'I've Just Seen a Face' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'If I Fell' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'If I Needed Someone' (George Harrison)
'If You've Got Troubles' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'In My Life' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'In the Park' (George Harrison)
'The Inner Light' (George Harrison)
'Isolation' (John Lennon)
'It Won't Be Long' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'It's All Too Much' (George Harrison)
'It's for You' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'It's Only Love' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'It's So Hard' (John Lennon)
Jazz Piano Song* (Paul McCartney-Richard Starkey)
'Jessie's Dream (John Lennon-Paul McCartney-George Harrison-Richard Starkey)
'John Sinclair' (John Lennon)
'Julia' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Junk' (Paul McCartney)
'Kreen-Akrore' (Paul McCartney)
'Lady Madonna' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Let It Be' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Like Dreamers Do' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Little Child' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'The Long and Winding Road' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Look at Me' (John Lennon)
'Love in the Open Air' (Paul McCartney)
'Love of the Loved' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Love Scene' (George Harrison)
'Love You To' (George Harrison)
'The Lovely Linda' (Paul McCartney)
'Lovely Rita' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Maggie Mae'* (Trad, arr John Lennon-Paul McCartney-George Harrison-Richard Starkey)
'Magical Mystery Tour' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Man We Was Lonely' (Paul McCartney)
'Martha My Dear' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Maybe I'm Amazed' (Paul McCartney)
'Mean Mr Mustard' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Michelle' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Microbes' (George Harrison)
'Misery' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Momma Miss America' (Paul McCartney)
'Mother' (John Lennon)
'Mother Nature's Son' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'My Mummy's Dead' (John Lennon)
'New York City' (John Lennon)
'The Night Before' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'No Reply' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Nobody I Know' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Not a Second Time' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Nowhere Man' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Oh! Darling' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Oh Woman, Oh Why' (Paul McCartney)
'On the Bed' (George Harrison)
'The One After 909' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'One and One Is Two' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Only a Northern Song' (George Harrison)
'Oo You' (Paul McCartney)
'Paperback Writer' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Party Seacombe' (George Harrison)
'Paul Piano Intro' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Penina' (Paul McCartney)
'Penny Lane' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Please Don't Bring Your Banjo Back' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Polythene Pam' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Rain' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Ram On' (Paul McCartney)
'Red Lady Too' (George Harrison)
'Remember' (John Lennon)
'Revolution' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Revolution 9' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Rocky Raccoon' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Run for Your Life' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Sexy Sadie' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'She Came in through The Bathroom Window' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'She Loves You' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'She Said She Said' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'She's a Woman' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'She's Leaving Home' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Shirley's Wild Accordion' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Singalong Junk' (Paul McCartney)
'Singing Om' (George Harrison)
'Ski-ing' (George Harrison)
'Smile Away' . (Paul McCartney)
'Step Inside Love' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Strawberry Fields Forever' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Suicide' (Paul McCartney)
'Sun King' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Suzy Parker'* (John Lennon-Paul McCartney-George Harrison-Richard Starkey)
'Tabla and Pakavaj' (George Harrison)
'Taxman' (George Harrison)
'Teddy Boy' (Paul McCartney)
'Tell Me What You See' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Tell Me Why' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Thank You Girl' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'That Means a Lot' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'That Would Be Something' (Paul McCartney)
'There's a Place' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Things We Said Today' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Thingumybob' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Think for Yourself (George Harrison)
'This Boy' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'3 Legs' (Paul McCartney)
'Ticket to Ride' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Tip of My Tongue' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Tomorrow Never Knows' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Too Many People' (Paul McCartney)
'Two of Us' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Valentine Day' (Paul McCartney)
'Wait' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'We Can Work It Out' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
Well Well Well' (John Lennon)
'What Goes On' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney-Richard Starkey)
'What You're Doing' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'What's the New Mary Jane' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'When I Get Home' (John Lennon -Paul McCartney)
'When I'm Sixty-Four' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Why Don't We Do It in The Road' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Wild Honey Pie' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'With a Little Help From My Friends' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Within You Without You' (George Harrison)
'Woman' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney, under joint pseudonym 'Bernard Webb')
'Wonderwall to Be Here' (George Harrison)
'The Word' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Working Class Hero' (John Lennon)
'A World Without Love' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Yellow Submarine' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Yer Blues' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Yes It Is' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'YESTERDAY' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'You Can't Do That' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'You Like Me Too Much' (George Harrison)
'You Never Give Me Your Money' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'You Won't See Me' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'You're Going to Lose That Girl' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'You've Got to Hide Your Love Away' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
'Your Mother Should Know' (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)

* copyright shared with other publisher(s)

            Important notes: The above list is current at 1995. Northern Songs no longer publishes a number of copyrights which, although formerly vested in the company, now rest elsewhere as a consequence of business negotiations. These include compositions recorded by Paul McCartney ('Another Day', 'Bip Bop', 'C Moon', 'Dear Boy', 'Eat At Home', 'The Great Cock and Seagull Race', 'Dear Friend', 'Give Ireland Back to the Irish', 'Heart of the Country', 'Hi Hi Hi', 'I Am Your Singer', 'Little Woman Love', 'Long Haired Lady', 'Mary Had a Little Lamb', 'Monkberry Moon Delight', 'Mumbo', 'Some People Never Know', 'Tomorrow', 'Uncle Albert'/'Admiral Halsey', 'Wild Life') and by John Lennon ('Angela', 'Attica State', 'Au' 'Cambridge 1969', 'Do the Oz', 'God Save Us', 'Imagine', 'Instant Karma!', 'Jamrag', 'Jealous Guy', 'Love', 'The Luck of the Irish', 'Oh My Love', 'Oh Yoko!', 'Power to the People', 'Scumbag', 'Sunday Bloody Sunday', Two Virgins (LP), 'Woman is the black person of the World').

            Other Beatles-related copyrights remain vested in Northern, such as George Martin's orchestral soundtrack cuts for the Yellow Submarine film and album, his orchestral versions (which carried different names) of Beatles songs - 'Auntie Gin's Theme' (originally 'I've Just Seen a Face'), 'Ringo's Theme' ('This Boy'), 'Scrambled Eggs' ('Yesterday') and 'That's a Nice Hat (Cap)' ('It's Only Love') - and other oddities such as pieces of music which incorporated original Northern Songs copyrighted material."

from here: http://www.wingspan.ru/bookseng/coleman/coleman10.html

[adamzero]

Not sure if those fifty years copyrights go public domain just in UK.  US is 75 years after the death of the author.  Could make things pretty interesting in the age of the internet.  

[Mairi]

Holy sh*t, that's an impressive list of songs. You never think about hw much they actually wrote until you see them all together like that.

[raxo]

They worked hard, indeed!

[raxo]

[size=14]British would like McCartney's rights protected[/size] (May 17, 2007 -- Sun Journal)

British copyright laws should be extended to prevent aging artists such as Paul McCartney and Cliff Richard from missing out on royalties later in life, an influential committee of British lawmakers said Wednesday.

McCartney, 64, and Richard, 66, are among some 7,000 people, including backing singers, who are on the verge of losing royalties for their early music releases because of a 50-year limit on copyright for sound recordings.

They want Britain to match the 95-year copyright period granted for recorded music in the United States, which would allow them to benefit financially from an Internet-driven revival of back catalogs.

The House of Commons culture committee, which is made up of lawmakers from all political parties, struck a middle ground, proposing that the copyright be extended to at least 70 years.

"We strongly believe that copyright represents a moral right of a creator to choose to retain ownership and control of their own intellectual property," the committee said.

"We have not heard a convincing reason why a composer and his or her heirs should benefit from a term of copyright which extends for lifetime and beyond, but a performer should not," they added, referring to contrasting laws that allow families of composers and songwriters to keep the copyright to their compositions for 70 years after they die.

The committee's report clashes with an earlier government-commissioned review, which backed the present 50-year rule because it believed extending copyright could hurt Britain's trade balance and provide little benefit to performers or consumers.

The so-called Gowers report was heavily criticized within the industry for focusing on the economic effects rather than the moral rights of artists.

"The Gowers report was far too long on economic theory and far too short on fairness to British copyright holders," said John Kennedy, chairman of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. "The committee ... has backed two simple principles - that U.K. performers must get a term of copyright protection comparable to composers, and that Britain must not be left with weaker copyright protection than its international partners."