...There are too many stories of musicians who never saw a dime. Who signed with bad business people, had their records released haphazardly...So many artists ripped off by managers and record companies. Probably no one robbed worse than the great old blues artists, but they’re not the only ones. Smart artists like Dylan who kept their rights reap a fortune. His catalog just sold (by him) for over $300M, it’s being reported.
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" It was during their collaboration on 1983’s “Say Say Say” that former Beatle Paul McCartney is said to have advised King of Pop Michael Jackson to invest some of his enormous wealth in music publishing. It was sound financial advice that McCartney may have come to regret giving on August 14, 1985, when Michael Jackson purchased the publishing rights to the vast majority of the Beatles’ catalog for $47 million, outbidding McCartney himself." It cost $750M for Sony to buy 50% rights to the Beatles catalog from MJ’s estate. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/michael-jackson-takes-control-of-the-beatles-publishing-...
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"McCartney had yet another success to celebrate — after a long battle dating back decades, the prolific songwriter finally regained the copyright to the Beatles catalog in a private settlement with Sony ATV.
In 1969, McCartney and Lennon attempted to buy Northern Songs, which was the original publisher of the Beatles catalog, though the duo lost out to ATV Music. Some decade-and-a-half later, ATV Music went up for sale, offering McCartney yet another chance to re-secure the rights to the Beatles’ Lennon-McCartney songs. In an unfortunate twist, McCartney was outbid by friend and fellow musical legend Michael Jackson, who bought the company for $47.5 million in 1985 — Jackson bought ATV Music following McCartney’s advice noting the value of music publishing, and their friendship never recovered from what McCartney considered a betrayal. In early 2016, Sony announced that it would buy out Jackson’s 50% stake of ATV Music from the late musician’s estate for $750 million, creating yet another chance for McCartney to negotiate the rights to his songwriting work with The Beatles...
Thus, the news over the weekend that Paul McCartney secured the rights
to his music in a private settlement was a big win for the former
Beatle, who has been on this journey to secure the rights to his own
music for nearly fifty years. While few details about the settlement
have been disclosed, McCartney’s lawyer, Michael Jacobs, announced, that
Sony and McCartney “have resolved this matter by entering into a
confidential settlement agreement” at the end of last week and that
McCartney’s lawsuit over the catalog had been dismissed. Congratulations
to Sir Paul McCartney for this big win over the weekend!"
https://liveforlivemusic.com/news/paul-mccartney-beatles-rights-win/