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Message: [QUOTE="kyleslamb, post: 1217464, member: 2505"] That's really not a comparable situation, though. The Beatles haven't owned the rights to their material because they were flatly sold outright for a fee. Most musicians, as with most work-for-hire artists, never do 'own' the rights to their material. The Beatles only owned their material because they were co-owners of the publishing company in which they worked with since they had the foresight to start their own publishing company ahead of time. Like most artists, they received 50% of publishing royalties as mechanical songwriters (which they continued to receive all along, even after the sale of the company), but the other 50% went to the publisher. They opted to take the company public and had shares in the newly-created public offering. Eventually the publishing company was sold, and they were PAID for their shares. Paul later tried to buy the company back, but Michael Jackson outbid him. So while the Beatles haven't owned the rights to their songs, they still continued to receive mechanical songwriting royalties all along. They didn't own publishing rights after selling them, but that's pretty standard for the industry. Few artists ever do. As an aside, due to copyright laws, Paul and the estate of Lennon, are due to receive back the publishing rights in a few years. [/QUOTE]