How much did Michael Jackson pay to obtain the rights to 250 songs written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney?

Answer 1

$500

Answer 2

Check out the recently published book Northern Songs for a history of The Beatles song publishing. I cannot quote what the catalog is currently worth, but each time it has been sold (and John & Paul never owned their own songs because Brian Epstein set up a publishing company with Dick James that made them minority shareholders), it has greatly increased in wealth. The first time was 1969 when Dick James, the original majority shareholder, thought the songwriting partnership of Lennon/McCartney was about to fizz out and The Beatles popularity would decline. Hah! Then Sir Lew Grade and his ATV Publishing bought Northern Songs, but he would sell them to an Australian investor in the late 70's after ATV made some unprofitable movies and Grade was getting too old to keep up with the business. The Aussie would sell to Michael Jackson and Jackson and Sony would own the catalog together. Each time, as the songs became more and more indelible classics, they became ever more valuable. Add to that, the changing media (vinyl begat CDs which begat computer downloads, etc.) and the songs worth continues to increase. They are evergreens and each new generation of kids latches onto The Beatles as their parents did before them.

Answer 3

Michael Jackson paid $47.5 million dollars in 1985 for the publishing rights.

Answer 4

Sony/ATV has said that licensing and royalty fees for the Beatles' music brings in $30 million to $45 million dollars a year, nearly half the company's annual earnings.

Answer 5

he get's 1/2 of the writers royalty. or now his estate gets 1/4. 1/4 going to Sony the other 1/2 to the Beatles.

Answer 6

Around 100 million bucks.