Beatles EMI stuff

[GMav]

Hello Steve,

Any chance EMI will let you have a crack at remastering the Beatles catalog?

I hope this isn't wishful thinking on my part. Keep up the great work.

By the way....if you do ever get the chance, don't forget 180gm vinyl for all of us analog-philes out here.

[Steve Hoffman]

Anything's possible in Beatleland. Let's get some releases under our belt first.


LP's are never far away from our hearts!

[Sckott]

I'm glad you and everyone else saw the madness on turntables at CES. I'm both suprised and excited as well. ;)

[Paul L.]

Steve,
You said in another thread you can do anything that was on Capitol. So there's your in to the Beatles catalog! Let EMI handle UK releases, and you take care of the US ones, distributed by Capitol : )

The only slight catch is getting Apple Corps and 400 or so lawyers to agree. Realistically, it's never going to happen. Nice to dream though.

[Cousin It]

What chance do I give the Beatles masters winging their way to the states,not too much I would think.Someone said in a previous post that DCC wanted to do Iron Maiden's Number Of The Beast but EMI won't let the tapes out of the U.K,if that's the case then EMI would never let the Beatles tapes out of Abbey Road,or am I just being a pessimist???

[Holy Zoo]

If the sticking point was just getting Steve over to England, I'll be the first to sign up for the "fly Steve to Abbey Road" fund. :D

[Cousin It]

Yes,but doesn't Steve like to work in a room he is familiar with his choice of gear not what EMI will give him???Imagine Steve and Peter Mew meeting Abbey Road and Steve watching Mew work on one of his masterpieces;) :rolleyes: :mad:

[Patrick M]

Originally posted by Cousin It
Someone said in a previous post that DCC wanted to do Iron Maiden's Number Of The Beast but EMI won't let the tapes out of the U.K.

That would have been me.

Hmmm, I see my 'persona non grata' status has carried over the new forum. Where is David Goodwin? I need to commiserate.

[GMav]

When I purchased my Mobile Fidelity Beatles Collection in the early 80's, I remember reading in the book that came with it that I believe each master tape was allowed to be taken back to MFSL one at a time, for purposes of creating the half speed master recordings. I will double check the info to make sure.

[Todd Fredericks]

I remember reading somewhere that MFSL was lucky to get the rights to the Beatles catalog by lucky accidents or signing before reading syndromes. Also, the guy from MFSL who transported the master tapes (in large metal suitcases) almost lost them forever because he thought 2 unsuspecting theives were going to jump him at Heathrow. I hope Steve gets the chance to master them but who knows...

Todd

[Douglas]

Dan Matovina who helped assemble the recent Badfinger anthology The Very Best of Badfinger reports that EMI/Abbey Road no longer lets ANY master out of there. He reports that they sent the audio to the US via COMPUTER FEED to Los Angeles. Who cares what the end product sounds like (internet sarcasm here--actually it sounded ok, strangely enough, but not great).

[Todd Fredericks]

Everybody's going to hate what I'm going to say but I can sometimes understand why a label or owner of the material may not be too eager to send out the master tapes. Not everyone out there is Steve Hoffman. What if something happened to them in transport (what if the master tapes of the Beatles catalog were with Tom Hanks in the Castaway movie) or if someone mishandled them (I didn't expect that cigarette to fall in the box of reels when I went to shag the neighbor). I guess there's a lot of trust and tons of insurance when these tapes get signed out...

Todd

[GMav]

Originally posted by Paul L.
Steve,
You said in another thread you can do anything that was on Capitol. So there's your in to the Beatles catalog! Let EMI handle UK releases, and you take care of the US ones, distributed by Capitol : )

The only slight catch is getting Apple Corps and 400 or so lawyers to agree. Realistically, it's never going to happen. Nice to dream though.

Paul,

I thought the rights to use Beatles recordings were still owned by EMI.........and isn't Capitol a subsidiary of EMI? Of course, there is also the issue of the the Beatles giving permission to ANYONE to use the masters to create ANY new product.

Given what you are saying, you would think that Capitol would have released this stuff a long time ago. I am not sure they can. Perhaps Steve knows differently.

[lukpac]

Basically, any new Beatles releases have to go through Apple. EMI owns the tapes and the rights to release them, but everything has to be approved by Apple before the stuff is actually released...

[Todd Fredericks]

I know this is a strange question but if EMI owns the material/rights then why do they still need to go through Apple? What does Apple still have legal control over?

Todd

[GMav]

Originally posted by lukpac
Basically, any new Beatles releases have to go through Apple. EMI owns the tapes and the rights to release them, but everything has to be approved by Apple before the stuff is actually released...

Luke,

It's me, Greg from the Ice Boards......how are you? As for what you are saying....wouldn't that also mean everything issued originally on Capitol as well? My understanding is that the Beatles have enormous control over the own sound recordings.

[jkerr]

The way I understand it EMI has the distribution rights and Apple owns the recordings. Sony/Michael Jackson owns the publishing for most (but not 100%) of the songs. If Capitol has any tapes in their possesion they couldn't use them without Apple's permission. At least that's my understanding.

[GMav]

I thought I read somewhere that because HIStory didn't do so well, Michael Jackson sold Northern Songs to Sony for 95 million dollars. Regardless of who has them at the present time, I do beleive this.........until they are returned to their rightful owners....they are in the WRONG hands.

[lukpac]

Originally posted by jkerr
The way I understand it EMI has the distribution rights and Apple owns the recordings.
No. EMI owns the recordings. That's why the CDs say "Original sound recording owned by EMI" or whatever...

[lukpac]

Originally posted by GregMav
It's me, Greg from the Ice Boards......how are you? As for what you are saying....wouldn't that also mean everything issued originally on Capitol as well? My understanding is that the Beatles have enormous control over the own sound recordings.
Hi Greg. Yeah, I knew it was you.

Right now Apple controls everything. Nothing can go out without their approval. Even if Apple were not in the picture, I have a feeling (but am not sure) that EMI would control what Capitol did with regards to the Beatles.

[Alan T]

Oh to bitch and moan, and withhold new projects if EMI does not handle the Beatles catalogue the way Yoko and Paul want.

[Sckott]

There's a difference between music publishing and actually owning and posessing the recorded material. Luke is basically correct. EMI can do what they will, but Apple says "Simon Says" and that's "it". it does sound like nonsense, but it's quite common in the world of music. Lots of artists themselves own their own recordings and masters, but cannot release them because someone else has the music publishing and artistic control of the recorded material.

Ask Paul what he thinks of Michael Jackson and Yoko and you might get an evasive, but polite answer. Pauls' asked for a raise, too, and Michael hasn't gotten him one since the deal. back in the 80s for his MPL stuff and some stuff before then.

But Paul also bought some commonly used American songs. What's sad is Paul was talking Michael into buying music publishing to be nice, as advice, and ironically Michael bought HIS. Paul's not been happy....etc...he thought Michael was joking....

[GMav]

I don't think it is nonsense at all that the Beatles want to control how and when their recordings are presented. Also, with regards to MPL...I believe Paul has sole possession of that catalog.