Jackson death won't affect Beatles RB

By Robert Purchese Published 9 July, 2009

Harmonix says everything still on track.

Harmonix has said that Michael Jackson's death will not affect the release of The Beatles: Rock Band.

Furthermore, the developer told IGN there is no chance the track list will be compromised.

Michael Jackson owned the bulk of The Beatles catalogue. He acquired the rights to around 267 songs when he bought publisher ATV Songs in 1985 for USD 47.5m, according to Reuters. Jackson famously outbid Paul McCartney to do so.

The late, great singer merged ATV with Sony Music 10 years later, granting him 50 per cent of the new label, which is now worth around USD 1 billion.

But what the Jackson Estate owns of that today is unknown, as the recently-deceased singer used his stake as well as copyrights to his own songs to secure massive bank loans amounting to USD 270m in 2002.

He needed the money to pay off astronomical debts, which the Wall Street Journal reported last month to be as high as USD 500m.

But, back on topic: The Beatles: Rock Band is due out on 9th September for PS3, Wii and Xbox 360. Our gamepages below will tell you more.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • covfan #1 3 years ago

    My first thought was "How would Jackson's death affect a game?" then I remembered Jackson was a very clever man when he bought the rights to the Beatles back catalogue. Also he annoyed Paul McCartney which is always a bonus

  • rotmm #2 3 years ago

    @covfan, "I remembered Jackson was a very clever man when he bought the rights to the Beatles back catalogue."

    Paul McCartney was also a very clever man, as it was he that taught MJ how the real money to be made in music was in music rights ownership. Jackson took that particular message very much to heart, which must have annoyed McCartney even more. Mega-Combo-Bonus.

  • Redeye #3 3 years ago

    Absolutely anything that pisses off Paul "I'm the Beatles now!" McCartney = epic win.

  • dunny #4 3 years ago

    When i read the title of this article i jumped to the conclusion that it was because the Paul McCartney/Michael Jackson duet 'the girl is mine' was on the tracklist! Then i realised Paul McCartney solo does not equal the Beatles....

  • kangarootoo #5 3 years ago

    "Paul McCartney was also a very clever man, as it was he that taught MJ how the real money to be made in music was in music rights ownership"

    I think MJ probably learned that lesson well before metting PM. He was probably 15 or something :)

  • Toothball #6 3 years ago

    Yeah, I was wondering what the connection was. That would probably have been quite aggravating if this had stalled Beatles: Rock Band at all.

  • Sunyavadin #7 3 years ago

    Pffft. I have no respect for any subhuman scum like these who use ownership of music, ESPECIALLY music that was not performed by them, to make money. Now Jackson is dead, ALL his music should be FREE to EVERYONE. (Everyone who wants it - personally I'm not a fan and never was)

    Anything else, such as the company owning the rights pushing to extend them for years, making billions off them, is just wrong.

    Anyway, sorry about that - I just get very worked up about the sort of exploitation of musicians that the music industry is built on. Jackson epitomises this, having been used in such a way by his parents all his youth.

  • rotmm #8 3 years ago

    Paul McCartney ownes the rights to over 25K songs. Yet somehow Jackson owning the rights to the Beatles catalogue is seen as somehow unfair.

    Strange how people view things.

  • collateral89 #9 3 years ago

    R.I.P MJ

  • m0thr4 #10 3 years ago

    "Pffft. I have no respect for any subhuman scum like these who use ownership of music, ESPECIALLY music that was not performed by them, to make money. Now Jackson is dead, ALL his music should be FREE to EVERYONE. (Everyone who wants it - personally I'm not a fan and never was) "

    I can tell you don't invest your money in anything. That's your choice but presumably, when you die, you're giving everything you own to The People, as you suggest Michael Jackson should?

    Otherwise you're a fucking hypocrite.

    At the end of the day, it's all just making stuff and then selling it. If you find that offensive, maybe you should seek out a nice communist country to settle down in.
    Edited by 1 at 09/07/09 @ 12:45

  • skillian #11 3 years ago

    At the end of the day, it's all just making stuff and then selling it. If you find that offensive, maybe you should seek out a nice communist country to settle down in.

    It's not just that simple though, which is why even in the USA, copyright only has a limited time before all work goes into the public domain.

  • HonestJoe #12 3 years ago

    Seeing as nobody seems to buy music anymore you'd think it wouldn't be worth all that much these days. Can't belive it was so cheap to pick up in 1985 either, a time when even Roland Rat could make money out of selling records. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

  • monkeywithnoeyes #13 3 years ago

    He was a clever man in securing the right to the Beatles legacy.. just a shame he wasn't clever with his own legacy.

    It's really starting to annoy me how the press are getting on their high morals and making Michael jackson a saint now he's passed, when they spent the last decade trying to destroy him in the name of money. It's not for nothing that everybody and their dad labeled Jackson "wako jacko" rather than "the king of pop" for over the last decade.. to pretend different now just because he's dead leaves a bitter taste. Especially when offenders like "the sun" dedicate columes on "the leaches out to get him" and how they "always believed in him and his genius".

    At the end of the day the guy was a great showman - the best in fact. And he had some amazing songs written for him. But he will always have a soiled legacy.. be it from his actions, or nievity. The fact that he paid a rported 14mill to settle out of court on child sex abuse claims doesnt help matters... dont forget this was a guy with ALOT of money, and the best advice that that money could afford... they advised him his best choice was the settle out of court for a reason.

  • Khanivor #14 3 years ago

    Well that's Harmonix down in my estimation a wee bit, using Jacko's death to get some free PR.

  • patchbox360 #15 3 years ago

    heehee

  • m0thr4 #16 3 years ago

    @Skillian
    It's not just that simple though, which is why even in the USA, copyright only has a limited time before all work goes into the public domain.

    Limited time? It's actually 70 years after the death of the author. If it's a work of corporate authorship, then it's 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first.

  • skillian #17 3 years ago

    So limited then, unlike personal property.

  • casmaksen #18 3 years ago

    This reminds of this classic clip of MJ talking bout Pwning SONY. http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=aW1T1DZdWrA Also check out the fanatical camera mans comments from 8min classic.





    http://www.theugly.co.uk

  • Linkified #19 3 years ago

    Apple Music Corps. bought back alot of the Beattles work as Sony wanted to distance themselves from MJ after he admitted to sleeping with kids.
    Edited by 1 at 10/07/09 @ 01:04

  • zedzee #20 3 years ago

    This is how the article should've read:

    "Harmonix has said that Michael Jackson's death will not affect the release of The Beatles: Rock Band.
    Furthermore, the developer told IGN there is no chance the track list will be compromised.
    The Beatles: Rock Band is due out on 9th September for PS3, Wii and Xbox 360. Our gamepages below will tell you more."

    Did you see what EG did there?

    Talk about padding...

    On the subject of the article, it's a shame that The Beatles version of RB will not be affected by MJ's death. I could really do without hearing that awful 'noise' ever again; it's so overrated.

    Over & Out.

  • Sunyavadin #21 3 years ago

    Paul McCartney ownes the rights to over 25K songs. Yet somehow Jackson owning the rights to the Beatles catalogue is seen as somehow unfair.
    Strange how people view things.

    Not at all. That's like saying hating George Bush precludes you from hating Osama Bin Laden. It's possible to dislike two people equally for similar reasons.

    I can tell you don't invest your money in anything. That's your choice but presumably, when you die, you're giving everything you own to The People, as you suggest Michael Jackson should?
    Otherwise you're a fucking hypocrite.
    At the end of the day, it's all just making stuff and then selling it. If you find that offensive, maybe you should seek out a nice communist country to settle down in.

    Everything I ever accomplish in life goes to helping the human species. All my research, the money I make above what I need to live off, and when I die, whatever I leave behind. There's nobody else needs it. I most CERTAINLY won't. Why the hell should I hold on to it like some crazy pharaoh convinced I can take it all with me? And why should someone else make a profit off my death? That's just sick.

    It's not just that simple though, which is why even in the USA, copyright only has a limited time before all work goes into the public domain.

    Quite right, a period the big publishers continue to push the government to have extended, something they sometimes succeed in. Which is utterly sickening.

    It's really starting to annoy me how the press are getting on their high morals and making Michael jackson a saint now he's passed, when they spent the last decade trying to destroy him in the name of money. It's not for nothing that everybody and their dad labeled Jackson "wako jacko" rather than "the king of pop" for over the last decade.. to pretend different now just because he's dead leaves a bitter taste. Especially when offenders like "the sun" dedicate columes on "the leaches out to get him" and how they "always believed in him and his genius".

    The guy was insane. There's no questioning that. And given his upbinging who wouldn't be? There's a reason he kept trying to live the childhood his family never allowed him to have. And once his madness really became obvious everyone turned on him. It's unfortunately human nature. The hypocrisy since his death is everyone who formerly criticised him to make some quick cash trying to make themselves look good in order to profit off his death too.

    Limited time? It's actually 70 years after the death of the author. If it's a work of corporate authorship, then it's 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first.

    As I said - Sickening.