Contract which officially broke up The Beatles to sell at Sotheby’s

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Veech, Dec 15, 2018.

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  1. Veech

    Veech Space In Sounds Thread Starter

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Contract which officially broke up The Beatles to sell at Sotheby's

    From the article:

    "The 1974 contract was the final nail in the coffin of the group, as they agreed to divide their earnings and rid themselves of the company they had founded together in January 1968.

    The meeting was set for December 19 at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, where the band had stayed during their first trip to the United States.

    Paul McCartney and George Harrison flew out to New York, and Ringo spoke to them over the phone from his home in England, having already signed the papers.

    But despite living within walking distance, Lennon declined to meet his former band mates at the hotel to sign the contract, reportedly claiming “the stars aren’t right” – but he was simply putting off the inevitable.

    Ten days later, whilst on holiday at Disneyworld with his son Julian and his then-partner May Pang, a lawyer finally caught up with him and handed him the decisive document."

    It is interesting that Ringo was the first to sign, he "broke the ice" regarding putting pen to paper to dissolve the group. Also interesting that Lennon just couldn't bring himself to do it, or perhaps he just couldn't face McCartney and Harrison.

    One other note: "The historic document will be offered with an estimate of $30,000 – $50,000 at Sotheby’s online sale of Fine Books and Manuscripts, which concludes on December 17."

    I'm betting that it will go for at least $150,000.
     
  2. vinylontubes

    vinylontubes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Katy, TX
    I know know some people would want something like this. But, this would be like keeping the divorce filings that split up your parents to me. Not something that I'd want to be reminded about.
     
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  3. Rich C

    Rich C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northbrook, IL
    I don't understand how they became a business again. We all know that Apple Corps decides what is released and the living group members or those who run their estate have voting and veto rights. Can someone clue me in to how they managed to reform this business?
     
  4. Veni Vidi Vici

    Veni Vidi Vici Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    I expect a vital clue to answering that question will be in the wording of this very contract being discussed. Does anyone know what it says?
     
  5. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    They always needed a company to manage the Beatles as a brand and as an entity. So Apple always remained to do that, even after this contract was signed to break up the "band". In other words, the contract that was signed in late 1974 only broke up the partnership that all 4 members were tied into. If this never happened, then they would have continued being treated as one entity even though they had 4 solo careers. Up to 1974, all monies from say their individual solo records went into one big "Beatles" pot and then this was split 4 ways among each member [after expenses, Allen Klein's cut (although he was forced out in maybe late 1973), and tax, etc.]. So this contract allowed for the 4 Beatles to each earn their own monies from their respective solo records. However, the Beatles earnings still went into the Apple pot, to be split 4 ways equally.

    Apple, as a company, never went away. Neil Aspinall still ran it always, throughout the 1970s and up into the 2000s.
     
  6. Haristar

    Haristar Apollo C. Vermouth

    Location:
    Hampshire, UK
    So John released an album with How Do You Sleep on it and Paul got money for it?
     
  7. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    YES! All 4 shared equally in the earnings made by the Imagine album, since all of them were still tied into the partnership. The monies all went into the Beatles pot at Apple.

    In reality, though, since Paul had started the court proceeedings in late 1970 to break up the band, the monies didn't even get distributed to any of them. The monies went into escrow, held by the courts, until resolution of the court case and the breaking up of the partnership in late 1974. So no one got those monies until 1975. And that was why George went on tour in 1974 --- most of his earnies were held in escrow and he (and the others) could not touch them.

    Also, John, George, and Ringo all took advances of a few million dollars each directly from Allen Klein during those years to keep up their lifestyles. Talk about a conflict of interest!! Of course, this made it even harder to get rid of Allen since those 3 were in debt to Klein while Paul made it clear in court that Klein was screwing them over.
     
  8. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    "Under the original plan for Beatles and Company, the corporate predecessor to Apple, all Beatles’ income paid into the company was ultimately split four ways — and that included earnings on solo projects. That was fine with the others.

    Lennon didn’t care when the $1.5 million windfall from Live Peace in Toronto went into the general kitty; Harrison was happy to split the sizable royalties on his bestselling box set All Things Must Pass with his former bandmates. But McCartney took a different view. "

    Famous Last Words: The Snub that Led to the Beatles’ Breakup
     
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  9. Veni Vidi Vici

    Veni Vidi Vici Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    Very interesting article. McCartney comes over as a little too full of himself, going by the first few paragraphs. Reefer madness?
     
  10. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    So this is all another reason why the other 3, but especially John and George, had a problem with Paul at the time. By 1973-74, Paul made it obvious to them that they really erred in chosing Klein. Paul showed them that they were fools (in a financial sense) by hooking up with Klein. Paul could have rubbed it in their faces, and maybe he did privately, but Paul pretty much held back. I find his behavior to be commendable as he took a lot of heat from John and George.
     
  11. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Book excerpt.
     
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  12. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    George got the worse from Klein in the 1970s. It was Klein who was siphoning off some of the proceeds from the Concert for Bangladesh (Klein was charging some extra manufacturing costs per each LP unbeknownst to George), and it was Klein who ended up buying the rights to He's So Fine and suing George because of My Sweet Lord.

    But George should have known better. He was singing Beware of ABKCO in mid-1970.
     
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  13. Haristar

    Haristar Apollo C. Vermouth

    Location:
    Hampshire, UK
    When did John, George and Ringo realise Klein was a crook?

    Singing "Beware of ABKCO" would imply that George realised fairly soon after they broke up?
     
  14. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    How an Unsigned Contract Splintered the Beatles

    and from wiki:
    "In early 1973 Lennon, Harrison and Starr served notice that they would not be renewing Klein's management contract when it expired in March.[111] Early the following month, Lennon told an interviewer: "Let's say possibly Paul's suspicions were right … and the timing was right."[112]"
     
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  15. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    The He's So Fine lawsuit went on forever. Klein bought the publishing company in '76 (?), I think.
     
  16. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Sometime around then. If I recall correctly, George was working out a settlement with Bright Tunes. Then, Klein bought the song and sued George. It gets complicated in a legal sense, so my explanation is a very simplified version.
     
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  17. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Klein actually bough Bright Tunes itself!
     
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  18. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Lennon, by the way, remained friends with Klein. (and Ono attended Klein's funeral).
     
  19. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Correct. And when the dust settled, and the court case ended in the 1980s (?), George ended up owing Bright Tunes, right?

    I wonder if George's estate still owns it.
     
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  20. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    The devil you know is better than the devil you don't... Or something like that. ;)
     
    Last edited: Dec 16, 2018
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  21. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Oh really ? I didn't know that.
     
  22. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    I believe that the court ruled that Klein was acting in bad faith. But they also ruled that George may have subconsciously swiped the melody of the song He's So Fine. So to settle the matter, George was required to "buy" the rights from Klein, paying the same amount that Klein had paid for Bright Tunes in the first place. Final result: George ended up owning Bright Tunes.
     
  23. blutiga

    blutiga Forum Resident

    Does that mean George had to sue himself for writing This Song.
    As they say in that other documentary, "Dirk sued Nasty who sued Barry who sued Stig who then sued himself'
     
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  24. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    The reason why The Rutles film was so funny was that just about everything was actually based on fact!
     
  25. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    [​IMG]
     
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