The Beatles is the most successful band of all time and by all accounts the best selling band, too. I think someone made a survey or study and found out that the Fab Four made a gazillion dollars from the sales of their albums.
And now, more than thirty years after The Beatles released its last album, the Fab Four is about to rake in millions for The Beatles’ current owners of its music rights.
According to reports, Viacom — the publisher of The Beatles: Rock Band — has guaranteed payment of $10 million to the song and likeness rights-holders of the band and the payment is guaranteed to increase when it posts good sales figures.
The owner of The Beatles catalog is Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which is a joint venture between Sony and the late Michael Jackson. The two other record labels that have control over the remainder of the music are Apple Corps for Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and EMI Music for George Harrison
According to estimates, the rights holders could stand to earn up to $40 million. One of the reasons for this big payday is because of the large amount of songs that are in the game. And this will also likely increase because of the plans by Viacom and MTV Games (who distributes the game) to release album packs every month after the game’s release.
And to add to the windfall, this month also sees the release of the remastered Beatles catalogue. This is going to be raking in money because it is the first time that The Beatles’ work has been remastered and given that new polish.
It’s amazing how a band that has been gone for decades can end up selling so much more again and earning the Fab Four boatloads of money.