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You might think that after 45 years of making money from being in The Beatles, the surviving members, namely Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, would have enough wealth not to worry about the odd release of a few unlicensed tracks here and there.
But it seems not, as Apple Corps, the Beatles company rather than the people behind the iPod, Mac and iPhone, are suing a Miami company called Fuego Entertainment, over an album entitled Jammin’ With The Beatles and Friends, Star Club, Hamburg, 1962. Catchy eh!
The album is a recording from the early days of The Beatles, before they became famous around the world, and rightly classed to be the best pop group in the world ever.
According to Yahoo! News, the eight tracks on the album were reportedly recorded from a performance at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany, in 1962.
Lawyers for Apple claim that the tracks were recorded illegally without permission, and so should not be released. They further claim that due to the poor sound quality, the album would diminish and tarnish the band’s image and memory.
More than the back catalogue being featured in adverts?
Hugo Cancio, the President of the company trying to make a fast buck from the album insists:
“It’s unfair to millions of Beatles fans not to allow this recording to be put out. The world deserves to hear these tracks.”
Apple Corps are claiming $15 million (£7.6 million) in damages, which Cancio did not expect to face paying:
“I’m surprised because up to a few weeks ago, we were in good-faith conversations with Apple.”
This may be a crappy bootleg recording, but I really don’t see that it matters if it gets released or not. The only people who would want a copy are the absolutely manic fans who want everything ever recorded by the group, so it probably wouldn’t make much money.
What’s more, Apple as a company, and McCartney and Starr themselves can certainly afford not to profit from absolutely everything attached to The Beatles. Just let it go already!
[Photo Source: Kevin Dooley at Flickr]
