The Beatles suing record company

Last Thursday (December 15th), the Beatles' corporation, Apple, filed lawsuits in London and New York against the group's record label, EMI and its US subsidiary, Capitol Records, claiming the labels owe them $53.1 million in unpaid royalties. Apple -- which is owned and operated by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr along with John Lennon and George Harrison's widows Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison -- claim that the label, which owns the Beatles' recordings in perpetuity, has not provided proper accounting statements for the group's royalties. One of the main outcomes of Apple and EMI/Capitol's previous lawsuit from 1989 was an "open books" policy -- meaning Apple can have free reign to check the label's sales records at any time.

Longtime Beatles right-hand man and Apple CEO Neil Aspinall issued a statement saying, "Despite very clear provisions in our contract, EMI persist in ignoring their obligations and duty to account fairly and with transparency. Apple and The Beatles are, once again, left with no choice but to sue EMI." Although the group does not own their recordings, they have full veto power on anything issued bearing their name.

A spokesman for EMI told Reuters, "Artists do sometimes request an audit of their record label's accounts, that's not unusual... When the contracts are large and complex, when you can get issues of contractual interpretation. 99 out of 100 audit problems are resolved by amicable settlements for a small fraction of the claim."

The fab four originally signed a five year-contract with EMI in June 1962. In April 1967, they signed a new nine-year deal, renegotiating for a higher royalty rate in late 1969.

Despite the group's split in 1970, all of their solo releases were released under the same royalty rate and terms as the 1969 agreement until April 1976.

EMI/Capitol exclusively distributed the group's Apple Records.

Although all of the Beatles' later releases starting with "Hey Jude" were issued on the Apple label, they were actually signed to EMI/Capitol, unlike all the other artists on Apple Records.

After the group's contract ended in 1976, only McCartney re-signed with EMI/Capitol.

In 1978, McCartney switched his US label to Columbia Records. When he re-signed his U.S. distribution to Capitol in 1985, he negotiated a higher personal rate on his Beatles recordings as part of the contract -- which led to Ono, Harrison, and Starr suing him in the late 1980s.

That lawsuit, which was settled among the group, was the main reason for McCartney's absence at the group's 1988 induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

During the last round of negotiations in 1989, the Beatles demanded that all their CD's -- despite some running under 30 minutes -- be priced as high as the top-priced disc in EMI/Capitol's catalogue, which is why their catalogue is rarely seen "on sale" at major record chains.

Although both Lennon and Harrison's post-1975 catalogue has recently been reissued on the EMI/Capitol label, only McCartney is actually still signed to the label. McCartney's deal is rumored to amount to $100 million for the lifetime license to issue his past and future works.

McCartney's current EMI/Capitol release Chaos And Creation In The Backyard is up for four Grammy Awards.
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