Friday, 23 October 2009

Paul McCartney's Business

McCartney is today one of Britain's richest musicians, with an approximate luck of £750 million ($1.2 billion) in 2009, even though Justice Bennett, in his judgment on McCartney's divorce case found no evidence that McCartney was worth more than £400 million. In addition to his interest in Apple Corps, McCartney's MPL Communications owns a significant music publishing catalogue, with access to over 25,000 copyrights. McCartney earned £40 million in 2003, making him Britain's highest media earner. This rose to £48.5 million by 2005. In the same year he joined the top American talent agency Grabow Associates, who arrange private performances for their wealthiest clients. Northern Songs was formed in 1963, by Dick James, to publish the songs of Lennon/McCartney. The Beatles' partnership was replaced in 1968 by a jointly held company, Apple Corps, which carries on to control Apple's commercial interests. Northern Songs was bought by Associated TeleVision (ATV) in 1969, and was sold in 1985 to Michael Jackson. For many years McCartney was sad about Jackson's purchase and handling of Northern Songs.
MPL Communications is an umbrella company for McCartney's business interests, which owns a wide variety of copyrights, as well as the publishing rights to musicals. In 2006, the Trademarks Registry reported that MPL had started a process to secure the protections associated with registering the name "Paul McCartney" as a trademark. The 2005 films, Brokeback Mountain and Good Night and Good Luck, feature MPL copyrights.
In April 2009, it was exposed that McCartney, in common with other well-off musicians, had seen a important decline in his net worth over the preceding year. It was sketchy that his fortune had droped by some £60m, from £238m to £175m. The losses were credited to the ongoing worldwide recession, and the resulting refuse in value of property and stock market possessions.

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