Brit Music Scene

Beatles Back Catalogue Of Songs Available For Commercials | 259 Songs & Counting

by Dave Parrack on January 10th, 2008

Sony/ATV Music Publishing has opened up The Beatles back catalogue, making 259 songs available to advertisers for use in commercials.

Although open for commercial licensing, the tracks will however, have to be re-recorded by other artists, rather than the Beatles originals used in adverts.

This is the first time that Beatles songs have been available for use in commercials, and the music giant is quite protective over the material. Sony Chief executive Martin Bandier said only select brand partnerships would be considered for the deal, rather than all and sundry being allowed to latch on to the songs.

He also insisted he had a moral obligation to discuss any deals with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as Yoko Ono and the family of George Harrison.

Proctor and Gamble were the first company to strike a deal, having already used All You Need Is Love to promote Luvs nappies in the US of A.

Fashion firm Lyric Culture will be next after securing the rights to the classics Revolution and Let it Be.

I like the fact that the music will live on in some form or other, as the Beatles are, and always will be one of the best groups in the world, and probably the best British group ever.

But, I just hope the people doing the deals don’t go overboard, and sell every single song to some campaign or other, therefore cheapening the band’s legacy and turning them in to nothing more than Moby clones.

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