It’s no secret that Michael Jackson owned more than 250 Beatles titles, so his death poses some interesting questions concerning licensing. The big one on our minds: How will Jackson’s death affect the release of the upcoming Beatles version of Rock Band? The answer: it won’t.
Harmonix, which develops the Rock Band franchise, said Jackson’s death will have no effect on the game’s release – even the track list will remain unaltered.
Though there’s been some rumor that Jackson and former Beatle Paul McCartney had a bit of a tiff about the music, McCartney says it’s not true. In a statement on his website, Paul says the two simply drifted apart over the years. Here’s the full statement:
Some time ago, the media came up with the idea that Michael Jackson was going to leave his share in the Beatles songs to me in his will which was completely made up and something I didn’t believe for a second.
Now the report is that I am devastated to find that he didn’t leave the songs to me. This is completely untrue. I had not thought for one minute that the original report was true and therefore, the report that I’m devastated is also totally false, so don’t believe everything you read folks!
In fact, though Michael and I drifted apart over the years, we never really fell out, and I have fond memories of our time together.
At times like this, the press do tend to make things up, so occasionally, I feel the need to put the record straight.
Sounds like good news all around…oh…except the Beatles still don’t own their music.
