Okay since I have several family members upset that I don’t have any Beatles or John Lennon music, I thought I would go into the reasons why.
John Lennon is easier so I will start there. From what I heard, when John died, his estate was divided 3 ways equally between Julian, Sean and Yoko. That is all well and good and considering how young Sean was, it probably made sense… to someone. However what that essentially did is into perpetuity Julian’s family got the bad end of the stick. His family will ALWAYS only get 1/3 of the estate. Sean on the other hand can presumably get 2/3 of the estate when Yoko dies. Causing Julian to live forever in this shadow that has come to symbolize Julian… like Hey Jude.
I know some people would say “Oh poor Julian! He needs to survive off of just 1/3 of the estate. It isn’t like it was a small estate! Look at what Bill Gates children are said to get!” Yeah that is all well and good but from what I heard it doesn’t sound like any of the estate was given to charity. John Lennon’s music it can be presumed will live on much like Mozart or Wagner or any other long gone well known artist. Yes Mozart’s family isn’t getting royalties anymore but it was a different time. That has changed so I feel it shouldn’t have been used to create second class survivors.
Now the Beatles. I have wanted to over the years get a Beatles album. However I have refused because I know that the royalties are not going to John’s estate or Paul, George or Ringo. It was going to Michael Jackson. I have serious issues with vultures coming in and stealing stuff that should be with the artist. I have been hoping that now that Michael Jackson is dead, that the collection would be able to be sold and perhaps go to the rightful owners of the music (at least members of the Beatles or the estates). I haven’t heard that happen, in fact I think I heard that the Jackson family is preserving it at all costs, though I could be wrong about that. So that is why I am reluctant to purchase any Beatles music.
Now because of my age, I couldn’t have purchased any of this music prior to the time that either of these events occurred. Had I been able to, I think I would have been fine. However considering that they would have been on LP’s I doubt that they would sound great on an MP3 format. Just a guess on my part.
Wow Jenn. You have put a lot of thought into that. I wasn’t upset, I was teasing you. 🙂 As far as Beatles fans go, your dad isn’t the biggest one I have met. One of Eddie’s band directors is a gigantic fan. Every year they form a band for the talent show and all they play are Beatles songs. Eddie was in his band the last 2 years and they are already planning what songs they will play this year. Now that is a fan!! Oh and he is younger then you, he just turned 30. 🙂