Here’s a great video mashup, a veritable timeline of Paul McCartney’s 2 musical collaborations with Michael Jackson and how a bit of advice from the former Beatle led to Jackson buying the publishing rights to Lennon & McCartney’s 250 song catalog right out from under him.
Naturally, McCartney felt betrayed, especially after Beatle songs like ‘Revolution’ ended up in TV commercials, something he was very much not in favor of.
Jackson paid close to $50 million for the catalog that also included tracks by Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, and Bruce Springsteen among others.
McCartney often complained of "having to pay" every time he performed one of his own songs. "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," McCartney wrote on his website in 2009. "[That] was completely made up."
Because of a loophole in the copyright laws, Sir Paul McCartney finally regained the Lennon-McCartney catalog, now worth 1 billion dollars, just a few days before his 75th birthday in 2017.