84-year-old Paul McCartney, one of the founders of the legendary British rock band The Beatles, increased his fortune to 1.4 billion dollars, becoming the third richest person in the history of world music.
Business magazine Forbes took the name of the British musician to the top of the global billionaires list.
According to the data shared by Forbes, McCartney is only ahead of McCartney with his fortune of $2.8 billion, rap artist Jay-Z, and singer Taylor Swift with $2 billion.
Tour revenues, copyright lawsuits and The Beatles' legacy, as well as his investments in the copyrights of other musicians, were decisive in the master musician's rise to wealth.
THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE COPYRIGHT EMPIRE WERE LAYED IN 1969
The basis of the British artist's financial rise is MPL Communications, the company he founded in 1969, just before the breakup of The Beatles.
Through this company, McCartney took control of his solo career works and studio recordings and received a direct share of the royalty income.
The famous musician began purchasing publishing rights to other artists' works long before song catalogs became a popular investment tool.
Forbes reported the artist's financial adventure with the following evaluation:
"Sixty years have passed since the songs in which McCartney said he didn't care much about money and perhaps couldn't give much away. He amassed a fortune of $1.4 billion by singing songs, filing lawsuits and countersuits, touring and working. For years, he earned far less than expected from The Beatles, while earning far more from royalties from unlikely artists. It's a classic story of how art and business can intertwine."
In addition to Buddy Holly's music catalogue, the artist's portfolio also includes compositions for Broadway musicals and world-famous Christmas songs.
McCartney's royalty pool includes global classics such as "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas", "The Christmas Song" and "Baby, It's Cold Outside".
It is estimated that the annual turnover of MPL Communications, which holds the copyrights of thousands of works, can reach tens of millions of dollars, and the company value is at least 250 million dollars.
Another important pillar in the musician's income statement is Apple Corps, the holding company that manages the rights of The Beatles.
Apple Corps, which updated its contracts after long-term negotiations and lawsuits with record companies, generates more than $50 million in annual revenue from digital streaming, record sales and merchandise.
In this holding, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the heirs of the deceased John Lennon and George Harrison have equal shares of 25 percent.
Each of these quarterly shares in the group is worth over $150 million.
COPYRIGHT VICTORY IN THE USA DOUBLED REVENUES
McCartney initiated legal proceedings in the United States to regain the copyrights of the songs he wrote within The Beatles.
The musician filed a lawsuit against Sony/ATV in January 2017, seeking to regain the rights to songs he wrote alone or in collaboration with John Lennon between 1962 and 1971.
After this legal struggle, which was based on the right of revocation granted by US copyright legislation to the owners of works, the works in question began to earn the musician at least 10 million dollars a year.
The total market value of these personal copyrights held by the artist was at least 200 million dollars.
Previously, the British newspaper The Times declared McCartney as England's first billionaire musician in the list published in May 2024.
At that time, the newspaper calculated the joint wealth of Paul McCartney and his wife Nancy as 1 billion pounds, or approximately 1.27 billion dollars.
This increase in wealth was due to non-stop concert tours and Beyonce's performance of The Beatles classic "Blackbird" on her album "Cowboy Carter".
