"Yesterday" is the most covered song in recorded history, with over 2,200 versions. And for more than 50 years, Paul McCartney could not collect a single dollar of publishing revenue from his own masterpiece. This is the story of how that happened, and the revenue ecosystem it left behind.
"Yesterday" by The Beatles is the most covered song in recorded history with over 2,200 versions. Written by Paul McCartney in 1965, it is one of the most valuable pieces of intellectual property ever created. And yet for over 50 years, McCartney could not collect a single dollar of publishing revenue from his own masterpiece.
Understanding why requires understanding one of the most important and cautionary stories in the entire history of the music industry, a story that begins not with a bad guy, but with a bad contract signed by very young men who didn't know what they were giving away.
The key lesson: The Beatles were 20-year-old working class musicians from Liverpool who trusted their manager to make the right deal. They had no idea what they were signing away.
When The Beatles began their meteoric rise, their manager Brian Epstein arranged a publishing deal with music publisher Dick James. The result was a company called Northern Songs Ltd., formed specifically to own and administer the publishing rights to Lennon and McCartney compositions.
50% ownership. Wrote none of the music. Owned more than both Beatles combined, and crucially held just enough to always outvote everyone else.
10% ownership. The manager who arranged the deal on behalf of the band.
20% ownership. Co-writer of the most valuable song catalog in history.
20% ownership. Together with Lennon, owned only 40% of their own songs.
Northern Songs was listed on the London Stock Exchange, which further diluted the Beatles' ownership. Lennon and McCartney's stakes dropped to approximately 15% each. Brian Epstein died suddenly in 1967, and Dick James quietly sold his majority stake to ATV Music without informing the Beatles first. McCartney reportedly learned about the sale through a newspaper.
In 1985, Michael Jackson purchased the ATV catalog, including 251 Beatles songs, for $47.5 million, famously having been shown by McCartney himself how valuable publishing income could be. A decade later, Jackson sold 50% of ATV to Sony, and in 2016 Sony bought the remaining 50% from the Jackson estate for $750 million. In 2017, McCartney sued Sony/ATV under the US Copyright Act's 35-year reversion provision, regaining control of many of his Beatles songs in the US market, though UK rights remained more complex.
Every song has two separate copyrights. The master recording is owned by the label. The composition (melody and lyrics) is owned by the publisher. Both must be licensed separately for every use.
Sound Recording
Publishing Rights
Publishing revenue splits into two equal halves, the Writer's Share and the Publisher's Share. Here is exactly what McCartney lost when he lost his publishing rights:
McCartney always received his writer's 50%. What he lost was the publisher's 50%, which for one of the most performed songs in history represents tens of millions of dollars.
These figures are illustrative based on industry-standard splits.
| Revenue Type | Label / Master | Artist / Performer | Publisher | Songwriter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Streaming (e.g. Spotify) | ~46% | ~10% | ~2.4% | ~9.5% |
| Radio / Broadcast | — | via SoundExchange | 50% of publishing each | |
| Sync License (Film/TV/Ad) | negotiated | — | negotiated % | negotiated % |
| Cover Versions (Mechanical) | — | — | via publisher | via publisher |
| Physical Sales (CD/Vinyl) | ~50% | ~15–25% | ~10–15% | ~8–12% |
With 2,200+ cover versions, heavy radio airplay, constant placements, and billions of streams, the publisher's share alone has been worth hundreds of millions of dollars over the song's lifetime.
| Transaction | Year | Amount | What Changed Hands |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jackson purchases ATV catalog | 1985 | $47.5M | 251 Beatles songs + 4,000 others |
| Jackson sells 50% to Sony | 1995 | $95M | 50% stake, Sony/ATV formed |
| Sony buys Jackson estate's 50% | 2016 | $750M | Full ownership transferred to Sony |
| Beatles catalog estimated value | 2024 | $1.5B+ | Publishing rights to 251 songs |
Total return on Jackson's original $47.5M investment: ~3,000%, one of the greatest IP investments in history.
McCartney taught Jackson the value of owning publishing rights. Jackson took that advice, bought McCartney's own songs, and turned $47.5 million into $1.5 billion. The lesson isn't that Jackson was wrong, it's that McCartney should never have lost his rights in the first place.
Listen along: Hear "Yesterday" and the covers referenced throughout this case study on Spotify.