Baby You're a Rich Man: Suing the Beatles for Fun & Profit - Hardcover

Soocher, Stan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1611683807 ISBN 13: 9781611683806

Publisher: ForeEdge from University Press of New England, 2015

Synopsis

The Beatles, the most popular, influential, and important band of all time, have been the subject of countless books of biography, photography, analysis, history, and conjecture. But this long and winding road has produced nothing like Baby Youre a Rich Man, the first book devoted to the cascade of legal actions engulfing the band, from the earliest days of the loveable mop-heads, to their present prickly twilight of cultural sainthood. Part Beatles history, part legal thriller, Baby Youre a Rich Man begins in the era when manager Brian Epstein opened the Pandoras box of rock n roll merchandising, making a hash of the bands licensing and inviting multiple lawsuits in the United States and the United Kingdom. The bands long breakup period, from 1969 to 1971, provides a backdrop to the Machiavellian grasping of new manager Allen Klein, who unleashed a blizzard of suits and legal motions to take control of the band, their music, and Apple Records. Unsavory mob associate Morris Levy first sued John Lennon for copyright infringement over Come Together, then sued him again for not making a record for him. Phil Spector, hired to record a Lennon solo album, walked off with the master tapes and held them for a kings ransom. And from 1972 to 1975, Lennon was the target of a deportation campaign personally spearheaded by key aides of President Nixon (caught on tape with a drug-addled Elvis Presley) that wound endlessly through the courts. In Baby Youre a Rich Man, Stan Soocher ties the Beatles ongoing legal troubles to some of their most enduring songs. What emerges is a stirring portrait of immense creative talent thriving under the pressures of ill will, harassment, and greed.

About this title

Review:

-"his achievement is to present detailed analysis of dry legal material in a manner that is as enjoyable as a thriller. In daily newspaper-ese, Baby You’re a Rich Man is unputdownable. Source: Times Higher Education

About the Author:

STAN SOOCHER is associate professor of music and entertainment industry studies at the University of Colorado's Denver Campus. In addition, he is an entertainment attorney and has served as Editor-in-Chief of Entertainment Law & Finance. The recipient of the Texas Star Award from the State Bar of Texas, Soocher has written for Rolling Stone and the National Law Journal and is previously the author of They Fought the Law: Rock Music Goes to Court.

About this edition

• Publisher: ForeEdge from University Press of New England
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1611683807
• ISBN 13: 9781611683806
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288