OPINION: Beatle Engineer Estate Deserves Every Penny From Universal
By: Graham Alexander
Geoff Emerick & Paul McCartney at EMI Studios (Abbey Road)
Shame on Universal Music Group - and shame on media industry good ol’ boy Lucian Grange. There, I said it. Why am I so harsh? let me try to put some perspective on a large-ish music industry news story that is occurring in real-time at the moment.
Legendary recording engineer, Geoff Emerick, passed away around 2 years ago at the age of 72. - while he is famous in the recording world for any number of incredible records - his greatest contribution would undoubtedly be his work with The Beatles on albums like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Abbey Road, Revolver etc. - his gift to the world was being on the cutting edge of vast improvements to recording techniques - improvements that are used worldwide today. Full disclosure; I knew Geoff - The Victor Company had the pleasure of bringing him in for a show and interview.
As a former employee of EMI (which evolved from The Victor Talking Machine Co. of Camden, NJ), he was a kindred spirit with The Victor Company based on our common love of recording - and also; our ‘His Master’s Voice’ Heritage through Victor. He was also a helluva nice guy - funny, quick, and highly intelligent…we also began developing some things with him which have been in the works for some time (and are for another article).
When I first met Geoff, he was also still working - very hard - and at the age of 72. He had a pacemaker (which actually was interrupted on occasion by the mere presence of recording studio equipment) he was traveling around the country (and world) picking up gigs here and there (speaking engagements, recording instructional lessons, etc). Not a life of luxury or excess by any means.
June of 2020, it was reported and filed in the courts that The Estate Of Geoff Emerick was being sued by Universal Music Group - the largest music company in the world, and owners of The Beatles catalog.
The Beatles had signed, in 1962, to a recording contract by The Gramophone Co. (which was owned by EMI Ltd. of The UK) and they began to record at the famous Abbey Road recording studios of the company that same year. During what was Geoff’s second day of work as a tape machine operator - EMIs producer on the session (George Martin) instructed Geoff to rewind the tape, and ‘do whatever with it’.
The EMI tape box of the tape in question
This one singular line is what Universal Music Group is basing its entire case off of by extrapolating from this that fellow EMI Employee, George Martin, had actually instructed Geoff to throw out the tape - which he did not do. Geoff was VERY smart and at only 17 years old; he kept the tape until his death when it passed onto his Estate’s heirs.
Geoff valued the tape as possibly between 1 million and 5 million USD. If it has unreleased material, it might be worth more. Other than this, we don’t know TOO much about the tape - does it contain unheard studio chatter? are the 4 tracks noted (Love Me Do, Ask Me Why, Besame Mucho, P.S. I Love You)…already released takes? are they alternate takes? None the less, the value of the tape - an early Beatles audition master tape - has high value in any market.
So by now you are either saying to yourself either;
ok…so the guy didn’t follow the rules and stole the tape and kept it…why should he get money for it?
OR
great! he kept history - it’s his and he should be able to do with it what he wants.
The answer I propose is that neither of these really matter…and hear is why;
All the witnesses are hearsay. With Geoff AND George Martin deceased, and the company that was once EMI long dissolved into Universal Music Group….Universal is trying to use its legal muscle to drain Geoff’s estate of the little that it has - and it might just succeed. Hell, they succeeded in creating a ‘Black Out Music Industry’ day that single-handedly took over the #blacklivesmatter hashtag and wrecked organizer’s ability to assemble peaceful protests…like any big corporation does; they are seeking to crush the little guy and every fan of music should call them out on these actions.
Geoff wasn’t a greedy person…he worked for The Victor Co.; and his rates were very reasonable. Geoff single-handedly maintained the tape for 60 years - something Universal Music Group recently failed to do with the MAJORITY of its vault master tapes that went up in FLAMES (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/magazine/universal-fire-master-recordings.html)
Universal Music Group may not have true rights as a successor of EMI. The company was split so many which ways; I’m not even sure they have the legal grounds to declare that the orders of George Martin as an employee of EMI in 1962 would even be able to be traced accurately as making Universal Music Group the legal successor of that order almost 60 years later.
It’s in bad taste - it’s embarrassing for Universal. Universal can absolutely afford this tape - they make billions off of Geoff’s work - and they can’t come to the table on a tape of Love Me Do? Sorry, the math doesn’t add up.
All Beatle (and many historic recording era) tapes should start becoming ‘national treasure’ status soon; and governments worldwide should consider seizing them from Universal Music Group if they are unwilling to donate them to a proper care facility. YES this sounds crazy; but it isnt. Why? - when something is an international treasure of culture - we must be careful that it be preserved this way. Besides the fact that UMG lost an entire vault of master recordings (which was essentially a storage locker of some of humanities greatest musical artists and cultural moments) Universal Music Group recently issued (yet another) set of arguably gross REMIXED and REMASTERED Beatle recordings (which Geoff Emerick and Ken Scott *the original EMI recording engineers* lambasted - rightfully so)
Long story short; Universal Music Group needs to have respect for its historic recordings (and recording staff)…settle, buy the tape, end the lawsuit….and get back to shoving out more back catalog repackaged stuff and new overproduced music no one really cares about.
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