Beatles Sue EMI for Millions

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The Beatles -- Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the estates of John Lennon and George Harrison -- are suing EMI Group, claiming that they are owed more than $53 million in royalties. The Beatles' Apple Records announced today that an audit proved that EMI, which owns the copyright to the Beatles recordings, was not fulfilling its contract.

"Despite very clear provisions in our contract, EMI persists in ignoring their obligations and duty to account fairly and with transparency," Apple Records said in a statement. "Apple and the Beatles are once again left with no choice but to sue EMI." Lawsuits were filed against EMI in London and its Capitol Records subsidiary in New York on Thursday.

Apple and EMI previously battled for ten years over contract disputes, ending in an out-of-court settlement in 1989. The Beatles had claimed that EMI sold or gave away millions of records without their knowledge.

Last year, Apple Records dragged Apple Computers into court over the launch of the iTunes online music store, claiming that the use of the Apple trademark for music-related business violated a 1991 agreement.

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Song Stories

“V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F.”

Fishbone | 1985

Quite a few musicians have utilized initials for song titles -- Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T.," Abba's "S.O.S.," Donald Fagen's "I.G.Y.," etc. But the more curiously initialed tune has to be "V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F.," short for "Voyage to the Land of the Freeze-Dried Godzilla Farts." Fishbone's original guitarist, Kendall Jones, explained to Rolling Stone, "When Norwood [Fisher] wrote it, he introduced it to the band saying, 'Man, I've been hearing about all these Nazi right-wing groups on the news saying the Holocaust was staged. So what if America said it never dropped two atom bombs on Japan, that it was actually Godzilla popping a couple off?' Only Norwood would come up with something that out." The same year "V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F." was released, the film Godzilla 1985 appeared in North America.

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