Copyright: A Musical Journey

[Mr. Analog]

So, back in the 90s there was a UK group called The Verve that had a fairly rocky career, they did however produce a string of hits from 1996 to 1999, the most successful of which was "Bittersweet Symphony".

Now a few days ago I heard this song on the radio and thought to myself "whatever happened to The Verve" so I looked them up. The group produced some interesting music, some of which I remember fondly from the 90s, turns out they broke up and reformed a number of times but in reading their history I found out that they basically didn't make a penny from their most well-known song, in fact it all goes to the Rolling Stones' managers holding company ABKCO Records. But how?

The Verve had gained permission to use a sample from the Andrew Oldham Orchestra, which had performed an orchestral version of "The Last Time" by the Rolling Stones in 1965, however Allen Klein the Rolling Stone's manager claimed that The Verve had used more than the agreed on sampling and had violated their licensing agreement and sued the band. The Verve settled out of court with ABKCO Records, losing composer credits and royalties. According to the bassist the deal sounded like the royalties would be a 50/50 split but it turned out to be far less and essentially The Verve didn't see a penny.

When asked about it in 1999 Keith Richards stated: "I'm out of whack here, this is serious lawyer @%&#. If The Verve can write a better song, they can keep the money"

The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony (1997):
http://youtu.be/1lyu1KKwC74

The Andrew Oldham Orchestra - The Last Time (1967):
http://youtu.be/MKC5cdGBY04

The Rolling Stones - The Last Time (1965):
http://youtu.be/JZ32lL4R970

The string arrangement in particular was written by English composer David Whitaker. So at the end of the day none of the creative people made money on content that was produced and released, it all went to lawyers and managers.

[Thorin]

Ah, lawyers.  They're not happy until you're not.

[Mr. Analog]

So true

On the upshot I found out about The Rolling Stones Songbook which is actually kinda good