1 of 1- aflem
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Classic Beatles Song Featured In New TV Ad
I believe Paul McCartney bought back the rights to most of the Beatles catalogue from Sony Music a few years ago. So I found it curious that during the Super Bowl (and since airing elsewhere) Air BnB paid for the rights to one of those classic tunes to use in a TV commercial.
The result was "Yellow Submarine," an advertisement that has a backstory all of its own. The Beatles were always very careful about selling their music for commercial purposes and McCartney certainly doesn't need the money.
So this is something of a surprise to me. Anyone know how this came to be?
The Beatles’ ‘Yellow Submarine’ Soundtracks Airbnb Super Bowl Commercial
Last edited by aflem (February 28, 2023 11:36 pm)
- Lorne
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Re: Classic Beatles Song Featured In New TV Ad
I did some searching and didn't find anything specifically about the rights to Yellow Submarine and the commercial. However, what I was finding were more general references to a confidential settlement between McCartney and Sony in 2017 -- there's an article about this at . If that agreement is still in force, it might explain why I wasn't finding anything about how the rights to use the song were arranged.
- aflem
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Re: Classic Beatles Song Featured In New TV Ad
I just saw a Verizon commercial on the Oscars that used the Beatles' "All Together Now," although not by the Fab Four. So I guess this is a thing now. I wonder why McCartney is selling out like this, if indeed it is him that's allowing it to happen. He hardly needs the money.
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Thread Starter- Lorne
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Re: Classic Beatles Song Featured In New TV Ad
A possibility I had already wondered about, after I found the info about a confidential settlement having been reached between Sony and McCartney about Beatles song rights, is if it involved a compromise requiring him to agree to the licensing of a certain number of songs but with some control over which ones. If that's the case, it would make sense that the songs licensed would tend to be more lighthearted ones like Yellow Submarine and All Together Now.