The Beatles’ ‘First Known’ Recording Sparks Legal Battle With UMG: ‘A Highly Valuable Artifact’
Categoria: Musica
When a famed Abbey Road engineer died in 2018, a long-lost Beatles demo tape was found in his house. UMG says he stole it, and its lawyers want it back.
Por Billboard | 14/05/2026
Geoff Emerick was just a teenager in June 1962, employed as an apprentice sound engineer at EMI Studios (later renamed Abbey Road), when a then-little-known English rock band recorded a demo in the studio. John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and drummer Pete Best laid down four tracks that day — “Bésame Mucho,” “Love Me Do,” “PS, I Love You,” and “Ask Me Why” — on a magnetic recording tape, which was then shuttled over to record producer George Martin at EMI’s headquarters on Manchester Square. Related The Beatles Get Back: Fab Four’s First Official Museum to Open in London at Rooftop Gig Site Backline Launches Mental Health Toolkit for Dance Music Community: 'Seeking Help Is Not Something to Be Ashamed Of' Fugees' Pras Michel Surrenders to Authorities to Begin 14-Year Prison Sentence, Vows to Appeal You know the rest: After ditching Best for Ringo Starr , The Beatles broke out with “Love Me Do,” launched Beatlemania, and became the most famous band of all time. Emerick rose with them, serving as chief engineer on iconic records like Abbey Road and becoming what Variety once called the “behind-the-scenes brains that helped shape the Beatles sound.” But here’s what you probably don’t know: Emerick held onto that demo tape, which had been sent to a nearby squash court where “tapes went to die.” He kept it in his possession for decades, all the way until his 2018 death, when it was discovered among his things. And now, six decades after it was first recorded, Universal Music Group (UMG) wants it back. In a legal battle quietly raging in Los Angeles court, both the music giant and Emerick’s estate are asking a judge to rule them the rightful owner of the tape, which UMG has called the “first known Beatles recording.” The estate’s lawyers say it was essentially thrown away, and that only Emerick saved it from destruction. UMG’s attorneys say it was always company property — and that it wasn’t his to save. “At issue in this action,” the company’s lawyers wrote in recent court filings, “is a highly valuable artifact of rock and roll history that was stolen.” ——————– Emerick was only 16 when he applied for a job at Abbey Road, apparently at the suggestion of a school guidance counselor. When he got the position, it came with a robust salary of about $8 a week: “Any disappointment I had in the low wages was more than offset by my elation at landing the position,” he recalled in his 2006 memoir. “At long last, I was in.” Related Paul McCartney Walks Us Through Every Track on New Album, ‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane’ And Lovingly Shares Beatles Stories For Beatles obsessives and audio junkies, the rest of Emerick’s career is well-known. He worked for several years under Norman Smith, the lead engineer on the Beatles’ early albums up until Rubber Soul . He then took over the top job in 1966 at Martin’s request, starting with the technologically innovative