To add to Martin's comments:
The potential Sony lawsuit would have been expensive to defend, which is why
the producer would have given Julian this advice. A lawyer would have
charged a lot because it has the potential to be a high profile case and
possibly make the lawyer (in)famous.
It wouldn't have anything to do with the Beatles because they couldn't
purchase the copyright in the first place even if they wanted to.
The copyright would be owned by the anonymous guitar player, and the "rights
to mechanical reproduction" would be owned by whoever holds the original
master tape the guitar was recorded to (not subsequent copies of that tape).
In order for a copyright to be purchased, one needs written legal permission
from ∗both∗ these parties. If it can't be secured (which is the case here),
then the copyright can't be purchased to prevent others from using it.
Chris
> Hi again...
>
> I remember Julian Cope talking about that Mk.2 Spanish Guitar sound...
> He wanted to use it on a song he was recording... but his producer
> thought he had sampled it off the "White Album". When Julian told him
> that he got it off the Mk.2, the producer told him NOT to use it...
> because he figured that the Beatles purchased the copyright to the
> sound so that nobody could use it again!
>
> Go Figure...
>
> J.P.
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> MicroTron 001
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> Yahoo! Groups Links
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