Beatles Releases are Bootlegs according to Apple Corp

Based on our post 2 months ago, the unreleased Star Club Beatles recordings are going to court.

Apple Corp Sues To Stop Beatles Release

Apple Corps and Apple Records have just filed a federal lawsuit in Miami in an attempt to stop bootleg recordings from the Star-Club in Germany from being released to the public, Billboard has learned.

One of the defendants, Jeffrey Collins, tried to release the recordings several years ago before he was sentenced to probation for violating sound recording piracy law in connection with non-Beatles recordings, Apple claims.

The suit, filed in the federal District Court in Miami, names as defendants Fuego Entertainment, Fuego-Echo Music Group, Echo Vista, Fuego CEO Hugo Cancio and Collins.

In a January press release, Fuego announced it had acquired 15 tracks of previously unreleased performances of the Beatles at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany, that were made just before the group signed its record deal with EMI's Parlophone in 1962, the suit claims.

The Beatles did perform at the club just one month before the band signed its record deal. But the contract with the club did not permit any recording, the complaint says, and no one with the band ever gave permission to record their performances.

Apple says the recordings have already proven to be bootlegs. In 1991, Apple sued Sony Music Entertainment in New York to stop release of some Star-Club recordings. Sony agreed to a consent order not to release certain recordings after hearing testimony from band members.

One of Apple's attorneys in the current suit recalls George Harrison's deposition testimony in that Sony suit.

Paul LiCalsi, a partner with Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp in New York, tells Billboard, "George said it best." Harrison testified that "'the recordings were a rip-off of the Beatles. No one asked us or paid us any royalties. Kids walk into record stores thinking they're getting something of quality, but it's unlistenable'," LiCalsi recalls.

Apple claims this is not the first time that Collins tried to release Beatles recordings without permission. He was sentenced to three years' probation in 1996 on a criminal plea of violating New Jersey's sound recording piracy law in connection with non-Beatles recordings, the complaint alleges.

Shortly before that criminal sentencing in 1995, Collins tried to manufacture and distribute 15 Beatles performances at the Star-Club, the suit says. In response to Apple's cease-and-desist letters, Collins acknowledged that he could not release the album without their permission, the complaint says.

"Apple does not own the rights to the tape," Collins tells Billboard. "They're trying to bully us into giving up the masters, which they have no right to. The group is called the Beatles. We haven't used the trade name -- we haven't released it. We just made it known to the public that this tape is available."

The Fuego press release claims it acquired rights through an association with Collins, the suit says.

Several years after the Sony suit, Apple again stopped release of Star-Club recordings after bringing a lawsuit in England's High Court of Justice against Lingasong Music.

Apple is suing for infringement of various common law copyright, trademark, unfair competition name and likeness, and performance rights. They seek an injunction and damages of at least $10 million.

Source [Billboard]

Unreleased Early Beatles Recordings Soon to be Released

Miami Indie Lays Claim To Early Beatles Tracks

The Beatles

An independent Miami label says it plans to release never-before-heard Beatles live recordings made in 1962 at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany.

Fuego Entertainment, which distributes music through Koch, has entered into a joint venture, Echo-Fuego, with British producer/promoter Jeffrey Collins to put out his catalog holdings. They say those include a live Beatles performance of 15 songs at the club.

No release date has been set for the recordings, which the label claims are the first to feature drummer Ringo Starr as part of the group. Other Beatles recordings from the Star Club have been released, but Fuego says its collection includes previously unheard tracks, such as covers of Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues" and Maurice Williams' "Do You Believe."

Other live Beatles tracks the label says it holds (a claim Billboard was unable to verify) also include "Twist and Shout," "I Saw Her Standing There," "Hippy Hippy Shake," "A Taste of Honey," "Money," and "Ask Me Why," which can be heard in other recorded Beatles performances at the Star Club.

Collins, who now lives in Florida, says he got the original tapes at the time from a DJ he'd booked for the club the night of the Beatles' performance.


When he got the tapes, which the label says were recorded with the club's permission, "they were in terrible condition," says Collins. Decades later, he was able to digitally remaster them "to make them sound coherent," but says Apple Corps rebuffed his 1996 overture to release the tracks.

The lack of a release date illustrates the obstacles involved in releasing Beatles-related product. "Through legal channels, we will be making these albums available for release," says Collins. "The Beatles know these tapes exist and their lawyers know these tapes exist. It's a matter of certain legalities."

"We don't have a comment as such but not surprisingly are looking into the claim," says a spokesperson from Apple Corps., which maintains the Beatles' business affairs.

Fuego Entertainment president/CEO Hugo Cancio says for $4.95, fuegoentertainment.net is offering a full-track stream of the live "I Saw Her Standing There," plus clips of other live Beatles songs in its collection; downloads of a track each by Ahmir and rapper KRS-One; and early download access to its recording of Jimi Hendrix's "Rainbow Bridge" concert.

Astute Beatles fan are already calling foul. According to Steve Marinucci, who runs Abbeyrd's Beatles Page, of the four tracks on the Fuego site, only "A Taste of Honey" is unheard, and the "Lovesick Blues" cover isn't even by the Beatles at all. As for the sound quality, Marinucci says they are no better than earlier "Star Club" releases, which are decidedly lo-fi.

Meanwhile, the company's rights to the Hendrix material have already been disavowed by the late guitarist's estate and its subsidiary enterprise, Experience Hendrix. "Experience Hendrix serves notice that it will take all legal action necessary to remove this bootleg material from the market and recover damages against Fuego Entertainment and associated parties for infringement as authorized under applicable law," the company said in a statement.

Source [Billboard]