Paul McCartney Becomes the World's Third Musician Billionaire
Only Taylor Swift and Jay-Z are ahead of him.
Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images
Rights to other artists' songs, income from The Beatles, and touring have brought Paul McCartney $1.4 billion. Only Jay-Z and Taylor Swift are ahead of him, writes Forbes.
The 84-year-old McCartney is surpassed only by rapper Jay-Z, whose fortune Forbes estimates at $2.8 billion, and singer Taylor Swift with $2 billion.
The foundation of McCartney's business became MPL Communications, founded in 1969, shortly before The Beatles broke up. It allowed McCartney to control the rights to his solo career works and recordings and receive a significant portion of the income from them. The musician also began acquiring rights to other people's songs long before music catalogs became a popular investment asset.
"Six decades after McCartney sang that he didn’t care much for money and maybe couldn’t give much, through performing songs, suing and countersuing, touring and toiling, he’s amassed a fortune of $1.4 billion.
But over the years, he made far less from The Beatles than one might presume, and far more from artists one might not expect. It's a classic story of how art and commerce can intertwine," Forbes notes.