# Does Michael Jackson really own the rights to the South Carolina state anthem?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-jackson-really-own-the-rights-to-the-south-carolina-state-anthem/332572>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 24, 2005, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-jackson-really-own-the-rights-to-the-south-carolina-state-anthem/332572 "2005-11-24T11:19:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-jackson-really-own-the-rights-to-the-south-carolina-state-anthem/332572/1 "2005-11-24T11:19:55Z")

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I was searching the internet, curious about what else Michael Jackson owned aside from a good portion of the rights to the Beatles catalog, and I came across literally thousands of sites saying that the Prince of Pop owned the South Carolina state anthem. Is this accurate?

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-jackson-really-own-the-rights-to-the-south-carolina-state-anthem/332572/2 "2005-11-24T15:04:27Z")

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> [@John\_Stamos'\_Left\_Ear](#):
>
> I was searching the internet, curious about what else Michael Jackson owned aside from a good portion of the rights to the Beatles catalog, and I came across literally thousands of sites saying that the Prince of Pop owned the South Carolina state anthem. Is this accurate?

When in doubt, check Snopes. Here’s the debunking of this by their member **Rexodus** :

> [@Rexodus](#):
>
> South Carolina has two official state songs, designated as such in 1911 and 1984, according to an official state website: [http://www.scstatehouse.net/studentpage/songs.htm](http://www.scstatehouse.net/studentpage/songs.htm)
> 
> The later one, “South Carolina On My Mind” has a similar title to the famous James Taylor song “Carolina In My Mind.” That song was once recorded and released on the Beatles’ label Apple Records: [Carolina On My Mind](http://www.jpgr.co.uk/col_apple32.html) (with Paul McCartney on bass!)
> 
> Now Michael Jackson does indeed own the rights to a large portion of the Beatles/Apple catalogue, possibly including “Carolina In My Mind,” but certainly not " South Carolina On My Mind."

([source](http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=47;t=000444;p=1))

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-jackson-really-own-the-rights-to-the-south-carolina-state-anthem/332572/3 "2005-11-24T15:49:35Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> curious about what else Michael Jackson owned aside from a good portion of the rights to the Beatles catalog

Cecil has a very enlightening column about what exactly it means to say that Jackson owns the rights to the Beatles’ music. I for one didn’t understand it until I read the column. [Does Michael Jackson control the Beatles music library?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a951027.html)