How the Rolling Stones’ 1970 ‘Our Own’ Contract Gave Them Publishing Control – And Why It Led to a 1980s Legal War with Allen Klein

The famous 1970 “Our Own” contract wasn’t a management deal—it was a clever bit of self-help. The Rolling Stones simply formed a new company (named after themselves, naturally), assigned all their future publishing rights to it, and walked away from Allen Klein, who’d controlled their catalog since 1965. They claimed the move dissolved their obligations to him. Klein disagreed, and the resulting legal fight stretched into the 1980s.

What made the contract stick in the end was its timing and structure. By 1970, the Stones had learned from the Beatles’ disastrous experience with Klein—