Yoko Ono Will Get Co-Writer Credit on “Imagine,” Extending the Copyright Ownership for Years

Yoko Ono will get co-writer credit on John Lennon’s “Imagine,” released in 1971. The announcement came last night at the National Music Publishers Association dinner. Their son, Sean, looking like John exactly from the cover of the Hey Jude album, wrote about it on Instagram. Changing the credit could add another minimum 28 years to the Lennon estate’s ownership of the song which would have expired in 2041. So that’s a good move financially. So that’s the cynical take. But Ono was really John’s unacknowledged collaborator on so many things, it seems like the right idea. Also, she’s in a wheelchair, which isn’t good even for age 83. At the dinner an audio tape was played in which John says Yoko should have gotten credit. So why not? And it doesn’t affect Paul McCartney, so he won’t mind.

Proudest day of my life: The National Music Publishers Association just gave the centennial (song of the century) award to Imagine, but WAIT! Surprise! They played an audio interview of my father saying (approximately) 'Imagine should've been credited as a Lennon/Ono song, if it had been anyone other than my wife I would've given them credit.' Cut to: my mother welling up in tears, and then Patti and Jesse Smith @michiganmanhattan Imagine! Patience is a virtue! ✌️❤✌️❤✌️❤✌️ (PS they officially declared Imagine to be a Lennon/Ono song and gave my mother a second award! 🙏)

A post shared by Sean Ono Lennon (@sean_ono_lennon) on Jun 14, 2017 at 4:44pm PDT