WHAT A THING TO DO: The Alpha Omega Incident

In 1972 a small company in New Jersey brazenly flaunted copyright statutes and sold a huge four-disc set of well-known Beatles songs – even advertising the collection on television and radio.

The front and back box cover of Alpha Omega. The box held the vinyl records in sleeves.

Lew Saka and Audiotape, Inc.

Elias “Lew” Saka was a Japanese immigrant who had one of his first run-ins with the law in 1964 when he was convicted of transporting stolen nylon hosiery across state lines into his home state of New Jersey under his company Nylons Unlimited. The incident earned Saka a fine and five year probation sentence.

Saka saw opportunity for a new source of income when Economic Consultants — also known as E-C Tape Service and operated by David Heilman out of Wisconsin — circumvented loosely-defined copyright law to issue a successful six tape set (available as cassette and 8 track) of Beatles music titled The Story of the Beatles in 1971. The set was issued on vinyl in 1973. E-C Tape Service advertised compilations they called “party tapes” in magazines and other periodicals, and were later sued for copyright infringement after arguing, unsuccessfully, that the rearranged compilations constituted an original, entirely new product.

Saka one-upped Heilman by issuing an eight tape/eight LP set of Beatles hits with his company Audiotape, Inc (also known as Audio Tape, Inc.). Collecting 60 Beatles songs and including several current (at the time) Beatles solo tracks, the tracks were arranged more or less in alphabetical order with the set promoted as “Greatest Hits From A to Z” (some songs may have been shuffled around due to time concerns), and edited haphazardly; “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” fades out just before the “Billy Shears” introduction on “With A Little Help From My Friends“, which appeared on a separate disc. Audiotape’s set was titled ΑΩ, or The Beatles Alpha Omega.

The track list for ΑΩ (Audiotape Inc. ATRBH 3583) was as follows.

Record 1, Side 1

1. Act Naturally
2. All I’ve Got to Do
3. All My Loving
4. And I Love Her
5. Baby’s in Black
6. Yesterday
7. The Ballad Of John And Yoko
8. Bangladesh (George Harrison, from The Concert For Bangladesh)

Record 1, Side 2

1. Can’t Buy Me Love
2. Come Together
3. Day Tripper
4. Do You Want to Know a Secret
5. Eight Days a Week
6. Eleanor Rigby
7. Uncle Albert (Paul & Linda McCartney, from Ram)

Record 2, Side 3

1. I Should Have Known Better
2. It Won’t Be Long
3. I Want to Hold Your Hand
4. Lady Madonna
5. Ticket to Ride
6. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
7. Michelle
8. Mr. Moonlight

Record 2, Side 4

1. I Feel Fine
2. If I Fell
3. I’ll Be Back
4. Hey Jude
5. I’m a Loser
6. I’m Happy Just to Dance with You
7. I Saw Her Standing There

Record 3, Side 5

1. Nowhere Man
2. Obladi Oblada [sic]
3. Paperback Writer
4. Penny Lane
5. Help [sic]
6. Roll Over Beethoven
7. She’s a Woman
8. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Record 3, Side 6

1. Get Back
2. Hello Goodbye
3. Revolution #1 [sic]
4. Here Comes the Sun
5. I’ll Follow the Sun
6. Imagine (John Lennon, from Imagine)
7. Honey Don’t

Record 4, Side 7

1. We Can Work It Out
2. With a Little Help from My Friends
3. Yellow Submarine
4. Baby You’re a Rich Man
5. You Can’t Do That
6. You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
7. Maybe I’m Amazed (Paul McCartney, from McCartney)
8. A Hard Day’s Night

Record 4, Side 8

1. She Loves You
2. Something
3. Strawberry Fields Forever
4. Tell Me Why
5. The Long and Winding Road
6. Let It Be
7. Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby

The recordings were all sourced from the North American Capitol LPs featuring the Dave Dexter, Jr. edits found exclusively on those albums with the notable high compression, bass reduction, and additional reverb. Some of those Capitol masters were edits of second, third, and even fourth generation reels from EMI, leading to notable sonic quality issues on ΑΩ.

Alpha Omega in-store promotional poster, small version

Alpha Omega in-store promotional poster, large version

The set was advertised for $13.95 and the commercial guaranteed delivery. It was amazing price for such a huge amount of music, but easy to sell so cheap seeing as how Audiotape, Inc. wasn’t paying royalties (despite advertisements insisting “copyright royalties paid”!).

The release was also split into two double LPs — a strategy later seen on Capitol’s 1976 double LP compilation Rock ‘N’ Roll Music — with the first volume consisting of the first 2 LPs and printed on a white jacket in pink, and the second volume consisting of the second 2 LPs and printed on a white jacket in blue

Alpha Omega 1A, ATRBH 3583, consisting of discs 1 and 2 of the original 4 LP release

The copyright question

Prior to 1972, sound recordings were not subject to federal copyright in the United States; they were, instead, subject to various applicable state torts and statutes. The Sound Recording Amendment of 1971 extended federal copyright to recordings fixed on or after February 15, 1972 (the effective date of the act), and declared that recordings fixed before that date would remain subject to state or common law copyright. Those statutes as they existed in New Jersey, where Audiotape, Inc. was based, were lax compared to other areas, and restricting the sale of the set to mail order ensured they could continue to hide behind the pirate-friendly laws. The federal law was basically untested and being that there was no career-spanning Beatles compilation on the market (official or not), The Beatles Alpha Omega tested the boundaries of the new laws as it met demand for a product people wanted.

The fact that this set was available in such a manner is amazing. Put in the context of today’s copyright laws, try to picture a television commercial for a torrent site offering downloads of 1 and one gets an idea how audacious such marketing really is!

Crackdown, raids, and rebirth

By late 1972 over 50 music publishers filed a joint complaint over the piracy perpertrated by Audiotape, Inc., E-C Tape Services, and other similar organizations. Federal marshals raided several New Jersey facilities including Audiotape, Inc. on October 25, 1972, seizing duplicating equipment and over 2 million counterfeit tapes.

Saka was not deterred by the setback. He set up a new company called TV Products based in Cincinnati, Ohio, where copyright laws were as similarly lax as those in New Jersey. TV Products issued a new edition of ΑΩ titled Beatles Vol. 1, a later version of which was released in a black and white outer box. Some versions featured white labels, but others featured pink/red labels similar to the full-color outer box version issued by Audiotape. In fact, some versions of the TV Products edition actually list the state of origin as New Jersey, indicating that the set was at least partly prepared and released before Saka moved the company to Cincinnati.

The TV Products variation of ΑΩ omits the alpha and omega symbols and features the “Vol. 1” text in their place. The colors are also arranged differently. The track list is identical to the Audiotape, Inc. release.

Keeping the ball rolling with Volume 2

Alpha Omega Vol. 2, released by TV Products

The set was successful enough to warrant a second volume. Beatles Vol. 2, as it appeared on the outer box, featured an additional 4 LPs of music with no catalog number:

Disc 1, Side 1

1. No Reply
2. Rock N Roll Music [sic]
3. Too Many People (Paul & Linda McCartney, from Ram)
4. Heart Of The Country (Paul & Linda McCartney, from Ram)
5. Back Of My Car (Paul & Linda McCartney, from Ram)
6. Magical Mystery Tour
7. The Fool On The Hill

Disc 1, Side 2

1. Lovely Rita
2. When I’m Sixty-Four
3. A Day In The Life
4. Getting Better
5. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
6. Good Day Sunshine

Disc 2, Side 3

1. Taxman
2. She Said She Said
3. All Together Now
4. Pepper Land
5. Crippled Inside (John Lennon, from Imagine)
6. Oh Yoko (John Lennon, from Imagine)
7. I’m Looking Through You

Disc 2, Side 4

1. I’ve Just Seen A Face
2. Norwegian Wood [sic]
3. You Won’t See Me
4. The Lovely Linda (Paul McCartney, from McCartney)
5. Drive My Car
6. Doctor Robert
7. What Goes On
8. My Sweet Lord (George Harrison, from All Things Must Pass)

Disc 3, Side 5

1. All Things Must Pass (George Harrison, from All Things Must Pass)
2. Apple Scruffs (George Harrison, from All Things Must Pass)
3. Baby It’s You
4. A Taste Of Honey
5. She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
6. Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
7. Golden Slumber [sic]

Disc 3, Side 6

1. Mean Mr. Mustard
2. Love Me Do
3. Twist And Shout
4. Please Please Me
5. Dizzy Miss Lizzie [sic]
6. Rocky Raccoon
7. Helter Skelter

Disc 4, Side 7

1. Kansas City [sic]
2. Tell Me What You See
3. I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party
4. Birthday
5. Goodnight [sic]
6. Why Don’t We Do It In The Road [sic]
7. Across The Universe

Disc 4, Side 8

1. Maggie Mae
2. Two Of Us
3. I’ve Got A Feeling
4. I Dig A Pony [sic]
5. All You Need Is Love
6. I Am A Walrus [sic]
7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite [sic]

ΑΩ Vol. 2 black and white variation published by TV Products.

The Beatles and Allen Klein respond

If there was any question as to how the Beatles and Apple would respond to ΑΩ it was answered in February when Beatles manager Allen Klein filed a lawsuit on behalf of George Harrison, Capitol Records, and Apple Records against Audio Tapes, Inc. and ABC and various local affiliates who aired the commercials for $15 million in damages and the end to sales and distribution of the set. Those affiliates were removed from the suit as they agreed to stop airing the ads. The case still appears in court records but the documents attached to it are missing, so it is unknown how the case was settled.

Interestingly, the suit claimed that the Beatles collectively earned $19 million in royalties between September, 1969 and the filing of the suit on February 16, 1973.

The success of ΑΩ helped speed along the release of the double LPs 1962-1966 and 1967-1970, which were already in development as part of the contract Allen Klein negotiated with Capitol Records in 1969. Ads for the collection made regular mention that they were “the only authorized collections of the group’s music” as did inserts included with the albums and promotional posters appearing in stores.

Ads for CD issues of ΑΩ appeared in later years in the fan magazine Beatlefan and featured “needle drop” transfers (copy of a copy of a copy of a copy!) of the vinyl in very poor quality.