Black Sabbath Settle Dispute Over Early Demos, Regain Ownership of Earth Tapes

By Daniel Kreps

Daniel Kreps

The legal battle over Black Sabbath’s early demos has been resolved, with the four members regaining ownership of the songs they recorded in 1969 when they were known as Earth.

In June 2025, just weeks before Black Sabbath’s End of the Beginning concert and Ozzy Osbourne’s death, the band’s first manager Jim Simpson revealed plans to officially release the Earth recordings that Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward recorded at Zella Studios in Birmingham, England, in 1969, months before the foursome changed their name from Earth to Black Sabbath.

The Legendary Lost 1969 Tapes were set for release in July 2025 but never arrived, as Sharon Osbourne revealed there was a behind-the-scenes legal battle over ownership of the demos between the band and Simpson. 

“As you know, the Band do not want these tapes released, not least as they haven’t heard them despite you saying you would provide copies long ago,” Sharon wrote to Simpson in July. “You know that, as a band, Black Sabbath don’t take things lying down and you can be assured that if you go ahead with this against the Band’s wishes we will take any action we can where their rights are infringed, both here and in America.”

Five months after going public with the dispute over the demos, Sharon announced on The Osbournes podcast that the situation has been resolved, with the four members of Black Sabbath — Osbourne, Iommi, Butler, and Ward — regaining control of the Earth recordings, Blabbermouth reports.

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