“Apple Computer Inc., which on May 8 won a trademark dispute with the Beatles over its iTunes music store, said it wants to get rights to sell the digital version of the band’s songs through the online service. ‘We certainly will do everything we can to get them on iTunes,’ Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes, said in an interview yesterday. ‘The Beatles aren’t available in any digital format today but they are going to be one day. We certainly hope that happens on iTunes,'” Bloomberg reports.
“Apple Corps Ltd., which represents the Fab Four’s business interests and is owned by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono and the estate of George Harrison, is remastering the entire Beatles catalog to make the songs available for downloading for the first time, Apple Corps’s managing director Neil Aspinall told a London court last month,” Bloomberg reports. “An agreement between Apple Corps and Cupertino, California- based Apple makes financial sense, say analysts. Moira Bellas, a spokeswoman for Apple Corps in London, said today she couldn’t immediately comment.”
“Opened by Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs in April 2003, iTunes is the most popular Web site for digital downloads. The service has a catalog of more than 3 million titles, operates in 21 countries and has sold more than 1 billion songs at 99 cents each. The service has more than a 70 percent share of the market for music downloads, NPD said,” Bloomberg reports. “‘There’s a huge gold mine in the Beatles catalog,’ said Russ Crupnick, a music industry analyst at NPD. ‘There are tens of millions of people who have never bought anything from a digital store, and when they do the tendency is overwhelming to buy it from Apple Computer. When you think about a premier artist like the Beatles, it may drag some of those other people to buy.'”
Full article here.
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Winston:
You have just been awarded THE BEST POST EVER AWARD.
Thought you might like to know.
I don’t think that anyone believes that having the Beatles catalog on iTMS will help sell more stuff at iTMS. Instead, it would be a feather in Steve’s cap and will once again reinforce the idea that iTMS is the premier online music store.
Dvorak: I just Don’t Understand
MDN Readers: What goes on in your mind
APPL holders: It’s getting better all the time!
Maczealot,
I think you’re wrong here. The Beatles are pretty much responsible for everything rock-oriented on the radio today (good and bad, unfortunately) and they are just as important today as they were 40 years ago.
I’m 35, and I’ve been listening to them since I was about 3, so I may be biased. But in that time I’ve come to learn that no one can call themselves a music fan if they don’t appreciate the Beatles. If kids these days don’t like them, they just don’t like them YET. The Beatles are universal.
Now I’m sure there are folks here that don’t dig them, maybe even hate them, and sure, if you’re a huge fan of Carcass you’re probably not going to dig the Beatles a whole lot. But if you like music with gorgeous melodies and amazing harmonies, you just can’t get any better than those 4 guys.
I mean, crap, Ozzy is a Beatles FANATIC.
http://static.thepiratebay.org/hashtorrent/3306470.torrent/Beatles_Discography.3306470.TPB.torrent
Getting the Beatles on board would be a great step forward as it will be the clearest sign yet that iTMS is a music store for everybody, not just for those who follow the charts.
While I’m not a lover of Jazz, I was pleased to see the iPod adverts featuring Winton Marsalis as that was a clear demonstration that iTMS is intended to appeal to a broad range of musical tastes.
Many people who grew up when the Beatles were around will have all sorts of musical memories, but those tracks would have been originally purchased on vinyl and will not have withstood the ravages of time. There is a huge market for older people to again buy tracks that they remember with affection and iTMS is perfectly placed to serve that market. If people know that the Beatles are available, they’re more likely to check to see if tracks from lesser known artists of that era are also available.
Ah! But we forget this is “Apple” we’re talking about here. It’s won’t be just the Beatle’s music on itms, it’ll be the “Beatle iPod Edition” chucked full of EVERY Beatle’s track in the library for $599 and they’ll do it in “apple green” and have BOTH logos engraved on the back along with fab four signatures… of course! They might even toss in a few classic Beatles music videos, and their own itms web page while they’re at it.
Now, do you really think the Beatles will pass on this? No way. No one else can give them this kind of package. Apple might even be willing to cut them in on some of the iPod profits.
Yoko isn’t talented, but you don’t need talent to know a huge $$ making opportunity when it’s dropped in your lap. Yep. They’ll sign on the dotted line in a huge hurry. Leave it to SJ.
mudflapper:
You completely misunderstood and misintepreted my point, which was that little music originally produced by the Beatles is being played on radio in my region of the planet ergo the Beatles have little to no influence on what radio stations choose to broadcast regarding their own original scores.
Even if one where to argue the point that the Beatles, the band, inspired a multitude of rock musicians I doubt that 1 person in 1,000,000 would attribute this musical influence to Apple Corps, the music company.
Anything short of paying them another $26 million AND removing the Apple logo from anything that makes a sound.
Posting this here since the anonymous poster (MDN perhaps?) gave me a slam for asking a question about wether Karla Holmoka was dead or not.
“Since © can’t manage a Google search.”
…proceeds to post link to article about Karla
*** That was the FIRST thing I did and that was the first link I went to! NOWHERE does it speak of Karla being dead. It just re-tells the story (which I already know) and the last news there is, is of her release in 2005. If she is dead – where is the link?
——————————
Ich beende Rechtschreibungnazin
http://www.caminobrowser.org
Stop, don’t look, just think. Name the twenty most popular musical groups of the 21st century and the multimedia corporations responsible for promoting and distributing their music. You have 3 minutes, begin.
Now, do you seriously think that the majority of people today have a clue that Apple Corps and the Beatles, circa 1960’s and 1970’s, are synonymous? No one, except a small minority of historians, since the demise of the Beatles decades ago, really cared about or knew about Apple Corps until they sued Apple Computer. Without their ruthless money-grubbing and their aggressive lawyers, Apple Corps would have remained a small albeit significant footnote of the musical archives.
The suit that Apple Corps brought against Apple Computer was nothing less and nothing more than a contemptibly mercenary attempt to extort money under the guise of legitimate compensation or recompense. I don’t want Apple Corps to now apologize and I don’t care if Apple Corps permits iTunes to sell Beatles music. Apple Corps should simply smile, take their bow, graciously wave their hands, and slip quietly back into the pages of history where they belong.
Most people can sing a Beatles song and know some of the words. Try that with rap crap.
Is there any melody to rap?
Mudflapper:
> I’m 35, and I’ve been listening to them since I was about 3, so I may be
> biased. But in that time I’ve come to learn that no one can call themselves
> a music fan if they don’t appreciate the Beatles. If kids these days don’t
> like them, they just don’t like them YET. The Beatles are universal.
Well, Mudflapper… I don’t like the Beatles. But I like classical, opera, orchestral and choral music. Is it alright with you if I call myself a music fan then?
And no… I’m not some gray-haired old purist. I’m 16.
ron:
Shut yo face, bitch, or I’ll pop a cap in yo honky ass. Think you can croon wit some lead in yo butt. punk?
Macaday: “This Intelitext stuff on MDN is a load of bullshit.
I’m giving up here if it carries on like this – some kind of advertising circus.”
Sure you will.
Deal with it
Paul and Ringo don’t need iTunes. Why? Paul is already a Billionare and Ringo is worth about half a billion. Read this article about Paul, I think you will find it humorous and maddening at the same time:
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=371&id=557902005
Another reason why Paul is a dick:
http://www.slate.com/id/2126568/
SELL OUT. Like when I hear a Led Zepplin song on a commercial selling Cadillacs. It really cheapens their image and they surely don’t need the money. Fucking unreal. The worst one of all was shortly after Michael Jackson bought the publishing rights to the Beatles catalog (he out bid Paul). The next thing you know you hear the song “Revolution” being used in a Nike sneaker advert!!!! That song has NOTHING to do with selling sneakers (quite the opposite)!
Filthy Lucre
>Shut yo face, bitch, or I’ll pop a cap in yo honky ass. Think you can croon wit some lead in yo butt. punk?>
I rest my case.
The Beatles aren’t available in any digital format today but they are going to be one day.
CDs, smartass?
Just goes to show these artist-ripping music industry types have no cue (harhar) about technology or music.
I replaced my vinyl Beatles collection with CDs years ago.
There is NO WAY I’m going to replace my 200 Watt stereoset with a crappy set of computer loudspeakers to play hopelessly crunched digital files to play my favorite music.
Computertechnology has come a long way, but it just can’t even kiss the feet of true music-dedicated technology yet.
ron:
I think that gangsta speak has a sweet, gently melody. How come you don’t?
Apple Corps and Apple Computer should jointly form Apple Music. They could combine to produce and publish new music for online distribution. This would overcome the silly division that prevents either party from reaching their full potential.
Apple Corps barrister: How much for our songs?
Steve: .99 cents each and that’s firm.
Apple Corps barrister: Number 99? Number 99? Number 99? Number 99? . . .
Maczealot:
Ah, sorry, I did misunderstand you completely. I totally see what you’re saying now.
Voyager:
You’re still pretty young, and you may still, in the future, come to appreciate the Beatles. Probably will, actually. You must be a musician, because most 16-year-olds don’t appreciate the music you’re currently listening too. (It’s really cool that you do, tho.) You may want to check out some of the more symphonic Beatles pieces like A Day in the Life or Elanore Rigby.
3rdKidney:
I own every Beatles song and album on vinyl (LPs, 45s, even EPs) and again on CD and again in print (The Beatles’ Illustrated Lyrics, both volumes, both editions, plus sheet music). I have bootlegs and videos (even Let It Be on friggin’ videodisk!). I own a 3rd gen 40-gig iPod which I’m very happy with — so you’d think I would be pretty well set. But I would buy the Beatles iPod Special Edition “box set” that you described in a heartbeat!
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.
(Oh yeah, I’d buy the John Lennon iPod, too!)
1. Just bring on iTunes New Zealand already! Some really good stuff there.
2. Make all iTunes “interoperable” around the world so we can buy from anywhere. i.e. iTunes global.
3. OK so labels scream licensing nightmare with regard to (2). But at least let us send gift certificates to other countries..sheeesh..