RSSTalks stalled over The Beatles on Apple's iTunes
By Jacqueline Emigh | Published November 25, 2008, 2:09 PM
Paul McCartney this week released a new album on to iTunes, and he wants the Beatles' entire music back catalog to be up there, too. But will Apple Inc., Apple Corps, and EMI ever be able to just "Let It Be?"
Paul McCartney still wants The Beatles' legendary rock tunes to be available on Apple's iTunes, but talks have reportedly gotten bogged down. After a trademark dispute of several decades between Apple Inc. and Apple Corps, negotiations are now going on between Apple and EMI, the Beatles' former record label.
"I really hope it will happen because I think it should," McCartney reportedly said, in an interview with the BBC.
Although music from individual Beatles members McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the late John Lennon and George Harrison is already sold on iTunes, The Beatles is now one of the few major acts to be absent from Apple Inc.'s music site, with the exceptions of AC/DC, Kid Rock, and country singer Garth Brooks.
In order to seal a deal with Apple Inc., however, EMI must secure an agreement with Apple Corps, the group set up to manage the Beatles' record catalog, to make the back catalog available in digital form on iTunes.
Back in March of this year, reports in the British media said McCartney had agreed to make the entire Beatles song catalog available on iTunes, under a $400 million deal involving royalty payments to McCartney, Starr, the families of Lennon and Harrison, and possibly to rights holders Michael Jackson, EMI, and Sony Corp. as well.
Last year, Apple Inc. and Apple Corps reached final settlement of a legal battle which started back in 1978, when Apple Corps filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Apple Computer. An initial settlement reached in 1981 made it difficult for Apple Computer to enter the music business later.
Times change, though. This year, Apple's iTunes claimed on several occasions to have become the most popular site on the Web for music downloads.
The Beatles' music still isn't up there. But under the collective banner of "The Fireman," McCartney this week launched a new, experimental album called Electric Arguments, which is now downloadable from Apple's site.
Now I'm gonna cry cause I can't get DRM protected Beatles songs.
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This legacy battle has to be one of the lamest ever.
Yeah, like I am going to confuse Apple Computer with Apple Records - which by the time Apple Computer came about was already lame and forgotten!
But for the rest of the population, it really doesn't matter at all, as they are thinking of fruit. Take that however you like...
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man who cares, if you love the beatles that much you probably have the CDs anyway. Rip them yourself and then put them on your ipod, your zune, your zen, your archos, your iriver whatever. (and can be better quality than apple's offering too)
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Even better, type in Beatles discography on IsoHunt.
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Apple, a proprietary format that you can only listen to on a single iPod or QuickTime ....... yes, let's buy all our songs from them.
I still can't believe people havent realized what they are doing. Luckily for Apple, people are basically mindless sheep who follow the rest of the morons.
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Or the majority are quite happy listening to the songs on their iPods.
Including the DRM free offerings iTunes was among he first to offer.
Yup, they are all so stupid. Sorta like the majority who think Windows is wonderful because it suits their needs.
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Spoken like a true Jonestownian. How's the Kool-Aid foxfire?
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kid rock isnt on itunes?! *throws kid rock under a train :-)
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AC\DC isn't on iTunes?! *throws ipod under a train*
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I was surprised at this.
I'd have thought it would be Metallica who were shy of this whole new Internet thing.
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michael jackson news are always entertaining :)
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