After years of speculation about when The Beatles music catalog would finally be offered on iTunes, that day may soon arrive.
London's Telegraph reported on Saturday that former Beatle Paul McCartney has agreed to release the band's music catalog to Apple for as much as $600 million.
Is this finally the end of the on-again, off-again courtship between Apple and Apple Corps. The latter is the media corporation that oversees The Beatles' music and other copyright materials.
Rumors that The Beatles' music would be available for download on iTunes have circulated for years, but this time they carry some weight. Besides the Telegraph the British publication the Daily Mail also reported a similar story.
No release date has been set, according to the papers.
If the Fab Four really are heading to legal downloads, look for them to do well. While long-time fans of the group, which broke up 38 years ago, have likely already bought the band's albums, or CDs or downloaded the songs off a peer-to-peer site, iTunes could help introduce The Beatles to a whole new generation of listeners.
How the money would be split among the surviving band members, Ringo Starr, McCartney and the estates of the late George Harrison and John Lennon, hasn't been disclosed, according to the British papers.
Maybe Steve's amazed at the way it took so long to get Paul McCartney online.
Macca's on iTunes. Are the Beatles next?
(Credit: Paulmccartney.com)The Beatles legend has a new solo album coming out next month titled "Memory Almost Full," and if you want a digital copy the only place you'll find it is at the iTunes Store, Apple announced Tuesday. With McCartney on board, and an agreement reached over litigation with Apple Records in February, the stage seems set for the long-awaited release of the Beatles' music on iTunes.
CEO Steve Jobs is clearly a Beatles fan (of course, so is just about anybody under the age of 65 that likes rock music). "We love the Beatles, and it has been painful being at odds with them over these trademarks," Jobs said in a statement when Apple announced the resolution of its litigation with Apple Corps, of which Apple Records is a division.
With the new album, McCartney will have released 25 albums after the breakup of the Beatles, and the rest will become available on iTunes later this month. Those who order the album through iTunes in North America will get a free download of a video starring Natalie Portman for one of the songs, "Dance Tonight." Outside North America, you just get an acoustic version of that song. One single, "Ever Present Past," will be immediately available to everyone who preorders the album.
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