“Yoko Ono, the widow of Beatle John Lennon, told Sky News that the entire Beatles back catalog will be available for sale on iTunes,” Anthony Ha reports for VentureBeat.
MacDailyNews Take: Sheesh. Leave it to Yoko.
Ha continues, “The story has been pulled down, presumably because it was published prematurely, but a site called Pocket-lint spotted the headline. If this is true, it’s thrilling news for Apple, the remaining Beatles, and, oh yeah, the one Beatles fan who hasn’t figured out how to copy their CD collection to their computer,” Ha reports.
Full article here.
However, according to a report published Tuesday by The Financial Times’ Joseph Menn, “[Apple’s] San Francisco event will come the same day as the release of the remastered Beatles catalog, although that material itself won’t be available via Apple’s online store iTunes. ‘Conversations between Apple and EMI are ongoing and we look forward to the day when we can make the music available digitally. But it’s not tomorrow,’ Ernesto Schmitt, EMI’s global catalog president, told the FT’s Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Regardless of when it happens, The Beatles arrival in Apple’s iTunes Store will be the final imprimatur in the minds of many people beyond a certain age. Yes, Apple’s iTunes Store has for some time now been the #1 U.S. music retailer, but you still couldn’t buy The Beatles there. When you can, Apple’s iTunes Store will become “real” to many millions who’ve never purchased a single track online. The Beatles’ stamp of approval will make iTunes Store and the concept of digital downloads something that’s finally worth looking into for many who haven’t done so yet. That’s the real significance of the arrival of The Beatles in Apple’s iTunes Store, not that those of us yet to reach a certain age have long ago ripped our Beatles CDs to iTunes.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Ruined it again
I was just thinking the same thing sMac!
I guess Yoko didn’t get that confidentiality agreement thingy-whatsit..
Beatles CD’s????
Try LP’s
magic word “born” as I was born a LONG time ago…
Still holding my prediction of beatles on iTunes exclusively until next year. And beatles branded iPod. And Paul and ringo tomorrow with steve.
I agree MDN, leave it to Yoko.
Right or wrong in this instance, she will forever be the great spoiler.
09.09.09 Beatles are on Amazon.
It’s 09/09/09 here in Oz and there is no news – yet – about the Beatles and iTunes or Amazon or Yoko…
Just a note from the future…
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Cheers, Mates.
not interested,
rather have AC/DC any day over the beatles, that is the biggest hold out.
This had less to do with Yoko and more to do with production workflow at Sky News.
There are a bunch of stories that have been written and interviews conducted about the announcements at tomorrow’s event. These stories are being held by agreement with Apple to not run until after the event has happened.
But, there is always some news organization, magazine, or vendor website that let’s something slip in the wee hours of the event, usually during a test run of a related web-site.
The good news is that Apple has apparently orchestrated wide coverage of this event, which means that there will most likely be some epic announcement, such as a Beatles appearance on iTunes. Look for Jobs doing post-event interviews on CNBC and other outlets. Probably another Fortune and/or BusinessWeek cover in the works too.
And the hits just keep coming, yeah yeah yeah…..
I guess I should say – digital – all the CDs are for sale in “The Beatles Store” on Amazon but I can’t find any digital releases.
So the future is a bit brighter….
Bream Rockmetteller,
“09.09.09 Beatles are on Amazon.”
Yeah, on physical discs shipped to you by UPS, dumbass, not the downloadable MP3’s.
It’s not about the “older fans” ripping their cd’s to their iTunes library. It’s the fact that The Beatles still sell millions of albums per year. They are still one of the biggest draws in the music business around the world. Heck, the portion of the Beatles catalog that Michael Jackson owned is the only thing that was making him money for the recent years before his death.
Believe it or not, even 40 years after their breakup, The Beatles catalog is still extremely lucrative.
What’s yellow and lives off dead beatles ?
Yoko Ono.
So tired of EMI BS. I’ve moved on and now waiting for “The Ruttles” box special superduper set.
EMI is hyping a glitzy release of $19-$25 remastered, party wrapped cd albums and I imagine they do not want to undercut it with inexpensive iTunes downloads.
They should have done this two decades ago. I’m guessing cd sales won’t meet their hopes in an age that prefers cherry-picking songs for 99¢-1.29 each (that’s what I will wait for). And cd paper insert material? It’s litter. Make a separate book instead.
The anti-Yoko comments are juvenile and tasteless. Paul just said EMI was the holdup for now.. therefore it’s just a matter of time. Too much hatred- everywhere you go…
I’m no fan of Palm or Microsoft, but over here at MDN, you’re supposed to hate them. Apparently, you’re supposed to hate the President and Yoko Ono, too. And each other.
It’s embarrassing, people. Grow up.
This is sad. My favorite band has always been hurt by incompetent management. Neil Aspenall in particular blew it. Because of him and self-important lawyers in their midst, the Beatles blew a huge opportunity and left millions on the table. While a lot of Millenials have discovered the Beatles, time has also passed this opportunity by. Unless we have a huge surprise tomorrow, and I sadly doubt it, it will be a bitter defeat for Steve Jobs, one of the Beatles’ biggest fans, despite two major lawsuits.
What could have been…
@auramac
I hate you.
Careful, your anus is leaking.
But where’s AC/DC?
“Hatred” is your choice of a word, auramac, not mine. I described Yoko as a “spoiler”, and in view of her history with the Beatles, I regard that critical description as justified.
However, I agree with you; some of the posts above are regrettable.
Yoko can never keep her trap shut if something is happening so I expect an announcement
Hey, I dig Yoko. She’s a great artist. Really.
But meanwhile, wait ’till you hear the remasters. You’ll send all those old rips straight to the trash.
Big deal! (NOT)
only 10 years too late.
I will be buying Zero beatles songs.