November 27, 2006
Beatles to make their digital debut on iTunes?
The Mac-o-sphere is abuzz over a story on Fortune online that says Apple is close to striking an exclusive deal to distribute the Beatles’ music catalogue over iTunes.
Fortune is right in suggesting that an iTunes-Beatles deal would mark a "Nixon Brezhnev-worthy truce" between Steve Jobs and Neil Aspinall, the former Beatles manager who looks after Apple Corps, the Beatles’ holding company. In May, Mr Jobs cheekily invited the Beatles to make their digital debut on iTunes after Apple emerged victorious from a copyright dispute with Apple Corps over the use of the Apple name.
During that trial, Apple Corps said it planned to start selling music online after years of shunning the medium, but it didn’t mention iTunes - or any other platform, for that matter. Two weeks ago, the head of EMI’s North American group told a conference in San Francisco that the Beatles’ catalogue would be available for download "soon."
Our own source close to EMI, the Beatles’ record label, says there is nothing new in the Fortune story. Apple, as usual, says "we don’t comment on rumours and speculation."
Meanwhile, the market for ‘new’ Beatles releases looks vibrant as ever. "Love" a mash-up of remixed Beatles songs, has reached number five on Amazon.com’s top sellers’ list just a week after its debut. Personally, I’m not going to get excited until EMI to relents and distributes The Grey Album.
