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Apple Working to Land Beatles on iTunes

Wednesday, May 10th, 2006 at 12:15 PM - by

Apple Corps is digitally remastering the entire Beatles music library, and Apple Computer wants it for the iTunes Music Store (iTMS). Bloomberg reports that Apple Computer is working to strike a distribution deal with Apple Corps.

Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes commented "We certainly will do everything we can to get them on iTunes. 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."

Apple's announcement comes only days after a London court ruled in its favor over a contract dispute between the two companies over the use of the Apple logo. Apple Corps plans on appealing the ruling.

Despite the potential animosity between the two Apples over fair use of their logos, analysts agree that it makes good business sense for the Beatles music to be distributed through the iTMS. The iTMS is the dominant legal music download service with about 70 percent of the worldwide market, and can offer a distribution channel unrivaled by any other Internet-based music service.

The court ruling impact on an iTMS deal is expected to be minimal. Phil Leigh, an analyst with market research firm Inside Digital Media, stated "They're not going to refuse to market through iTunes since it's the most popular site and it's linked to the iPod."

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jcbeckman said:

member since 06 May 2004 with 55 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed May 10, 2006 1:23 pm

Not available in digital today? Where did all my Beatles CDs come from?

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed May 10, 2006 1:28 pm

That's funny...doesn't Sony & Michael Jackson own all of the 'good' Beatles tunes?

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed May 10, 2006 1:54 pm

I'd really like an all white ipod. Maybe they could do something like they did with U2.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed May 10, 2006 2:02 pm

Guest wrote:
That's funny...doesn't Sony & Michael Jackson own all of the 'good' Beatles tunes?

They own the rights to the songs not the Beatles' recorded performances of those songs, which are wholly owned by Apple Corps.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed May 10, 2006 3:41 pm

Guest wrote:
Guest wrote:
That's funny...doesn't Sony & Michael Jackson own all of the 'good' Beatles tunes?

They own the rights to the songs not the Beatles' recorded performances of those songs, which are wholly owned by Apple Corps.

Does that mean Apple Corp can continue to sell Beatle albums and individual songs, but if someone wants to use a Beatle tune in an advert or something they need to buy permission from Michael Jackson?

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed May 10, 2006 3:47 pm

not digitally?

i have downloaded about 260 beatles songs for free on limewire. makes ya think why people actually pay for music these days..

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Biff said:

member since 08 Apr 2004 with 1479 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed May 10, 2006 4:59 pm

Guest wrote:
i have downloaded about 260 beatles songs for free on limewire. makes ya think why people actually pay for music these days..
LOL. What is this, 1999? Stealing music isn't chic anymore, man! Besides its too much work. I'd rather buy the CD and rip it than sit there and try to find an entire album in 192kbs MP3. Time is money!

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LaurieF said:

member since 15 Jun 2001 with 3547 posts, TMO Forum Mod, send him a message or view his profile

Wed May 10, 2006 6:21 pm

Anonymous wrote:
not digitally?

i have downloaded about 260 beatles songs for free on limewire. makes ya think why people actually pay for music these days..

It's slimy, nasty, semi-literate little thieves like you (along with the thieves in RIAA/RIANZ/RIA[insert country code of choice]) that mean that the rest of us who do pay for music are having to pay so much.

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Dreadnought said:

member since 01 Jan 2005 with 162 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu May 11, 2006 9:15 am

Guest wrote:
Guest wrote:
Guest wrote:
That's funny...doesn't Sony & Michael Jackson own all of the 'good' Beatles tunes?

They own the rights to the songs not the Beatles' recorded performances of those songs, which are wholly owned by Apple Corps.

Does that mean Apple Corp can continue to sell Beatle albums and individual songs, but if someone wants to use a Beatle tune in an advert or something they need to buy permission from Michael Jackson?

That's partially correct. The following is courtesy of Wikipedia:

Quote:
In 1963 The Beatles gave their song publishing rights to Northern Songs, a company created by Brian Epstein and music publisher Dick James. Northern Songs went public in 1965 with Lennon and McCartney each holding 15% of the company's shares while Dick James and the company's chairman, Charles Silver, held a controlling 37.5%. In 1969, following a failed attempt by Lennon and McCartney to buy back the company, James and Silver sold Northern Songs to British TV company Associated TeleVision (ATV), in which Lennon and McCartney received stock.

In 1985 ATV's music catalogue was sold to Michael Jackson for a reported $47 million (beating McCartney's bid), including the publishing rights to over 200 Beatles songs. A decade later Jackson and Sony merged their music publishing businesses. Since 1995 Jackson and Sony/ATV Music Publishing have jointly owned most of The Beatles' songs. Sony later reported that Jackson had used his share of their co-owned Beatles' catalogue as collateral for a loan from the music company. Meanwhile Lennon's estate and McCartney still receive their standard songwriter shares of the royalties.

Although the Jackson-Sony catalogue includes most of The Beatles' greatest hits, a few of the early songs weren't included in the original ATV deal and McCartney later succeeded in personally acquiring the publishing rights to Love Me Do, Please Please Me, P.S. I Love You and Ask Me Why.

Harrison and Starr didn't renew their songwriting contracts with Northern Songs in 1968, signing with Apple Publishing instead. Harrison later created Harrisongs, his own company which still owns the rights to his classics such as While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Something. Ringo Starr also created his own company, called Startling Music. It holds the rights to his two Beatle-Songs Don't Pass Me By and Octopus's Garden.

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu May 11, 2006 2:01 pm

Or in other words, like he said:

"Sony & Michael Jackson own all of the 'good' Beatles tunes"

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