Image: Apple Corp.
The rumor that never ends: Talk between Beatles – Apple ‘stalled’
Posted on Nov 26, 2008 / 2:16 AM CT
The Beatles coming to the iTunes music store is a rumor that surfaces every time an Apple event comes around the corner. Everyone knows the Beatles will come to the iTunes music, it’s just a matter of when. So even though the Beatles will have their own version of Rock Band and are currently digitally enhancing all the music catalog that they own, we won’t be seeing the Beatles on iTunes when MacWorld comes in January.
When we last checked on the progress between the Two Apples (as in the Apple that owns iTunes and Apple Corps, the company that handles the business end of the Beatles’ music), things were looking good. Sir Paul McCartney had inked a $400 million deal to distribute the Beatles’ music on iTunes through its label, EMI. Then a Beatles Rock Band-esque video game was announced that suggested the band had already digitized its music.
Now, McCartney is saying that the process to put Beatles music on iTunes has “stalled.”
“The last word I got back was it’s stalled at the whole moment, the whole process,” the former Beatle said. “I really hope it will happen because I think it should.”
It wouldn’t surprise me if the sticking points are: Apple wants all the Beatles catalog to be DRM-free and be exclusive only to the iTunes store.
