Here's the apparent source of the iTunes comments we linked to yesterday from This Is Nottingham. Nothing new about iTunes, but the interview did cover other topics. (Thanks to HwyCDRRev.)
Update (12/31/08)
Paul McCartney echoed again that the iTunes deal is hungup, but he also would like to see it ended and the Beatles' songs get to the digital service, reports the Liverpool Echo. “I hope it happens. It is out of our hands, really. It is a business thing and there is some gridlock somewhere. It is the usual thing – when it is a Beatles deal, it is a big deal. It is not like we are just some new act. When you are talking about iTunes, obviously we have got to get a great deal. I think we are right, because we are The Beatles! It is being held up, but I definitely hope it comes through because it is about time it happened. We have been goofing around enough, so if you are reading this, whoever is holding it up, stop it!”
The irony is that the parties involved have dragged their heels for so long that much of the deal’s original value may have evaporated. Most everyone who cares about the Beatles has already filled their iPods with songs ripped from the CDs. Meanwhile, as Peter Kafka reports on All Things Digital, the boom in digital music sales seems to be slowing, which could make even the digital Beatles harder to sell.
If Sir Paul is really waiting for a better offer, he — and the Beatles fans — could be waiting for a very long time.
Update (12/9/08)
If the Beatles end their long holdout for iTunes and digital sources, it could help EMI's economic situation drastically. As the Hartford Courant says, EMI needs strong holiday sales to avoid defaulting on loans. The article ends with "You've got to figure, though: If the Beatles would finally make their songs available through digital retailers, that would go a long way toward helping to solve EMI's money problems."
Another writer says EMI could desperately use the revenue stream the Beatles catalog on iTunes would provide, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Update (11/26/08)
This Fortune blog examines the possible reasons for the delay -- and doesn't like what it sees.
This PC World article reporting on the iTunes delay has an interesting footnote: Led Zeppelin is putting a lot of rare bootleg clips on its own YouTube channel.
Update (11/25/08)
At a news conference today in the UK to publicize his new Fireman album, Paul McCartney said the iTunes deal is stalled and a pact to bring the Beatles music to iTunes is not imminent, reports Billboard.biz, the Associated Press and NME.com. "That is constantly being talked of, we'd like to do it. What happens is when something's as big as The Beatles, it's heavy negotiations. We are very for it, we've been pushing it. But there are a couple of sticking points, I understand," he said. "So the last word I got back was that it had stalled, the whole process. They [EMI] want something we're not prepared to give them," Billboard.biz quoted McCartney. "Hey, sounds like the music business. It's between EMI and The Beatles. What else is new." AP also quoted McCartney as saying, "The last word I got back was it’s stalled at the whole moment, the whole process… I really hope it will happen because I think it should.” An EMI spokeswoman told the Associated Press, "We have been working hard to secure agreement with Apple Corps. to make the Beatles' legendary recording catalog available to fans in digital form. Unfortunately the various parties involved have been unable to reach agreement but we really hope everyone can make progress soon." Talking about why he left Hear Music recently for ATO Records, in a statement that could also refer to the Beatles-iTunes impasse, McCartney said, "I think the majors at the moment -- I'm not dissing them -- but I don't think they really know what's going on. With the download culture, they are floundering a little bit." The press conference was held at the Fire Station pub in London's Waterloo to promote the release of his new Fireman album "Electric Arguments."
Update (3/13/08)
Bob Ward of Fox25 in Boston comments on the iTunes mess at this link. Observant readers may notice an endorsement for a website we think you know and love.
Update (3/12/08)
Roger Friedman at Fox News added a little more information to the mix in his Tuesday column. His item begins with acknowledging the iTunes rumor started with a British tabloid, then says, "lemmings around the world subscribed to this lunacy without doing any fact-checking." (Well, not everyone, Roger.) But here's the interesting part:
My sources inside the camp say there have been negotiations with Apple but nothing has come of it. There is no deal, and no deal is on the horizon. If a deal happened, it would be announced by EMI. And the Apple four would have to approve it. Also, a deal with Apple would involve lots of merchandising extras, like a special Beatles iPod, or four.
And there's also this tantalyzing tidbit at the end of Friedman's item:
There is a theory, by the way, that Heather leaked the story to the Daily Mail so the judge in her case would see that Paul has even more income due him.
Does anyone think Heather is really that dumb to leak a story so full of holes? We'll leave that to you.
Update (3/11/08)
Surprise, surprise. Early Monday, Apple issued a denial about the recent stories saying the Beatles had made an iTunes deal and that the Beatles catalog would soon be debuting on the service, reports Billboard.biz and Billboard.com. Both Apple Corps and Apple Computer both initially issued "no comments" on the story, but perhaps because of the continued and widespread distribution of the story, Apple issued the following: . "This is not news nor is it a scoop," says an Apple Inc. spokesman, declining further comment. Of course, that won't stop websites and blogs from continuing the speculation.
Monday evening, Sony/ATV Music Publishing. the company that owns the rights to the Beatles catalog, reinforced what Apple said. A company spokeswoman told CNET News.com that the reports are "untrue." Had a deal been made, the company would "absolutely be informed," they said.
As we told you two days ago when this story first hit the wires, the original wire story said nothing and it was completely unsourced. It was an easy one to dismiss. Unfortunately, too many people took it for granted that it was true. (Thanks to Beatlefan's Bill King for the Billboard link.)
Update (3/9/2008)
Saturday stories updating this seem to have taken a different angle, now claiming that a deal may have been struck. Of course, this has been reported several times now. Apple and Apple both issued no comments Saturday on this latest deal story, reported the Independent. The important question, though, as it has always been, is not if a deal has been struck but when will the music come online.
Our comment on this situation at the Abbeyrd Beatles Page Breaking News Blog.
But two more reasons to ignore the earlier iTunes story. First, from Bill King of Beatlefan:
Steve,
If you post a link to the Guardian story that attempts to debunk the report
about The
Beatles' catalog coming out this year online, you might want to note that
the
Guardian story has a major inaccuracy in it. It says that The Beatles'
music
publishing is jointly owned by Sony, EMI and Apple. In reality, it is
jointly owned by
Sony and Michael Jackson. EMI and Apple do not own any of The Beatles'
publishing.
And from Barry Veverka-Brownlie:
Regarding how Paul may pay for his divorce, the least likely scenario is that it would be based on future earnings.
I'll assume most everyone realizes that someone with his monetary resources would most likely move funds around in his portfolio to accomodate these outgoing pounds.
Having said that, I have no idea what Paul McCartney will personally do in this situation.
Thank you.
(03/8/2008) With all the speculation over the last year or so about when the Beatles will come on iTunes, this one has us chuckling. The Daily Mail is reporting Paul will have the Beatles on iTunes in a few months to help pay for his divorce. While that may be true, this is something that's been planned for a while, divorce or not. We saw only one source who questioned this dumb story: the Hitsville blog. The rest of the newspapers fell in like sheep. All the Beatles have their reasons to get this worked out right. The new stories out Friday really add nothing except what we all know -- the Beatles will be on iTunes. The only question is when.
