BEATLE CATALOGUE
McCartney reportedly inks deal with Apple
By Jeff Smykil | Published: March 09, 2008 – 07:43PM CT
Multiple UK news outlets are reporting today that Sir Paul McCartney has reached a deal with Apple to offer the Beatles catalog on the iTunes Store. The deal, reportedly worth $400 million, comes after months and months of speculation and relentless torrents of rumors. As best as we can tell, this is the real deal, and will lead to the most popular band of all time finally finding its way onto an online marketplace.
While McCartney will be keeping much of the money, several other parties stand to benefit from the deal. It is being reported that portions of the sum will be going to families of the deceased members of the Beatles, Ringo Starr, Sony, EMI, and the former owner of the catalog, Michael Jackson.
As of today there is no time frame as to when the catalog will appear online, but it seems to just be a matter of time. McCartney himself even said in November that the catalog would be making its way onto the the store some time in 2008 While we have heard this sort of thing time and time again, this might just be the real deal. Prepare yourself—Beatlemania is coming to iTunes.
I wasn’t aware Michael Jackson didn’t own the tunes. Wonder what ramifications this has for the consumer?
March 10th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
So, now we’ll have all our “Apples” in the same basket…..