John, Paul, George and Ringo coming to iTunes
Necessity is the mother of invention. In the present case, the need for money drove EMI to finally strike for digital distribution and, if the rumors be true, Apple will at the very least have first go. The open question heading into Tuesday’s announcement is whether we’ll also hear about the mothership’s ongoing investments in North Carolina.
Une petit oiseau has whispered to the Wall Street Journal and they’re in a sharing mood, as well. After years of negotiations and (rumored) fall starts, some or all of the Beatle’s catalog will be coming to iTunes, the world’s largest music retailer.
The impetus behind the deal apparently is EMI and parent firm Terra Firma Capital Partners’ financial difficulties. The companies face a huge multibillion dollar debt overhang taken on in 2007, just before the Bush financial collapse.
Thereupon, with the Beatles still a top producer in terms of CD sales — 3.3 million disks in 2009 — music label EMI was apparently in the proper frame of mind to make a deal. Of course, all of this is pure rumor until Steve Jobs tells us otherwise.
The individual Beatles’ solo works are available, whole or in part, on the iTunes Store. The addition of the group’s catalog has long been a goal of Steve Jobs and would be major feather in both his personal and corporate caps.
Earlier, I speculated that Apple’s “Just another day” announcement would center on the company’s $1-billion North Carolina data center, which is purportedly ready to come online. We may yet hear more about that.
There’s also the potential, though may have downplayed the possibility, of streaming services coming to iTunes. MacRumors has details of streaming-specific code found in iTunes 10.1, which was released last Friday…
What’s your take?
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