Even more than in past years, the build-up to
Apple's iPod event this Wednesday has been nothing if not a bevy of
The Beatles / iTunes rumors -- the company even broke with its traditional Tuesday event date to have it instead on "09-09-09," the same day
The Beatles Rock Band and a new box set are due to hit store shelves. Now it looks like we've heard it from none other than Yoko Ono herself, who in a now-pulled Sky News article confirmed that the Fab Four's headed for digital distribution. All that's left of the piece is a Google cache of the first sentence, so for the full skinny, it looks like we'll have to wait until tomorrow.
Update: EMI is telling
Financial Times that, while conversations are still going on, no announcements will be made tomorrow.
Read - Yoko Ono reveals Beatles on iTunes
Read - Google cache
posted Sep 8th 2009 5:17PM
Was just discussing on Facebook how The Beatles are never coming to iTunes, this is freaky, real freaky. D:
Not really, as many sources have been hinting at this for the last month. You were just wrong, real wrong
Me, personally, I've never really liked any artist to praise them, so I might sound weird when saying, "What's the big deal with Elvis, Micheal, the Beatles and numerous other artist which people seem to go crazy for and die to see. To me they are just people who sings songs, nothing significant, sure some song are amazing, but that's only cause you might relate too some. Shouldn't all songs be available for purchase regardless of what program uses, I mean releasing a RB game with only Beatles songs, come on.
@PDubNYC: No, engadget is wrong: http://gizmodo.com/5354915/extra-confirmed-emi-says-no-beatles-on-itunes-tomorrow
EMI owns the tracks, not yoko.
So Yoko just made all those "insiders close to the source" Apple Insider and TUAW quoted earlier look like a bunch of asshats.
Looks like the Ol' girl's still got it. And by "it" I of course mean the power to crush all those who defy or contradict her. She's like the Palpatine to Hilary Clinton's Darth Vader.
I just want Michael Jackson's heirs to get their cut from this. I never gave a damn about the Beatle's music but, I'm just glad the Jackson's will profit from it.
Pretty sure Apple was saving this news for tomorrow. One less surprise for the conference.
Can only imagine what Jobs is like right now:
"That bitch stole my thunder! MY One More Fuck Thing! I knew I shouldn't have moved the iPod event from the usual karmic Tuesday".
@ Dave:
Yeah, Yoko fucked it up. Who could have seen that coming?
We'll see what the almighty Yogurt has to say about Yoko ....
god damnit i hate this bitch
Yet, Yoko's "5 Hours of Screaming and Clanging Utensils" boxed set remains unavailable from iTunes.
If you really want that, you could find it since really no one bought.
Sad that the woman that destroyed the Beatles is the one that is going to profit from them now......
She probably thought the story would run tomorrow. Maybe it was supposed to.
It's already tomorrow in Japan.
But Yoko Ono doesn't live in Japan.
Not like Yoko to steal the limelight.... wait....
or maybe she heard that EMI was in talks for 'digital distribution' assumed that they meant itunes, knew there was an event by Apple tomorrow and just assumed that they were going to be the ones doing the distribution and with that perfectly chosen date (which was picked due to a combo of post 'back to school' and the labor day holiday) it was going to be announced at the event.
and EMI made Sky pull it cause it was wrong.
Maybe Apple didn't inform her they moved their usual Tuesday conference to Wednesday.
Either way, who cares if they comes to iTunes, just buy the CDs and rip them at a better quality than iTunes provides anyways and you're good to go. Not to mention you also have the real CDs
Something tells me Yoko doesn't keep up on when the latest Apple events are.
I've never heard a single Beatles song..where do I start?
Cant go wrong with Rubber Soul and Revolver.
Abbey Road, kthxbai
Sgt. Peppers.
You must have heard "Yellow Submarine" I thought all 8 year olds sang it... not the best by far though.
any of the ones said already are good, or the White Album (that's how I got into their music)
start with the 'one' album. has all their popular songs on it...or, honestly, if you want to have tons of fun...go see their "Love" Cirque du Soleil show in vegas. The album is great, and the show is wonderful.
I'm willing to bet you money that you've heard several beatles songs in your life, you probably just didn't know it was them
Judging by these comments, seon, you should start by just listening to ALL of The Beatles.
The date for the 09/09/09 iTunes/iPod event was just too convenient. I'm 99.99% sure that everyone saw this coming.
Maybe Apple bought the rights and will announce the Dreamcast 2. Now THAT would be a shocker.
I actually was hoping for that announcement, no joke.
Number Nine, Number Nine, Number Nine.....I buried......
Damn! now I'm gonna have to dig out my MMT album....see if I still have a working phonograph and play that thing backwards.....aw memories.
Thanks, Justin. I know it was Brian, I've just always called him "Bob" for some reason.
Who cares, if you are a beatles fan, chances are you already have the cds, whats so amazing about a band showing up on itunes this many years after coming out?
I'm guessing what's so amazing is the number of zeroes Apple's gonna be seeing by the end of the week.
Anything that makes older music more accessible is a good thing. Certainly better than the garbage being pumped out of today's music industry. Puh-puh-puh-poker face, anyone?
I'm a Beatles fan (not a huge one, but I think I appropriately respect their spot in musical history) and I don't have any full albums. Plus, NOBODY has the digitally remastered albums that are coming out tomorrow, and since they spent over 4 years remastering all the beatles albums, I think it would be pretty awesome to get them (although I wouldn't buy them on iTunes unless they were a lot cheaper than the box set).
Just because you cant read it, Fred, doesn;t mean you have to hate.
@ Fred
What do you mean by "more accessible"? You can walk into almost any record/music store in the world and pick up a Beatles CD. People are blowing this completely out of proportion.
SHE RUINS EVERYTHING!!!! SHE IS THE REASON THE BEATLES BROKE UP, SHE ALMOST RUINED THE BEATLES ROCK BAND, AND NOW, SHE RUINED WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN APPLE"S BIGGEST ANNOUNCEMENT! DAMNIT!
I'm going to go ahead and say that, no, she didn't. If you ever tried to look into interviews and etc., it's more because of John and George that they split. Everyone was in a different world, and Paul and Ringo wanted to keep trucking. Really, their voyage to India ruined their relationship. Sure, Yoko pushed to have a say in the band, but that's beacause John wanted her with him all the time. I can't blame Yoko, but I can blame John. He and George just weren't so interested in being a part of The Beatles anymore.
There's a big article in a recent Rolling Stone about "Why the Beatles broke up." I've only scanned it so far, but I think the article basically jibes with what Zero is saying.
The argument that Yoko alone "broke up the Beatles" is a little too simplistic to be believed.
@LiqwidZero I'm going to go ahead and say that, no, she didn't. If you ever tried to look into interviews and etc., it's more because of John and George that they split. Everyone was in a different world, and Paul and Ringo wanted to keep trucking. Really, their voyage to India ruined their relationship. Sure, Yoko pushed to have a say in the band, but that's beacause John wanted her with him all the time. I can't blame Yoko, but I can blame John. He and George just weren't so interested in being a part of The Beatles anymore. [citation needed]
@ Waffle:
Read this article by Rolling Stone Magazine.
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/29723450/why_the_beatles_broke_upbr_the_story_behind_our_cover/1
I may have oversimplified it, but there are many reasons why The Beatles broke up, and it really had nothing to do with Yoko at all! Another huge reason was Bob Epstein's death, which made Apple Corps fall into a bit of a financial crisis. But, read the articles, and you will learn.
I also notice that you put a [citation needed] piece on that quote. So, why don't you look at the Wikipedia entry?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles'_breakup
I'm not trying to defend Yoko, (trust me I don't like her at all) but she is not the one to blame.
*Brian Epstein
I will trust that you don't like her; nobody likes her much.
I read the news today, oh boy.
An Apple fanboy just began a war
The Rolling Stone article on the break up was amazing and a great way to look into what happened. As mentioned before, Yoko Ono was not the reason The Beatles broke up, but instead a catalyst.
On the other hand, she brought out the worst in John Lennon when it came to how he acted and the decisions he made (especially with a growing drug problem, one that Yoko did anything but help with).
I do not blame Yoko Ono for The Beatles breaking up, however I think she is a very selfish, self absorbed person. This can be seen in the Rolling Stone article, along with multiple other accounts.
On a completely separate note: Does anyone else help that iTunes will sell this in a Lossless format, allowing people to actually hear the differences between the remastered version and the original CD mastering?
Who gives a crap. What I want to know is where is AC/DC?
What sucks and has 4 letters?
ACDC.
Last I heard, hanging out with Verizon completely misunderstanding the nature of digital music distribution (in that you want to go with the most exposure not the least).
Doesn't AC/DC more or less have to do with your sexual preferences rather than a rock band?
On Amazon for around 10 bucks an album.
Seriously, what's so hard about this?
Never hate on AC/DC.
There are certain artist unwilling to go to iTunes.
AC/DC are one of them. Not only is giving up control to your content to these guys worse than any record company deal regarding accountability of your royalties (and that's saying something)...but...maybe a simple quote will answer your question:
-----------------------------------------
""We don't make singles, we make albums," says guitarist Angus Young. "Way back in the Seventies, we drew these figures on the back of an envelope for our record company.
"We showed them how much they earned from us if we sold one million singles and how much they earned if we sold one million albums. The difference was staggering.
--------------------
iTunes is not about performer's rights or royalties. It's an extension of the Old System (record company), except with even less control and more scope for not getting paid your dues by the same machine working against the artists.
"That was to get them off our back because we only very grudgingly release singles. Our real reason is that we honestly believe the songs on any of our albums belong together."
what sucks and has 4 letters??
Yoko
Is there anything that chick can't screw up?
It depends on your taste in music. They're later stuff is so very good, but so is their earlier stuff. In fact, I have not listened to a single Beatles song I didn't like! But, as a starting point, I'd recommend Revolver or Let It Be or Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band or the White Album. Four amazing albums, that.... won't let you down.
That was supposed to be replied @ seon... stupid comment system.
Huh... now I'm confused. Yoko Ono is saying it is, but EMI is saying it isn't...
Huh... Why do you always say "Huh?"
Why not? Huh?
I think one reason other than the possible Beatles release one regarding moving the event from traditionally on Tuesday to 09-09-09 is to coincide with the release of iTunes 9.
OMG this is going to destroy the pirates bay!
Absolute Beatles' fan quiz.
I hear the Beatles are making a comeback and all four will be onstage at the Apple event. True or false?
True, and zombie John Lennon will attack and eat Steve Jobs. Then the Beatles will take over Apple, since they were always bothered by another company by that name.
Mark, you forgot about Zombie George Harrison... and Zombie Ringo's-career
@Mikey M.: No, they'll just be yelling at Paul McCartney for being in Wings.
I think the reason why Apple chose to hold there event tomorrow is because they didn't want it to be the day after a major USA holiday. Anything else and you're just reading to much into it.
While my 1st-Gen iPod gently weeps...
EMI say no.
And Yoko Ono is an arsehole.
Thank you.
god. this band is over rated. Dont get me wrong, great music, but i dont think they needed their own game and i dont this is such a big deal either.
Long after whatever crap band you're currently into is gone, the Beatles will still be around.
Let me guess....you're twelve and you've never ever heard a Beatles song? I'll give you the hype machine is on overload but The Beatles were genuinely great. They had already broken up by the time I was born but I had all of my mothers albums and I must have listened to Hard Days Night straight through 10 times the first time I heard it. Still have that album safely tucked away.
i am 23 going on 24, not that it truly mattered because truly good music is liked by all ages. They are good, I just don't think they are legendary. I CAN see why people would think so though.
If the beatles aren't legendary....who is?
I sure am glad that all the songs have been digitally remastered and tuned to their highest fidelity, and then made available as MP3s.
Me to. I can hardly wait.
"digitally re-mastered and turned into MP3" - yeah that's real fidelity.....
*Slaps big fat sarcasm sticker on inital post so all you noobs finally get the joke*
This was the most obvious news. The only thing she didn't say was if the special box sets content will be available on itunes now that cocktail is almost done.
Woman ran out of her husband's money to spend, so now she's gonna milk the music for all it's worth.
Too bad Yoko is still alive.
And once again, engadget fails! That's why you should check Gizmodo first: http://gizmodo.com/5354915/extra-confirmed-emi-says-no-beatles-on-itunes-tomorrow
I'd trust EMI over Yoko, since they actually own the tracks.
EMI... hmph! I think the Sex Pistols had the definitive word on EMI...
Doesn't the Zune Marketplace have almost all of the beatles songs as an MP3 download already?
No. Because of the feud with Apple Inc. and Apple Corps. all online music vendors have to suffer. The Zune marketplace, just like the iTunes store, only has karaoke, interviews, and very early recordings from the Beatles.
Yoko Ono unveiling the Beatles catalog on iTunes is like Barack Obama unveiling a Guantanamo Bay memorial museum.
Apple didn't break with its traditional Tuesday date to have it on 09-09-09. When Monday is a holiday, Apple pushes back their announcements to Wednesday. It's happened several times before.
I don't know why everyone thinks there is some big link to the Beatles because they're having the event on Sept. 9. Truth be told, they would have done it today, except that it was a holiday weekend and you don't have a press event the day after a weekend. That's why they normally do them on tuesdays. Monday's press covers a lot of what happened over the weekend, and so Tuesday is the best day to get out your announcement and hopefully maintain some momentum throughout the week. Since the 8th was Labor day, they had to postpone it a day. Now, they could have waited until next week to do it, but they want to get out their announcement before the Zune HD goes on sale to prevent some people from buying those. With the new rumors that the iPod Touches aren't even ready yet, something tells me that the Zune HD influenced Apple's decision to move up their event.
And as far as the Beatles on iTunes goes, is there anyone out there who wants a Beatles album but doesn't own it already? It's not like you have a legion of Beatles fans who are just itching to buy the White album one more time.
"I don't know why everyone thinks there is some big link to the Beatles because they're having the event on Sept. 9."
Because The Beatles Rock Band is also being released on Sept. 9.
And the remasters are coming out on 09-09-09.
And they had a song called Revolution #9, in which the phrase "Number Nine" is repeated many times.
Yoko rocks. She's the Milfiest of all Milfs and a true artist to boot. Please just don't let her sing. It's an acquired taste.
Yoko: Not a MILF.
I'd rather burn my worldly possessions than give that harpy even a fraction of a penny.
I'm so glad. I was never able to find this obscure band in my local CD store at the highest consumer-level sound quality available.
iTunes is my saviour. My iPod? My bible.
At last a missing part of my cultural heritage can be restored in a convenient lower-quality file format on iTunes. I don't know how those mavens do it. At last I can selectively buy tunes instead of buying the whole CD (nobody makes good albums, they are mostly filler!!!). Plus god knows how they make these convenient files. I know I couldn't figure it out.
My dreams, finallly... having Beatles on iTunes.
Yessssss.
Hi, welcome to 2009, where the iTunes Store is the #1 music retailer in the USA. Nobody gives a shit if you can buy the CDs because that's not how people prefer to buy music these days. Ignoring these facts means you're being willfully ignorant about the state of music sales in the US, and you're doubly stupid if you think Apple Corps wouldn't want to sell The Beatles' catalog on iTunes, or that nobody will buy it.
Your allusions to religious fanaticism are misplaced simply because you don't appear to understand what the term "#1 music retailer in the United States" means. Remember, you don't have to like it, but you do have to accept it.
Sorry Zak, wrong again. Most music is still purchased on CD. In fact, CD's make up about 65% of the US market and even more in Europe.
I think you missed the point, Zak:
a) The Beatles' entire repertoire has been available for a very long time for consumer purchase. It is not like this is the first time you can get your hands on The Beatles music.
b) Not only that, but the pre-existing format of The Beatles' music is in higher quality than what may or may not be sold on iTunes.
c) The Beatles albums are good in their entirety, and a pay-per-song environment will not adequately immerse and enlighten consumers
d) The Beatles are extremely well known, and anyone who is really interested in their music would not be hampered by lack of digital distribution-- in other words, most people who are the most 'excited' about this development probably already own all the music and will not purchase a thing.
Thus, tekdroid draws the point through satire that The Beatles being available on iTunes won't really change much at all. He also maintains that The Beatles albums purchased in physical copy are of superior sound quality to digital distribution, which they undeniably are. He makes no mention of market share, nor attempts to dispute that iTunes is more successful as a business.
Your points of rebuttal are:
a) Digital copies of the music are of higher quality (provably untrue)
b) People who already like the Beatles will download their songs again just because they are on iTunes (logically untrue)
c) This is The Beatles' big break (logically untrue)
d) The Beatles' albums are full of filler and would benefit from pay-per-song purchase (subjective and insubstantial)
e) Cite irrelevant points in order to appear to make an argument (illogical and insubstantial)
You have chosen option E. Have a nice day.