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Wall Street Journal confirms Beatles on iTunes
Ethan Smith of the Wall Street Journal writes that iTunes will soon be carrying the Beatles catalog, according to "people familiar with the situation." According to Smith, this deal was finalized recently -- as late as last week -- between Apple and EMI group. If so, this plays into the Beatles-style hints of today's teaser announcement on the Apple home page and supports the notion that iTunes will begin selling the Beatles music as early as tomorrow. %Poll-55792% Thanks, badtzmaru
Ultimate Ears announces $999 In-Ear Reference Monitors and $19.99 Blue Robots, because it can
Ultimate Ears is pushing out a tag team of in-ear earphones that clearly demonstrates the heights (and depths) the Logitech-owned company is willing to scale. Starting at the extreme high end are the Ultimate Ears In-Ear Reference Monitors. The $999 price tag should help clarify the target audience here (hint: professional producers and recording / mixing engineers on the go). Each handcrafted monitor, developed in partnership with EMI Music's Capitol Studios, contains three individually tuned, balanced armature speakers with an extended wide band response from 5Hz to 18kHz. They provide up to 32dB of noise isolation with a low-distortion braided cable replacing the typical Y-joint connector. Dialing things down just a bit (uh hem) for consumers are the $19.99 Ultimate Ears 100 (pictured after the break). These "trendy" noise-isolating earphones offer 24dBs of noise isolation and ship in five styles, including our personal fave "Blue Robots." Look for each to ship to Europe and the US sometime in September.
Yoko Ono regarding Beatles on iTunes: 'Don't hold your breath'
There are two great mysteries of the digital age: how did a Welshman become the most powerful man in Japan and when will the Beatles be available for download on iTunes? While the former will forever remain a mystery, speculation picked up on the latter in 2006 after Apple and Apple Corps -- the record label owned by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and the estate of George Harrison -- settled a long running dispute. In September of last year, Yoko Ono apparently went so far as to whisper its imminent arrival only to be rebuffed by EMI which licenses the Beatles' recordings. Unfortunately, things don't look any closer to being settled today. Reuters is reporting an impasse, quoting Ono as saying, "Steve Jobs has his own idea and he's a brilliant guy. There's just an element that we're not very happy about, as people. We are holding out." She then added, "Don't hold your breath ... for anything," presumably while cracking a whip and laughing maniacally. Fitting don't you think, as legend has it that Lennon's first encounter with Ono involved her passing him a card that read "Breathe."
MP3 Shocker! Apple Records makes Billy Preston and James Taylor available for download, the Beatles not so much
EMI and Apple Records have announced that a number of artists from the back catalog (and it's all back catalog at this point), including James Taylor, Badfinger, Mary Hopkins, and Billy Preston (pictured above, shooting time traveling lightning bolts from his fingers) will see their work remastered and re-released on CD and digital download on October 26. Authorized downloads are a first for the company, although the plans do exclude the one group that really matters. How about the four lads from Liverpool, then? Looks like for the time being you're either stuck with pre-loaded novelty USB drives or you're ripping all your legally purchased CDs (for personal archival use only). Billy Preston shows us how it's done after the break.
The Beatles catalog being released on limited edition USB stick
You know what's kind of like online digital distribution, and yet not at all like that? Selling the entire re-mastered Beatles catalog on a USB drive that slots into a fake apple. The fine folks at Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music have teamed up to build a limited edition run of 30,000 USB apples to be sold on December 7 in the UK and December 8 in freedom-loving America. Included on the 16GB drive are the 14 stereo titles in FLAC 44.1 Khz 24-bit, in addition to 320 Kbps MP3s and a whole digital stack of special materials like liner notes and mini-documentary films, all for the low, low price of $279.99. The drive is up for pre-order as of now, which means you could be a mere month away from plugging this drive into your computer, dragging the files into your iTunes library and then pretending that you bought them online in some sort of forward-looking content distribution model.
iTunes LP broken for indie record labels?
Update: ElectricPig is reporting on 10/13 that an Apple spokesperson said the LP format will be opened up for all, indies and majors alike. There's word from an indie record-label that iTunes LPs are not for the indies. Introduced at Apple's "It's Only Rock and Roll" event in September, the iTunes LP format adds "bigger than a matchbook" album art, song lyrics, video clips, and other extra content to albums sold through the iTunes store. digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/iTunes_LP_broken_for_indie_record_labels'; Brian McKinney of Chicago-based label Chocolate Lab Records saw some promise in the new format and started looking into the idea of producing for iTunes LPs himself. But the truly small labels may have a hard time getting in. McKinney spoke to the digital distribution manager at his label's distributor, who reportedly told him that Apple charges a $10,000 production fee for iTunes LPs. $10,000 may be less than the heads of Warner Music Group, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, and EMI spend on breakfast, but could be cost prohibitive for the little label that could (if it had $10,000 handy for each of its acts). It's not just the cost that prohibits the little labels. According to McKinney, it's also Apple. McKinney says his dude in distribution was told "that LPs aren't being offered to indies and that there are only about 12 LPs being offered right now." "Foul, foul, filth and foul," cries Cult of Mac's Pete Mortensen. Like a financial analyst moving a stock from "buy" to "sell," Mortensen says iTunes LP has gone from "the first digital album good enough to criticize," to "the first major content misstep in the history of the iTunes Store." Assuming that Chocolate Lab's distributor info is on the up-and-up, Mortensen thinks iTunes LP is "less a new format for music than it is a new form of paid advertising on the iTunes store."
Rumors: The Beatles on iTunes? Yoko says yes, EMI says not yet
So, the friend of a friend told me that the Beatles is finally going to be on iTunes tomorrow. Not so fast, EMI immediately countered. In the latest chapter of a saga filled with more "will they, or won't they?" than a shoujo manga, Engadget picked up a 9to5Mac report today stating that Yoko Ono is talking about an iTunes arrival for the Beatles on an already Fab Four-packed 9/9/09. We've already speculated about it once, but Yoko's words caused the Twitter feeds to immediately jump alive with fevered speculation that maybe, just maybe, tomorrow's finally the day. I'm with Steve Sande. Seeing Paul, Ringo, Julian Lennon and Dhani Harrison (who helped mastermind The Beatles: Rock Band -- my reservation was made for the game six months ago) on stage together to announce the Beatles on iTunes would be fantastic. However, I'd rather see the release be done right than thrown together at the last minute. The optimistic side of me is sure that it won't be long before the Beatles and iTunes will be goin' steady for good.
Apple and record labels to release competing enhanced album formats
Remember when we said the four largest record companies were working together with Apple to add enhanced liner notes and extra media to full album purchases through the iTunes Store? Well, apparently Apple wasn't in on that cooperation. The Guardian is reporting that the four companies' plans for enhanced full albums were rebuffed by Apple, and they are planning to release their own format in competition with the one to be released in the iTunes Store. The new file format, called CMX, was created by EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner. It will function quite a bit like a DVD, with a launch page allowing for navigation to the related artwork and video portions of the album. An unnamed label representative is quoted saying that the format was initially presented to an uninterested Apple; now, Apple is releasing a competing format under the code name Cocktail. The format's tentative launch date is set for November, will be for a small number of titles, and only available in smaller music stores and non-Apple players. It is unclear how Cocktail and CMX will be different, if at all, save for the exclusivity of platforms. Apple is largely said to be following up on the format as a precautionary measure, in case it proves to be immensely popular; as they've said repeatedly, their interest still lies with supporting the more lucrative hardware, rather than trying to profit from full album sales. Still, Apple is stepping up to the format battle, and while not on the scale of Betamax vs. VHS or HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray, this promises to be a pretty decent fight. [via Electronista]
Major labels show eagerness to fail with new CMX digital audio format
Let's think about this, shall we? How did Sony's ATRAC format do? How did all those DRM-laced formats fare? Call us zany, but we've got a feeling an all new format developed by the astoundingly brilliant (ahem) minds at the world's largest record labels is apt to follow the aforementioned formats right on down to Irrelevant Boulevard. According to Times Online, Sony, Warner, Universal and EMI are currently looking to go head-to-head with Apple's own "Cocktail" by introducing a CMX format (codenamed) that will "give music fans a computerized version of the sleeve notes that come as standard with a CD, including lyrics and artwork, and videos." Reportedly, the format is expected to launch in November in an effort to boost whole album downloads (as opposed to singles), and while the labels approached Apple in order to gain its support, the Cupertino-based company purportedly decided to concoct its own mixture. Oh, and you can pretty much consider this extra DOA should iTunes not support it; fair or not, that's just the way it is.[Via Guardian]
iTunes Store to add enhanced liner notes, extra media to album purchases
Digital music purchases have been dominating the market for some time now as physical CD purchases continue to fall. For Apple, a significant lead over the rest of the music proprietor world is not enough: according to the Financial Times, the company is now working together with the four largest record labels in the business to add new features to accompany digital music purchases through its iTunes Store in hopes of stimulating full album purchases. [The FT also reports, without hedging, that Apple's "media pad" tablet device will ship in time for the holiday shopping season. According to the paper, the long-rumored iPad is intended as a full-featured portable computer and video & music player, like an oversized iPod touch, including wireless data connectivity but no built-in phone functions.] Apple has formed an alliance with EMI, Sony Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music to bundle whole albums with perks like interactive booklets, digital sleeve notes, and video clips. By doing so, Apple hopes to increase sales of the albums over single track purchases, a sales model that has been immensely popular in the advent of digital music. The project, codenamed "Cocktail," is intended to recreate the former experience of album-purchasing, where you could browse the liner notes, follow lyrics, and look at the album artwork as the music played. Executives have said that users will even be able to play music straight from the proposed interactive booklets without having to use iTunes. Of course, the main motivation for increasing album sales is to increase profits, as albums have a higher margin than individual songs. This change is one that should have taken place a long time ago- having to search for lyrics on shady, ad-ridden websites should already be a fading, shudder-inducing memory (though liner notes have been available on some albums, a change across the board has yet to take place). As items like liner notes and photos are possibly the last benefit that physical CDs can offer over digital purchases, this may turn out to be a very serious blow to the CD market. The iTunes Store album add-ons are set to roll out in September.
Apple, record labels working to spur album sales with interactive goodies, tablet due this September?
Let's face it, folks -- the CD insert is no longer "the new hotness." And besides, those wacky PDFs included with iTunes album purchases never did much more than take up valuable hard drive space anyway, right?. In an effort to get consumers to stop buying single tracks and start buying more filler entire albums, Apple has reportedly joined forces with EMI, Sony Music, Warner Music and Universal Music Group in a project that's being codenamed "Cocktail." Financial Times is reporting that said initiative is considering adding "interactive booklets, sleeve notes and other interactive features with music downloads," with one executive familiar with the situation saying that "it's not just a bunch of PDFs; there's real engagement with the ancillary stuff." Of course, all of this should still be taken with a pinch of salt for now, as even the music companies mentioned above refused to comment. And given the tremendous indifference consumers have shown with that other interactive tech that's being pushed so hard right now, we're not even sure it'll have the desired effect.In related news, another sect of folks "briefed on the project" have stated that these new content deals could be launched alongside a new, full-featured "tablet-sized computer in time for the Christmas shopping season, in what the entertainment industry hopes will be a new revolution." Adding fuel to the already raging fire, the report asserts that the "touch-sensitive device... will have a screen that may be up to ten inches diagonally," and while it will "connect to the internet like the iPod touch, it'll probably [do so] without phone capabilities." You do know that Apple has been good for a music / iPod-related event right around September the past few years, right?[Via AppleInsider]
Vodafone's music catalog goes DRM-free for mobiles and PCs
We were wondering (seriously, it has been on our conscience at night) which carrier would be the first to go completely DRM-free in respect to its music catalog, and now Vodafone has stepped in to claim said throne. This week, the operator has inked deals with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Music to bring tunes to handsets and PCs sans any nasty DRM, and for those who already downloaded DRM-laced files in the past, they'll be able to upgrade to DRM-free without a charge so long as they do it soon. And to think -- something like this would've been stopped cold at the drawing board by record label execs just a few years back. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?
EMI & Depeche Mode offer first iTunes Pass
I don't want to start any blasphemous rumors... but 'groundbreaking electro legends' isn't the first phrase I'd use to describe Depeche Mode. (In case you were wondering, that first phrase would be 'New Wave, eminently danceable Brit synth veterans,' but right there you have ample reason why I write about computers and not bands.) In any case, Dave Gahan, Martin L. Gore & co. will be the first band to offer an iTunes Pass. Customers can pay $19 to pre-order the band's next album, Sounds of the Universe, and get 'Wrong' (the first single) and a dub remix immediately. Over the next 3+ months, they'll automatically get the new album along with additional tracks and video exclusives. From the EMI release:"The relationship between Depeche Mode and their fans has always been our top priority," said the band's manager, Jonathan Kessler. "We are thrilled to be the first to participate with Apple in giving fans the kind of deep musical experience they expect from Depeche Mode."Truth is, I don't see much difference between the iTunes Pass approach and a "special edition" iTunes expanded album with videos + singles added on, except that this has the same effect as a television show's Season Pass of frontloading the revenue and dribbling the content out over several weeks. Granted, for DM fans this is a nice way of jumping into the new stuff and getting extra goodies, but it's not a dramatically different way of delivering music. If you want to find out more about iTunes Pass provisions (yes, all the music will be DRM-free iTunes Plus tracks), check out the details page within iTunes.[via Macrumors]
Beatles-on-iTunes talks 'stalled' says Paul
Talks between Apple, Inc., Apple Corps, and EMI to bring the Beatles catalogue to the iTunes Store have "stalled," according to a statement by Paul McCartney to the Associated Press. McCartney said, "The last word I got back was it's stalled at the whole moment, the whole process." He told the BBC that "heavy negotiations" were in progress with EMI, who said they were "working hard to secure agreement with Apple Corps." My ill-informed, Captain Obvious guess? Someone's holding out for more money. The AP oddly suggested that the holdup is related to a trademark dispute between Apple Corps and Apple, Inc. which was settled in court last year. McCartney continued, "I really hope it will happen because I think it should." [Via Cult of Mac.]
Paul McCartney: Beatles on iTunes stalled, I'm not dead
In a new twist to the wearisome saga of the Beatles digitizing their music catalog for iTunes (or any digital service, for that matter), Paul McCartney says that the negotiations have "stalled." McCartney said, "It's between EMI and the Beatles, I think," before adding, "I really hope it will happen because I think it should." While an EMI spokeswoman sounded hopeful about the matter getting resolved, we'll just assume this is all Yoko's fault in keeping with tradition.
YouTube videos gain links to iTunes store
YouTube has added links from promotional and music videos to the iTunes store and AmazonMP3, where you can buy the song featured. The links appear on its website, beneath videos like this one. Currently, EMI appears to be the only major music label participating in the deal. Electronic Arts has links related to its Spore game to Amazon.com, where you can purchase a copy. Google (whose CEO, Eric Schmidt, is on Apple's board of directors) has been looking for ways to earn money from YouTube, its $1.6 billion purchase from 2006. YouTube probably already earns some revenue from Apple via a partnership that includes a YouTube player on the iPhone and Apple TV, but the financial details are unknown. [Via Macworld.]
Stars Catalogue music download service finally revealed
Nintendo of Europe accidentally posted a news item on their website a couple of weeks back announcing a program allowing people to exchange Club Nintendo Stars for songs from artists on the EMI label. The story was only up long enough for the headline to show up in our RSS reader before it was yanked.The Music Voucher Shop has finally grown from just a headline in an inaccessible story to a real website that you can look at! Club Nintendo members can buy one song for 350 stars, 2 for 700 (at a substantial 0% discount!) or an album for 3000. You're given an alphanumeric code to redeem at the EMI website.Okay, so it's not some kind of super-innovative Wii-based music service or something. But it's a way to download music basically for free, and it's another option for your Stars when everything else is sold out (which seems to be all the time). And, of course, it's a lot better than what you can get from the US Stars Catalogue, which is nothing because it doesn't exist.[Via GoNintendo]
SanDisk, major labels announce slotMusic preloaded microSD cards
We're not sure why the music industry thinks consumers want to buy even more physical media, but it can't seem to stop pumping out plastic in a futile attempt to stay relevant -- this time it's an initiative called slotMusic, announced today in partnership with SanDisk and several major retailers. The 1GB slotMusic microSD cards are preloaded with DRM-free 320kbps MP3s, and are aimed primarily at mobile phones -- the idea is that you'll be able to buy music and listen to it without having to sideload it onto your device using your computer at home. Sure, we can see the appeal of that, but when we half-facetiously asked SanDisk's reps if they expected us to carry around a stack of individual microSD albums, they didn't laugh when they said yes, and even told us that slotMusic media binders would be available at launch -- no, they weren't kidding. We're not sure anyone's going to be sold on going back to lugging around physical media with the iTunes and Zune WiFi stores out there, but it sounds like we'll be seeing quite a push for this from retailers and the labels -- and artists are apparently enthusiastic about using the full 1GB of space to include content beyond basic liner notes and cover art. We'll see when these launch around the holidays -- if we had to guess, we'd say this is just Ringles and CDVU+ part III.
Video Games Live to release CD
Record company EMI Classics has announced the release of Video Games Live Volume One, a recording of the famous traveling orchestra (led by friend of WoW Insider Tommy Tallarico) that plays videogame music, including that of the Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo series. You may have seen the group last year at BlizzCon, this year at WWI, or (likely) this year again at BlizzCon, and they got rave reviews every time they played.The recording was conducted by Tallarico, recorded at Abbey Road, and features the Slovak National Orchestra, The Crouch End Festival Chorus, and "the videogame pianist," Martin Leung. The CD will have eleven tracks (full tracklist after the jump), and will feature music from a slew of terrific videogame soundtracks, including our own Warcraft series (and Civ IV, which is probably the best music I've ever heard in a videogame, ever). EMI plans to release the CD in America on July 24th, and in Europe and the rest of the world on August 20th. It should be available for digital download right now in the UK, and an iTunes exclusive release will be available on the 20th.Sounds like an amazing recording -- fans of Video Games Live will certainly enjoy it. You can see the full tracklist below.
Second Life's genius cuddles up with music giant
Cory Ondrejka, co-founder of the virtual world of Second Life and ex-CTO of Linden Lab has switched roles. No, it's not actually another virtual world, but we're mentioning it anyway, because we know you all love Ondrejka, or love to hate him. Either way. Ondrejka's moving in with EMI (one of the 'big four' record companies) as their senior vice-president of Digital Strategy. 'It's time to take everything I learned about innovation, community, intangible items, markets, economics, and technology building Second Life and apply it to a much larger arena,' said Ondrejka today, 'There are a million and one difficult problems to solve, but I'm absolutely thrilled about my new role.'
