Sunday, August 8, 2010

“Beatles on iTunes? “Don’t Hold Your Breath,” Says Ono” plus 2

“Beatles on iTunes? “Don’t Hold Your Breath,” Says Ono” plus 2

Beatles on iTunes? “Don’t Hold Your Breath,” Says Ono

Posted: 06 Aug 2010 10:06 AM PDT

Despite the Beatles' foray into digital music with The Beatles: Rock Band video game, Yoko Ono says the Fab Four aren't any closer to digital music stores.

At a promotion for an upcoming public television documentary about John Lennon, Yoko Ono told Reuters that the Beatles' Apple Corps. isn't not close to making a deal with Apple Inc. about getting the Fab Four's music on iTunes. "There's just an element that we're not very happy about, as people. We are holding out," Ono told Reuters. "Don't hold your breath…for anything."

The Beatles are one of the last remaining high-profile holdouts from the digital music marketplace, with record label EMI famously refusing to make the Beatles' extensive catalog—and the myriad variations and remasters of it produced over the years—available to iTunes or other digital download stores. Hopes had been raised last year when Harmonix and MTV introduced The Beatles: Rock Band video game, which marked The Beatles' first foray into digital media. The game also followed 2007's conclusion to a high-profile trademark dispute between Apple Inc. and the Beatles' Apple Corps, which had revealed Apple Corps was looking into making the Beatles' music available online.

Since then, however, nothing has happened, and no one on the Beatles' side of the fence has been very forthcoming about the state of any negotiations. In 2008, Paul McCartney indicated there were "a couple" of sticking points between Apple Inc. and Apple Corps; Ono indicates there is "an element" at the center of the impasse.

Ono was promotingLENNONNYC, an upcoming public television documentary that focuses on Lennon and Ono's life together in New York during the 1970s.

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Beatles Music Won’t Hit iTunes Any Time Soon

Posted: 07 Aug 2010 08:03 AM PDT

Yoko Ono says she and others are 'holding out' on a potential deal

Joshua Lindsey

If you're looking for that one Beatles song or album to complete your collection, don't go searching for it on iTunes. The Beatles' catalogue has yet to land on Apple's popular music store due to conflicts between the band's record company and Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

"Steve Jobs has his own idea and he's a brilliant guy," Yoko Ono, John Lennon's widow, told reporters in L.A. "There's just an element that we're not very happy about, as people. We are holding out. Don't hold your breath...for anything."

According to Entertainment Weekly, Beatles star Paul McCartney also spoke on the subject in February 2009. He indicated that the band's remaining members are eager to strike a deal and give iTunes users access to the music.

"It's a bit of a sticky issue. We want it to happen. The record company was taken over by new people quite recently, so there is a gridlock of sorts. I'd like to make it happen."

"Though," he added in jest, "I am not part of the negotiations, thank goodness."

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Beatles on iTunes Unlikely, Yoko Ono Says

Posted: 07 Aug 2010 08:15 AM PDT

In the latest chapter of the unending struggle to get The Beatles onto Apple's popular iTunes music store, John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono told Reuters no one should be holding their breath waiting for the Fab Four's tracks to show up on the site. In an interview with the news service, Ono applauded Apple CEO Steve Jobs's business acumen but voiced her own unspecific concerns about iTunes. "(Apple CEO) Steve Jobs has his own idea and he's a brilliant guy," Ono said in an interview with Reuters. "There's just an element that we're not very happy about, as people. We are holding out."

One of the most popular bands in the history of music, The Beatles recently released remastered versions of the band's entire catalogue, but John, Paul, George and Ringo fans have not yet been able to purchase, legally, digital versions of the songs. In November, a judge approved a temporary restraining order for digital music site BlueBeat.com over the sale of Beatles songs. EMI Group, a British music company that owns the rights to the songs, filed a copyright infringement claim against the site and its parent company Media Rights Technologies.

The site had been selling Beatles songs for $0.25 apiece; staff members at Wired successfully downloaded 17 songs from the album "Abbey Road" for $4.55 by using a Paypal account. EMI's lawyers argued the site was "engaged in digital music piracy of the most blatant kind" and was undercutting and destroying a legitimate digital market. "Perhaps the most stunning aspect of Defendants' conduct is the willful and overtly defiant manner in which they are acting," the lawsuit read. The suit makes particular mention of the Beatles tracks, which were recently remastered and rereleased with great media fanfare. "The enormous and irreparable harm … is obvious and manifest," the suit argued.

However, the owners of the Beatles catalogue, which includes Ono, former Beatles members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr as well as Olivia Harrison, the widow of George Harrison, are not always so skeptical of the digital age. When released last fall, The Beatles: Rock Band video game gave the whole industry a boost and attracted a great deal of media attention. "We're older and more experienced," Ono told Reuters. "Don't hold your breath ... for anything."




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