01/06, 12:10pm
Band, label may be getting equal split
In order to secure the Beatles' music for iTunes, Apple agreed to pay the band's company (Apple Corps) directly, according to industry sources contacted by Reuters. The newswire agency notes that under a typical music contract, a label distributes a record, licenses songs from publishers, collects revenue from retailers and then makes royalty payments to the artists and the publisher. In the case of the Beatles and iTunes though, the digital download royalties are said to be going straight to Apple Corps, while the songwriting mechanical royalties are going to Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which owns most of the Beatles' songs.
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11/16, 6:45pm
Catalog held up by Apple Corps dispute with EMI
Following Apple's announcement that it would finally bring Beatles tracks onto the iTunes store, additional information of the negotiations has surfaced. Apple reportedly beat offers from Google and Amazon to secure the digital catalog, industry insiders have told the New York Post. Although the terms of the final deal were not disclosed, Apple may have been forced to take a smaller cut to guarantee exclusivity into 2011.
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08/06, 7:50am
Yoko Ono says Beatles holding out on digital
Yoko Ono late Thursday cooled expectations that the Beatles would reach iTunes, or any digital music store, in the near future. She didn't explain what the holdup might be but implied a sticking point that had Apple Corps at odds with either EMI or Apple Inc. John Lennon's famed widow was quick to call Apple Inc.'s Steve Jobs a "brilliant guy" but said there was an unnamed aspect the Beatles' label wasn't "very happy about, as people."
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04/07, 11:45am
Beatles Remastered CDs
The Beatles on Tuesday confirmed plans to launch remastered CD versions of their catalog in time with their first digital-only video game release through the Rock Band series. The reworkings are claimed to be the best quality since the originals and each include a QuickTime video documentary about the making of their given albums. A separate collection will include the original mono mixes where they existed.
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