MUMBAI: Owned by the Beatles, the four decades old ‘Apple Records’ announced on Tuesday 7 July that some of the label’s catalog will soon be available for download. In partnership with EMI Music, Apple Records will be releasing 15 remastered albums that will be available for download on October 26.
However, the catalogs to be released digitally will not contain any Beatles music, but compositions of a host of other artistes like James Taylor, Badfinger, Billy Preston, Mary Hopkins, Doris Troy, and Jackie Lomax – all personally brought to the label by The Beatles (individually and/or collectively). The Beatles had launched Apple Records in 1968 as the new outlet for their own recordings as well as the music of an eclectic roster of artistes.
This announcement has given new wind to the speculation on why none of the Beatles own songs are available at any of the legal download stores such as iTunes or Amazon.
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Last year, George Harrison’s son Dhani Harrison was quoted in Blender as saying he didn’t feel that the iTunes Store’s per-song charge was a fair price for Beatles songs. He also mentioned that the remaining members of The Beatles were looking into creating their own website for digital downloads.
Major players like EMI, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, and the families of the late George Harrison and John Lennon – haven’t said much on this issue.
While unauthorized copies of Beatles songs are widely available on the Internet, there is no source for legal downloads. Music industry reports suggest that maybe these downloads from other artistes offered by Apple Records mean we will soon see some of the most beloved music of all time becoming legally available on the Web.
Among the acts whose music is will soon be released by Apple Records are Badfinger, James Taylor, and Billy Preston.
