This past summer, Yoko Ono expressed her doubts about The Beatles ever making their iTunes debut. "Don't hold your breath...for anything," Ono told Reuters in August 2010. Music fans collectively exhaled when Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the big news on Tuesday, November 16: “We love the Beatles and are honored and thrilled to welcome them to iTunes,” said Jobs in an official statement. “It has been a long and winding road to get here. Thanks to the Beatles and EMI, we are now realizing a dream we’ve had since we launched iTunes ten years ago.” Single albums can be downloaded for $12.99 each, double albums for $19.99 each and individual songs for $1.29 each. 2009's remastered box set can be purchased for $149.
Not surprisingly, iTunes racked up initially strong sales. As of November 17, 28 of the top 100 tunes are by The Beatles, they also make up 16 of the top 50 albums, including four in the top 10: Abbey Road, The Beatles (White Album), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and The Beatles Box Set. Interestingly the highest ranking Beatles song is the George Harrison-penned "Here Comes the Sun" at number 19. Both Apple Inc. and Apple Corps Ltd. must welcome these figures, as they were embroiled in a protracted battle to reach this point.
Apple and The Beatles' corporation, Apple Corps Ltd., have waged war over copyright issues for years. According to the Chicago Tribune, Apple Corps asserted that Apple Computers (later Apple Inc.) infringed upon the Beatles' company's trademark. In 1981, the two parties settled, with the agreement that Apple Inc. would never enter the music business. However, Apple Corps sued Apple Inc. again in 2003, arguing that iTunes violated the previous agreement. Once more, the two companies reached a settlement in 2007, but disagreements over pricing kept the Beatles off iTunes for an additional three years. If they did not wish to purchase CDs, fans resorted to downloading songs and albums illegally, and they posted frequent, often frustrated comments on iTunes asking them why The Beatles were still unavailable digitally. After briefly considering establishing their own online store, the surviving Beatles and their families obviously decided that "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
Article comments
1 - Michael Kearney
I'm afraid that a lot of this 'artistic intent' on the part of The Beatles is entirely in the collective imagination of critics. Even while together, all four Beatles disdained the version of themselves that had been stuck to them by critics. It is, in part, their evasion and transcendence of the neat summations that have been spread around the 'critosphere' throughout the intervening years that has enabled them to stay in the fantasies of their listeners rather than their own or those of mediators.
There ARE no Beatles concept albums. There are no albums at all. The Beatles made 'Long Playing Records' in Mono until 'Abbey Road'one side of which was, by Paul at least, conceived as an artistic whole.
That's about it. The Beatles sisnt have time for this analysis when they made the recordings. There weren't even any terms for ushc analysis.
So while I like your piece, I'm afraid it's irrelevant to The Beatles.
The beatles have a magic which is contained in every track as well as groups of tracks and any encounter with any part of their whole tends to lead to more encounters (and there is their the perennial and formidable McCartney marketing to consider too!)
Theirs is no 'legacy'
It is alive
2 - Jules
Kit, I appreciate what you are saying, but I respectfully disagree. I hate the idea of setting up rules for listening to music. When I was a teenager (in the late '80's) I picked out my favorite tracks on my mom's Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road albums. I made my own mix tapes fromm song I recorded off the radio. Now I have every Beatles album (I do allow them to play on my iPod in shuffle mode), and they are my favorite band. I would have never listened to them at all if it hadn't been for those individual songs I liked. Same goes for the Stones. I listened to my mom's Hot Rocks album throughout high school. Now I have almost all their albums as well.
I would never say someone can't like "Come Together" unless they listen to all of Abbey Road and appreciate the fact that it was the last album they recorded together.
What about songs like "Hey Jude" and "Day Tripper" that were not on albums. is it okay to buy those by themselves because they were always meant to be singles?
If iTunes brings the Beatles to future generations they I am fine with it. Some will get interested in buying complete albums and some will just enjoy the few tracks they like. I don't see anything wrong with that.
3 - Declan Meehan
""Taxman" represents some of Harrison's best songwriting and guitar work " - Harrison didnt play the lead guitar on Taxman - Was all McCartney's work.
Think they only allow the 62-70 singles as downloadable single tracks and download the complete albums only
4 - Kit O'Toole
Thanks to everyone for your comments! I figured this would provoke some controversy. :) Just a few general thoughts:
1. Sorry, I should have clarified "Taxman": yes, Paul played the awesome lead guitar part, but George's pounding rhythm guitar really drives that song. I also neglected to mention that Paul's bass on that track is one of his finest moments.
2. I agree that if iTunes brings younger fans to the Beatles, that's great. I'm just concerned that it will be too easy for new fans to skip over some excellent songs that were technically never hits.
3. I was also concerned that the songs from the Abbey Road medley are being sold as individual tracks. How can one listen to just one fragment without hearing the whole thing? I just don't think you get the same effect.
Just my two cents!
5 - El Bicho
The albums will always be there for fans and selling singles back in the 1960s didn't seem to hurt them. While I am not saying it will, so what if selling digital singles hurts The Beatles' legacy? Who does that really affect other than the band members and estate trustees?
Also, not sure "pioneered" is the right word as Sinatra made concept albums a decade before The Beatles did.
6 - Beth Ann
I sort of have to agree with Jules in a really general way about not putting "rules" on how to listen to music. However, I also want to mention that the experience of downloading music (and even, to an extent listening to a cd) changes the experience because of the absence of liner notes. I know that notes do appear on cds, but I can no longer read that fine print! What I'm trying to say is that people who end up really caring passionately about the music they listen to seem to be the geeky types that used to read the old album covers over and over again. Those people are still around, so why not provide some of that experience for them when they download ONE song, so they get some idea that they might be missing something by doing so? What Kit wrote about the idea that this music is connected and should be listened to as a whole piece is getting lost, so the artist needs to manipulate the medium to compensate, right?
Okay...back to work.
7 - Kit O'Toole
Thanks for your comments, and Beth Ann, thanks for summarizing my arguments better than I could! :) FYI, Beatles Examiner is running a poll gauging reaction to the Beatles on iTunes; check out the results.
8 - lucyintheskywithrubies
Paul also played the great lead guitar and bass on his own song,Another Girl on the Help album,and on John's Ticket To Ride too!