March 9, 2008 3:27 PM PDT

Beatles (finally) coming to iTunes?

After years of speculation about when The Beatles music catalog would finally be offered on iTunes, that day may soon arrive.

London's Telegraph reported on Saturday that former Beatle Paul McCartney has agreed to release the band's music catalog to Apple for as much as $600 million.

Is this finally the end of the on-again, off-again courtship between Apple and Apple Corps. The latter is the media corporation that oversees The Beatles' music and other copyright materials.

Rumors that The Beatles' music would be available for download on iTunes have circulated for years, but this time they carry some weight. Besides the Telegraph the British publication the Daily Mail also reported a similar story.

No release date has been set, according to the papers.

If the Fab Four really are heading to legal downloads, look for them to do well. While long-time fans of the group, which broke up 38 years ago, have likely already bought the band's albums, or CDs or downloaded the songs off a peer-to-peer site, iTunes could help introduce The Beatles to a whole new generation of listeners.

How the money would be split among the surviving band members, Ringo Starr, McCartney and the estates of the late George Harrison and John Lennon, hasn't been disclosed, according to the British papers.

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Add a Comment (Log in or register) 9 comments (Page 1 of 1)
Honestly, does anyone still care?
by paul.saulnier March 9, 2008 5:59 PM PDT
Is this one band really worth over half a billion dollars? How long will it take Apple to make that money back?
Reply to this comment View all 3 replies
That's ok, but ...
by jmroper2002 March 9, 2008 8:43 PM PDT
How about AC/DC ???
Reply to this comment
BEATLES (FINALLY) COMING TO ITUNES?
by video Pal March 9, 2008 11:08 PM PDT
Can you say APPLE RECORDS? EMI does not have the rights to the "Apple Records name. I am sure that for that some of cash, Apple "inc" wants the name too. With Apple moving the Apps out of iTunes Music Store to the new Apps store, Apple records sounds better. VG
Reply to this comment
Really?
by paul.saulnier March 10, 2008 6:27 AM PDT
Do they really care? Or do they already own CDs which they have ripped into iTunes long ago? Or if not that, perhaps they have downloaded them. The music industry never fails to amaze me at giving people what they want years after peak demand.
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