The Beatles, unknown Brits, finally added to iTunes
Do you feel different? is your step a little lighter? Apple boasted Monday today would be a day "you'll never forget." Could it be a half-priced iPhone? One with pitch-perfect reception? Well? Well?
At 10 a.m. today, the company made the announcement: after much speculation, Prince William finally proposed to Kate Middleton. Holy Cow! Well, I'll never forg--. Wait, what? The Beatles on iTunes? So easy to confuse Brits making headlines.
Apple today succeeded in convincing the surviving members of the band, the wives of the dead ones, and EMI, the band's record company, to sell their music on iTunes.
The move is a major coup for Apple, which had wooed The Beatles for years only for talks to disintegrate over trademark disputes and pricing.
For the band, which like some of its contemporaries will likely continue to make more money from CD rather than digital sales, it's a recognition of the importance of digital sales going forward.
It's not clear yet how the deal came together, if Steve Jobs had to promise Yoko Ono to cut off his pinkie toe or what. Presumably, it involves a lot of dollars. The New York Times notes one likely sticking point was pricing, with the band members wanting to charge more than the 99 cents Apple usually charges for songs.
Just as they did in its heyday, and later in the 80s when their catalog was reissued on CD - solidifying the emergence of that technology - The Beatles have lately been itching to again play a key role in the evolution of music. Last year, they signed off on the release of The Beatles: Rock Band, the popular video game they sanctioned as an official part of their canon.
All 13 Beatles albums are on iTunes now, with the box set clocking in at $149 and most individual songs sold at $1.29.
Erik Maza is a features reporter at the Baltimore Sun. He writes for several sections of the Sun paper and contributes weekly columns on music and nightlife. He also writes and edits the Midnight Sun blog. He often covers entertainment, business, and the business of entertainment. Occasionally, he writes about Four Loko, The Block, the liquor board, and those who practice "
Comments
This post has revolutionized my Baltimore "after-hours scene"
I wish I could still point my friends to this blog when I am informing them of the great stuff going on each weekend. For example, Where was the post about the sold-out Caleb Stine 'Round the Mountain show at Creative last weekend?
There is so much going on each weekend that the Baltimore Sun would do well to provide a blog that could just put it all together.
I now have to provide my friends with multiple links, etc and do a lot of my own homework. I really do wish this blog was at least somewhat relevant to the Baltimore scene.
Posted by: dc | November 16, 2010 1:13 PM
dc, since you're already doing the homework, why not post somewhere and share it with the rest of us. You'd certainly have a corner on the market and probably be an overnight sensation.
I mean, seriously, this story was on CNN already.
CNN.
Posted by: Dave F. | November 16, 2010 3:04 PM
I am all for Maza posting news stories that he finds interesting (national news or local news). On the other hand, the amount of interesting Baltimore news that is posted on here has completely dropped off.
Posted by: dc | November 16, 2010 6:51 PM
This is one of the biggest news stories there is-it should be on the pope's blog. When Rye Rye replaces the Beatles on iTune dl's i'm sure it will be here first
Posted by: Tif | November 16, 2010 7:26 PM
if it's not a show Dan Deacon would approve, why should he care? To him, that's the only thing worth talking about in Baltimore. Everything else is "crap" in his eyes. Oh. And Dan Deacon SUCKS.
Posted by: Snuffy | November 17, 2010 10:18 AM