The Beatles, Now iPod Accessible

The British invasion, finally invading iTunes.

Apple announced Tuesday morning it has nabbed the rights to all the Beatles tunes and fans at Penn Manor are already loving it.

Every album and song available is now posted on iTunes. The songs cost $1.29 each, albums for $12.99, double albums for $19.99 and even a complete boxed set for $149.00. The boxed set includes all of The Beatles albums and a few bonus tracks.

“I am really exited to buy their music and listen to it, I didn’t know it was released, but I’m happy to hear that it was,” said senior Charles Blymier.

Charles Blymier listening to The Beatles. Photo by Kyle Hallett

“I didn’t know that that the music was released, I’m pumped to get all of their songs because I don’t have all of them yet,” said Ryan Dettrey, a fan of the Fab Four.

Dettrey is a huge fan of the Beatles and was waiting for the songs to go up on iTunes. The boxed set will be Dettrey’s Christmas gift this year.

“I don’t know why Paul McCartney didn’t have the rights in the first place,” said Adam Swift, a senior.

Swift will be buying the songs “Let It Be,” “Hey Jude” and the entire White Album.

John Lennon had the rights to the catalog ownership before he died. According to pophistorydig.com, after Lennon’s death, Michael Jackson purchased the catalog by outbidding other potential investors. The money went to The Beatles recording label Apple Records, who they signed with in 1968. When Michael Jackson died, the catalog then went to his mother. iTunes got the rights to the downloads from Jackson’s mother.

Screen shot for opening day of The Beatles on iTunes

“It is very disappointing to see the Jackson family making money off of another artist’s work,” said music teacher Melissa Telesco.

Telesco has all of The Beatles CD’s so she won’t be purchasing the MP3s. She is, however, basically doing back flips because of her excitement over the music release.

So are a lot of other people.

“I have a lot of the music…however, I am going to get the rest of the songs I don’t have on iTunes,” said Alex Lombardo, a junior at Penn Manor.

In iTunes, Abbey Road is already at the number 11 spot for the top downloaded album followed by the White Album in number 12, box set at 13 and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Club Band sitting as the 14th most downloaded album. All of the other albums are in the top downloads on iTunes and have only been accessible for a few hours.

“I will buy a few of my favorite song for the car, just because I hate CD’s and I don’t pirate my music,” said art teacher Kim McMullen.

“We love the Beatles and are honored and thrilled to welcome them to iTunes, even though 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,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

By Kyle Hallett

2 thoughts on “The Beatles, Now iPod Accessible”

  1. You really should get your facts in order before publishing. Michael Jackson’s Company owns 50% of the Beatles catalog. SONY owns the other 50%. Michael Jackson’s Estate (run by John Branca & John McClain) is in the driver’s seat as far as any deal-making is concerned. None of the Jackson family have any say in what is happening with any of Michael Jackson’s property rights. They are being supplied a monthly allowance of something like $26,000 to support her and Michaels’ 3 children. She also seems to support other grandchildren as well but that is another story. Branca and McClain each receive five percent of the estate’s profits. Last I read the Estate brought in close to $1 Billion last year. So you figure out who exactly is “making money off of another artist’s work”.

  2. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-15/apple-to-start-selling-beatles-music-on-itunes-for-first-time-wsj-reports.html

    “Ownership of the Beatle’s music catalog rests with various parties, including surviving members of the band Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison. The band’s record label EMI Group Ltd., Sony Corp. and the estate of Michael Jackson also control some rights.”

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