Technology, Culture, Commentary on the Internet Revolution

Michael Jackson and Sony Keep Beatles Off iTunes

by Mike Abundo on March 11th, 2008

Today’s musicians are lucky. They can operate without a record label. The Beatles were not so fortunate.

The company that owns the rights to a vast majority of The Beatles music catalog has questioned reports that the Fab Four have cut a deal with Steve Jobs.

Sony/ATV Music Publishing, the joint venture owned by Sony and singer Michael Jackson, has thrown cold water on newspaper stories out of London that The Beatles catalog would soon be available on iTunes. A spokeswoman for Sony/ATV Music Publishing told CNET News.com that the reports are “untrue.”

Sony/ATV is a pretty good source. While EMI Group owns the recording rights to The Beatles catalog, Sony and Jackson own the rights to the vast majority of the catalog’s publishing rights. Had a deal been cut, Sony/ATV would “absolutely be informed,” the Sony/ATV spokeswoman said.

All this despite Paul McCartney (you know, an actual Beatle) saying that the iTunes deal was “virtually settled“. I’m not surprised that Sony and Michael Jackson, a pair of washed-up sickos held together only by artifice, would keep the Beatles’ legacy off the world’s most popular music player.

Share This

POSTED IN: Music