Beatles & Apple Finally Going To Let You Pay Money For The Beatles Songs You've Been Pirating For Years

from the well-that's-compelling dept

The WSJ is reporting that Apple is getting set to announce that the Beatles' music is finally available on iTunes, something that tons of online music stores have been trying to offer for years and years without any luck. Given that Steve Jobs allegedly named his company "Apple" after the Beatles' "Apple Corp." -- it's been a particular goal of Jobs to get their music into his store (even with the legal fights that have been had over the name). Either way, while I'm sure Steve Jobs will make this out to be the most amazing thing since the invention of electrical power, it's kind of worth pointing out that the Beatles' music has been widely available online for years via file sharing options. Putting this in perspective, all this is really doing is giving people a chance to pay money for music they've probably already been getting for free. Suddenly, it doesn't seem like such a big deal, and makes you wonder what the hell took so long.
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Filed Under: beatles, itunes, songs
Companies: apple


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  1. icon
    KGWagner (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 4:35am

    Too funny

    Just that. Too funny. I don't know anybody who doesn't have nearly the entire Beatles discography stashed somewhere, and most of those people would have been more than happy to pay for it. In fact, most of those people have paid for that same content several times over replacing worn out albums, then 8-track tapes, then cassettes, then disks.

    Most of them don't feel a twinge of guilt over "pirating" what they have, either, having already paid for the rights, artwork, royalties, distribution, and myriad other costs so many times.

    Silly humans.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    Rose M. Welch (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 5:11am

    Sorry, Beatles!

    I did pay for it, with BlueBeat or whatever that company was with the strange copyright claim. Before that, I simply copied my friend's discs. We all did.

    We didn't do it because we were cheap. We did it because it was the only way to get the music.

    Sorry, Beatles! You're too late. I already paid someone for your music. Too bad it couldn't be you.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 16 Nov 2010 @ 5:19am

    haha 12 years late

    1998 was last time i needed to download music
    sides the beatles don't need any more money, and they aren't creating new works....so what is copyright supposed to do for them again?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    John Doe, 16 Nov 2010 @ 5:59am

    Now that is funny right there

    "while I'm sure Steve Jobs will make this out to be the most amazing thing since the invention of electrical power"

    Now this is funny right here. SJ does have a way of making things sound much bigger than they are. :)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Rob Levine, 16 Nov 2010 @ 6:02am

    Beatles

    >>>We did it because it was the only way to get the music.

    Actually, the Beatles catalog did very well in the past decade: "1" was the best-selling album and the Beatles were the second best-selling act, after Eminem. (This is in the U.S., according to SoundScan, counting 10 songs as an album.) On a relative basis, they did better then they have since the sixties.

    The lack of iTunes availability may have inconvenienced you, but there's very little evidence that it hurt the band.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    John Doe, 16 Nov 2010 @ 6:08am

    Re: Now that is funny right there

    Also, am I the only one in the world that doesn't actually like their music?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. icon
    Robert Ring (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 6:10am

    Not to mention, the marginally higher cost (from digital to physical) to simply purchase a Beatles CD and import it into iTunes has never exactly been a huge barrier.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. icon
    Dark Helmet (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 6:17am

    Re: Re: Now that is funny right there

    You are not. Their early stuff was the Backstreet Boys of the 60's and their later stuff was like listening to your super nerdy high school friend ramble on about love and happiness after smoking weed for the first time.

    Neither of those things is very pleasurable. I'll take the Stones, Elvis, Zepplin, the Doors, and The Who over the any day of the week....

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous, 16 Nov 2010 @ 6:18am

    Re: Re: Now that is funny right there

    Nope - I'm not particularly fond of them either.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. icon
    The Mighty Buzzard (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 6:33am

    Woohoo! I can finally pay for all 29 albums, not counting compilation albums or singles, at a dollar+ a track instead of getting them all for free! Wait, what?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. icon
    The Mighty Buzzard (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 6:35am

    Re: Re: Re: Now that is funny right there

    Yeah, the Doors are definitely what you want if you're not looking for something written while the artist(s) were stoned out of their gourd. No, wait...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 16 Nov 2010 @ 6:48am

    I'm just waiting for Richard Starkey to become President of the Restored United States.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 16 Nov 2010 @ 6:56am

    Wait, What? People still pay for music?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. icon
    Dark Helmet (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 6:57am

    Re: Re: Re: Now that is funny right there

    Well, yeah they were stoned, but they were like the Walter Payton of being fucked up: they acted like they'd been there before...because....you know...they had.

    Listening to the Beatles after Dylan introduced them to pot was like listening to a bunch of high school kids. "Oh, everything is pretty! Can't we all just get along?"

    No. No we can't. Because this is the end, my only friend. The end. So come on and light my fire, peace frog....

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. icon
    bdhoro (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 7:02am

    Damn the expense!

    First off - come on guys, if you don't like the Beatles you might as well say "I don't like music." And you can't say you don't like the Beatles and then list of bunch of "better" bands that were all highly influenced by the Beatles sound.

    That being said, they just remastered pretty much the entire Beatles collection last September, does anybody remember the price for the box set? It sold for $260 in stores. How ridiculous is that for a bunch of pop music that everybody has already. Its hard not to feel in the right when downloading their library illegally.

    So whats the remastered library gonna be available on iTunes at the new sales price of $200?

    Lets just think about what John Lennon would have said about all of this.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    janey, 16 Nov 2010 @ 7:03am

    "and makes you wonder what the hell took so long."

    The greedy jerks behind The Beatles is what took so long.

    I know some will consider this to be a vile troll comment, but I haven't considered The Beatles to be relevant since the 70's. The only people I know that are still excited by them are 15+ years older than I am.. but they already own everything on CD.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. icon
    mattarse (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 7:23am

    Re: Damn the expense!

    Actually I can say I like music but don't like the Beatles. See it was easy. I don't like Elvis either, but still feel free to like bands who were influenced by him.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. identicon
    justanexer, 16 Nov 2010 @ 7:27am

    Re: Damn the expense!

    I admire their place in modern musicology but, I don't enjoy listening to them. So I guess "I don't like music", even though i have degrees in music and make a significant proportion of my yearly income from music.

    I can list a ton of 'better' bands, that were heavily influenced by The Beatles. And I've played many pieces influenced by them, that doesn't mean I have to 'like' the source material (as in actually sit down and listen for pure enjoyment compared to listening for 'work').

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. icon
    Rose M. Welch (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 7:29am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Now that is funny right there

    I ♥ everyone that you list. And the Beatles. :)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. icon
    Rose M. Welch (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 7:31am

    Re: Beatles

    I didn't say that it hurt the band. I don't think anyone said that it hurt the band, except you.

    And I wouldn't purchase it from iTunes, anyway. It was the lack of digital availability. I live in a relatively large city and we still didn't have any stores that carried a any Beatles CDs and, of course, this is the first really legal digital download.

    So my statement stands. :)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  21. icon
    Rose M. Welch (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 7:32am

    Re:

    I got all of it for like, $20, quasi-legally. :)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  22. icon
    Rose M. Welch (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 7:33am

    Re: Damn the expense!

    And you can't say you don't like the Beatles and then list of bunch of "better" bands that were all highly influenced by the Beatles sound.

    Yes, yes, you can. Fairly easily, in fact. You know, because descriptive such as the words 'like' and 'better' are all subject to, you know, those pesky things called opinions.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  23. icon
    Berenerd (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 7:34am

    Re: Damn the expense!

    most music was modeled after something. The first "song" was most likely created aster a person heard two seagulls fighting. Rock and roll owes it's roots to blues and Jazz. Its the circle of life and personally, I am glad I was not the guy that heard 2 seagulls going at it. I don't like Jazz much though there are some songs I like that are jazz.

    My point is, just because the roots of music goes somewhere, doesn't mean you like that somewhere.

    I like The Doors, the big bopper, Cherry poppin daddies, infact I love music period. Do I buy country music or current R&B music also known as rap crap? no. I do however like some songs from it, and I do feel they are music.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  24. identicon
    snatchmo, 16 Nov 2010 @ 7:37am

    Snarky often?

    Some of us are averse to breaking the law and don't torrent all of what is illegally available on the internet.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  25. identicon
    bob, 16 Nov 2010 @ 7:46am

    Oh Goody

    Now I get to pay for the white album one more time in mp3 format.
    Such a privilege I must say.
    I think I'll hold out for the complete Beatles Catalog in Flac.
    Something I hope to have before I'm dust in the ground 25 years from now.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  26. icon
    Josef Anvil (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 7:47am

    Complete BS

    For most of us Beatles fans, we've already paid for this music at least twice and for some of us three or four or more times ( vinyl, cassette, 8 track, CD). I don't see any reason to pay for this music one more time.

    As far as the format changes were concerned the record companies could always say they had to charge for materials. If I buy the mp3, what material am I paying for???? DRM software?

    As far as Im concerned, Im not "stealing" or "pirating" this music at all. I'm getting something Ive paid for a few times for free from P2P networks. The gravy train of format change is over. The record companies should be HAPPY it lasted as long as it did. Now they have to actually work and think of new ways to screw their employees and customers, because Im done being robbed by format changes.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  27. icon
    chris (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 7:48am

    Re: Damn the expense!

    Lets just think about what John Lennon would have said about all of this.

    what john lennon did say about all this:

    "Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it."

    link to this | view in thread ]

  28. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 16 Nov 2010 @ 7:57am

    "Mama take this CD from me
    I can't use it anymore
    It's getting dark too dark to see
    Feels like I'm knockin' on heaven's door"

    link to this | view in thread ]

  29. icon
    senshikaze (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 7:58am

    Re: Re: Damn the expense!

    over the past few days you have become my second favorite techdirt commenter. Just thought you might want to know.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  30. icon
    harbingerofdoom (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 8:19am

    Re: Damn the expense!

    c'mon.....dont be 'that guy'.
    no one appreciates snobbery being shoved up their snouts.

    /likes the beatles
    //likes pretty much all music -except rap and country
    ///i have a feeling that like others from that era, he would probably have a similar view as david gilmore.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  31. identicon
    JEDIDIAH, 16 Nov 2010 @ 8:20am

    Re: Snarky often?

    There is nothing remotely illegal about converting some older Beatles recording to play on an iPod.

    Any remarks about "piracy" are probably meant to be tongue-in-cheek and possibly to make fun of Apple Fanboys that like to portray anything not bought from Apple as pirated.

    Media that I am free to use any way I like is ultimately of more value. It actually becomes MORE valuable in dollar terms rather than less.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  32. icon
    Un (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 8:37am

    Must consume now!

    TechDirt, Slashdot, Wired, CNN, the Beeb. All the frenzy about this. Must be a slow news day.

    I once had a music provider, or should I say it once had me.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  33. icon
    DH's Love Child (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 8:49am

    Re: Damn the expense!

    Wow, your ignorance of how music is created is amazing!

    As Berenerd already pointed out, all music is influenced by something else. The Beatles were influenced by other music (though, since I don't listen to the Beatles, I don't know who their influences were). I have news for you, most (popular) music after the Beatles was probably influenced in one way or another by them.

    Try applying that same logic to other genres (art, literature, movies, books, etc) and see how well they work.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  34. icon
    Rose M. Welch (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 9:17am

    Re: Re: Re: Damn the expense!

    It's true; I am full of win.

    /arrogance

    No, really. Thanks. :)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  35. icon
    DH's Love Child (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 9:53am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Damn the expense!

    What he said. And you're rapid approaching dear old dad. ;)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  36. icon
    Rose M. Welch (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 10:03am

    Re: Re: Re: Damn the expense!

    My husband (The real one, not the Love Child. :P) wants to know who #1 is? :D

    link to this | view in thread ]

  37. icon
    DH's Love Child (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 11:17am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Damn the expense!

    Well, mine is none other than Dark Helmet. :D

    link to this | view in thread ]

  38. icon
    Dark Helmet (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 11:51am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Damn the expense!

    Please. Like you really had to ask....

    link to this | view in thread ]

  39. icon
    DH's Love Child (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 11:54am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Damn the expense!

    However, father, Rose is a helluva lot cuter than you.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  40. icon
    Rose M. Welch (profile), 16 Nov 2010 @ 1:23pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Damn the expense!

    I guess you're everyone's favorite... But I like the whole regular group. We're all full of win, here. Even the trolls are full of win, kind of.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  41. identicon
    Ryan Diederich, 16 Nov 2010 @ 1:30pm

    I still would download the Beatles.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  42. identicon
    Ryan Diederich, 16 Nov 2010 @ 1:33pm

    Oops

    Anyways, I would still pirate the Beatles work, even if it was available for purchase.

    The members themselves no longer profit, and I dont see fit to give the money to others, who played no part (other than purchasing rights at the right time) in creation of the art.

    Nuff said, I dont pirate because Im cheap, I pirate because I know the artists make much more profit (not money, profit) off of merchandise such as T-Shirts (which I cannot pirate).

    Thats why I am wearing a Linkin Park T-Shirt, but I pirated the album. I refuse to give money to the greedy middlemen.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  43. identicon
    Joe Curmudgeon, 16 Nov 2010 @ 2:20pm

    Re: Re: Damn the expense!

    what john lennon did say about all this:

    Get a job, hippy!

    Good music died with Sinatra!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  44. icon
    PaulT (profile), 17 Nov 2010 @ 12:08am

    Re: Beatles

    "The lack of iTunes availability may have inconvenienced you, but there's very little evidence that it hurt the band."

    I, for one, have never bought their albums on CD. For a reasonable price, I may have bought them on MP3. My inconvenience may have hurt them. You know, like most bands, I might have dipped into their albums a song or 2 at a time where I may not have bought their full albums at $15 or whatever a pop. Just like those people who played Beatles Rock Band and only wanted to buy the songs they liked playing - usually teenagers unfamiliar with the albums who might find that to be a decent road into their music.

    It's not the fans - who most likely would have bought their music on CD already - who were inconvenienced. It's the casual listeners who wouldn't buy full albums at full price. The inconvenience is the band's loss.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  45. icon
    PaulT (profile), 17 Nov 2010 @ 12:21am

    Re: Damn the expense!

    "First off - come on guys, if you don't like the Beatles you might as well say "I don't like music.""

    That's perfectly possible, you know, due to that being a completely subjective opinion and nothing to do with fact.

    "And you can't say you don't like the Beatles and then list of bunch of "better" bands that were all highly influenced by the Beatles sound."

    Why, yes indeed you can. Everything before The Beatles was not influenced by them, and many ripped off by The Beatles themselves. As for afterwards, well please illustrate how, say, Public Enemy, The Prodigy and Burial were influenced by them. This should be an interesting revelation, if you're up to it.

    "How ridiculous is that for a bunch of pop music that everybody has already."

    Apart from the new generation who have never heard one of their albums, of course, let alone people in their 30s like me who have never bothered to listen to a full album because all the major hits are played ad infinitum everywhere...

    Yeah, $260 for all the albums is silly, but don't assume that everyone already has them.

    "Lets just think about what John Lennon would have said about all of this."

    I'd hope he would be disgusted by the modern music industry and have fought to stop it taking certain turns along the way.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  46. icon
    Steven (profile), 17 Nov 2010 @ 7:33am

    Wait... So.... What?

    Wait... So this is what Apple's Exciting Announcement was? Talk about a waste of time...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  47. identicon
    Sean, 17 Nov 2010 @ 8:58am

    Re: Now that is funny right there

    Yeah and changing technology's course...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  48. icon
    senshikaze (profile), 17 Nov 2010 @ 9:47am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Damn the expense!

    Dark Helmet. Don't let it get to you, though, DH is a tough one to top.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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