Consider:
- On February 5, 2007, Apple Inc. and The Beatles’ Apple Corps Ltd. settled a long and ugly trademark dispute. But no Beatles in the iTunes Store.
- On April 2, 2007, Apple began offering all of Beatles-distributor EMI Music’s tracks as DRM-free, higher quality tracks for $1.29 each. No Beatles in iTS.
- On April 12, 2007, Apple Corps settled a royalties dispute with The Beatles. Nothing.
- On May 8, 2007, Steve Jobs released a statement, “We have always loved the Beatles, and hopefully we can now work together to get them on the iTunes Music Store.” Hmmm…
- On May 15, 2007, Apple announced pre-release orders for Paul McCartney’s new album, “Memory Almost Full,” and availability of his full solo catalog on iTS. No Beatles.
- On August 14, 2007, Apple announced the addition of the John Lennon catalog on iTS. Still no Beatles.
- On August 28, 2007, Ringo Starr’s catalog landed in iTS — <shrugs> — and Apple sent out an invitation for a September 5 media event. The invitation said, “The Beat Goes On,” which just so happened to be the last four words of the press release The Beatles sent out to announce their breakup in 1970. (Ok, I thought, this time it’s going to happen.)
- On September 5, 2007, Apple had its music event and made numerous announcements about iPods and iTS. But nothing about The Beatles.
- On October 9, 2007, George Harrison’s catalog showed up on iTS. All four Beatles ‘ individual catalogs aboard but still no Beatles catalog.
The next likely event to get your hopes up for a Beatles catalog announcement and ultimately disappoint you is Macworld 2008, where Steve Jobs will almost certainly give the keynote address.
UPDATE (6/25/2009): A few new items of interest:
- On June 1, 2009, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr announced details of the upcoming The Beatles: Rock Band video game will launch for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii on September 9, 2009. The game will include 45 Beatles tracks. Tucked into the press release was this little gem:
The Beatles: Rock Band will be released worldwide on 9/9/09, as will the release of the entire, original, digitally re-mastered Beatles CD catalogue.
- On June 16, 2009, Capitol/EMI released a new George Harrison solo collection, including an iTS exclusive track.
