Flickering across the cyberuniverse now is talk that the Beatles just might end up letting it be at long enough last: the quartet's music may come to an Internet store near you, before very much longer.
It started when CNET reported representatives for the Beatles had finally begun talking to numerous Internet music providers, from the small players to Microsoft, though it's said the Beatles' team might be looking for "a considerable sum" in return for online distribution rights to the quartet's music. Surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have resisted putting the group's catalog in cyberspace; George Harrison, who died in 2002, had also resisted the idea.
If the Beatles end up relenting, it could be one of the biggest adrenaline shots the online music world could get, CNET said. The online services "are struggling to prove they can offer more music than a brick-and-mortar store, and the lack of songs by rock-and-roll's premier group – whose breakup more than three decades ago and the subsequent deaths of two members have hardly hurt its popularity – has been an oft-cited gap in their appeal." CNET also speculated a deal to put the Beatles online could even involve a Beatles-exclusive online store.
The Beatles' move to cyberspace may or may not have an effect regarding the music industry's battle with the peer-to-peer online community, where the Beatles are usually among the most heavily-demanded downloads. P2P United executive director Adam Eisgrau doesn't think it would impact P2P greatly if the Beatles cut an Internet music deal, but he thinks such a move would be more than positive.
"Anything that demonstrates the utility and viability of meeting consumers' legitimate demands [online] is a good thing," Eisgrau told AVNOnline.com about the possible Beatles move.
The Recording Industry Association of America did not return a call for comment before this story went to press.
The Financial Times quoted an unnamed music industry insider as saying that the Beatles putting their music on the Internet could convince other holdouts to take the plunge, too. Two other longtime holdouts, the paper said, have already taken the plunge: the Rolling Stones and Tom Petty (with and without the Heartbreakers).
The Beatles might not get much resistance from their record label if they decide at last to hit the Internet running, the Financial Times said. EMI owns the Beatles' masters, and would have to approve any deal between the Beatles and the e-stores; but contracts between the Beatles and EMI lacked provisions for digital rights, the Times said, while the Beatles themselves and their family members have shied away from cyberspace services until now.
But the paper quoted an unnamed EMI spokesperson as saying the label would probably love it if the Beatles could make an Internet music deal. "It would be absolutely great if the Beatles were to make their music available to these legitimate online services," she said.
Reuters was said to have tried reaching McCartney and Starr's representatives, though the two former Beatles themselves have yet to comment on the online music talk. But Reuters also said EMI has been trying to convince the Beatles to let their music be in cyberspace "for years."
The Beatles aren't exactly strangers to the digital world. They've been in a legal tussle with Apple Computer over the Apple name and logo – the Beatles set up Apple Corps in 1968 to handle business affairs and create a new label for the band – and last year's premiere of the iTunes Music Store. The Beatles are said to have had a decade-old formal agreement with Apple Computer that they could use their apple logo on computers only, with the computer giant said to have agreed not to apply it to music interests long before creating iTunes.
That battle will be heard in a British court. British High Court justice Edward Mann ruled in April that the trademark charges raised by the Beatles' Apple is covered by British law. Apple Computer wanted the case heard in San Jose, California.
