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March 9, 2008

The Best Things In Life May Be Free, But It Cost $400 Million To Get The Beatles On iTunes

Duncan Riley

38 comments »

Update: CNET is reporting that this may be inaccurate - “A spokeswoman for Sony/ATV Music Publishing told CNET News.com that the reports are “untrue.”"

money2.jpgThe best things in life are free
But you can keep them for the birds and bees
Now give me money
That’s what I want
That’s what I want, yeah
That’s what I want…

Paul McCartney has signed a $400 million deal with Apple for the distribution of the entire Beatles’ back catalog on iTunes. Under the deal, the money will be distributed to Ringo Starr, the families of George Harrison and John Lennon, Michael Jackson, EMI and Sony, along with McCartney getting his share as well.

The deal finally finishes Steve Job’s quest for the Holy Grail of music downloads.

(via CrunchGear)

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 9th, 2008 at 11:05 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  1. 113.com

    March 10th, 2008 at 1:24 am

    Still delightful for Jobs, and Beatles fans as well. Good stuff.

  2. Jon

    March 10th, 2008 at 2:30 am

    This is great news… for the Beatles but if I was a shareholder with Apple, I would be fuming… they got taken to the cleaners due to Jobs obsession with them.

    Jon
    http://woodmarvels.com - Create Unique Memories

  3. Paul

    March 10th, 2008 at 3:34 am

    $400M? That’s A LOT of downloads to recoup that.

  4. Peter Kafka

    March 10th, 2008 at 3:36 am

    Paul, you’re correct. Duncan, you’re wrong.

  5. Boring Market

    March 10th, 2008 at 4:04 am

    I think it was a worthwhile investment, its the Beatles for gosh sake. Do I think they will turn a profit on this investment? Not for a couple of years.

  6. allen stern

    March 10th, 2008 at 4:16 am

    Duncan - make a seesmic or qik/flixwagon video of you singing that :)

  7. Beatles Lover

    March 10th, 2008 at 4:47 am

    Wonder if APPLE Computers was named after APPLE record label

    Surely Jobs was a fan

    The perfect circle comes to a close :-D

  8. MikeT

    March 10th, 2008 at 5:06 am

    I love the Beatles.
    However, people’s tastes change. The Beatles may not be on the top “to download” list of as many music lovers as before. Add here the huge number of albums sold by now - to those who cherish the Beatles and you get a quite weak prospective of recouping the 400M.
    Looks like it’s one of ol’ Stevie’s caprices…

  9. Forumistan

    March 10th, 2008 at 5:07 am

    Wow, that is a lot of money. iTunes should be very rich. Thanks for the information.

  10. Fabian Schonholz

    March 10th, 2008 at 5:17 am

    It is funny, when I first finished reading the article I thought “only $400M, what a low price”. Then I read all your comments. And am of the post Beatles generation, and while I like them, I am not sure if I would buy a track from iTunes.

  11. smcnally

    March 10th, 2008 at 5:31 am

    Apple will get well more than $100MM in ‘free’ press because of this deal.

    based on the terms w/r/t exclusivity, length, etc. it could be 2x+ that in press and buzz.

  12. Dito

    March 10th, 2008 at 5:59 am

    Been waiting for this for years. Price tag does not surprise me in the least. The Beatles are worth it.

  13. Mark F

    March 10th, 2008 at 6:13 am

    Exactly who is interested in this? Is there a lot of Beatles fans who want to listen to the Beatles on an iPod but don’t already have the CDs to rip?

  14. Steve

    March 10th, 2008 at 6:15 am

    Is it just the cynic in me, or is this related to McCartney’s divorce settlement?

  15. Jesus H Christ

    March 10th, 2008 at 6:19 am

    i wonder how much MJ gets considering is owns most of the Beatles songs, from a prior deal with sony.

  16. joan

    March 10th, 2008 at 6:44 am

    MJ probably got the biggest portion of them all.
    But what’s important here is not who gets how much but how much Apple paid.
    There’s no way of knowing what the ROI will be but Apple is the only one who gets to sell these songs!!
    So where are you gonna look when you plan on buying a digital download?
    When you have an ipod you almost automatically go to the itunes store.
    If not you have quite a lot of other options.
    But I’m willing to bet that the first place you go to will be the one with the biggest library!

  17. joan

    March 10th, 2008 at 6:46 am

    I do have one question though. How long does the exclusivity last?

  18. CC Rider

    March 10th, 2008 at 6:49 am

    Oh, the biggest library? You mean torrents? Yes, I will use those.

  19. Russ

    March 10th, 2008 at 7:08 am

    Right before Jackson’s house goes on the auction block….nice timing.

  20. some guy

    March 10th, 2008 at 7:12 am

    $400M, probably should have waited until his divorce was finalized.

  21. Your Daddy

    March 10th, 2008 at 7:42 am

    Yeah, looks like NeverLand Ranch is safe!

  22. Inside Knowledge

    March 10th, 2008 at 7:48 am

    this sets a dangerous precedent for apple

  23. Your Daddy

    March 10th, 2008 at 7:51 am

    BTW, WTF actually pays for music these days?

  24. Jonathan Silber

    March 10th, 2008 at 7:59 am

    This is actually delightfully funny.

  25. The Magnate

    March 10th, 2008 at 8:19 am

    Hahahaha!! $400 M?!!

    MagNet is coming….

  26. Omer

    March 10th, 2008 at 8:22 am

    This probably also closes the never ending saga on Apple’s deal with the Beatles real estate over Apple the label. The issue came up again when Apple started up itunes which was kind of against the original agreement they had wrto using the Apple name.

    Im sure a couple of pages reads that the Beatles estate may not bother Apple Computer about using the Apple name in ‘music’ related businesses. In fact i think it probably says you can do what f you want with it…

    financially speaking:

    $400M = 404million dowloads (@99centes) + bandwidth +capex - related PR

    and it doesnt even seem to be an exclusive deal…

  27. You all crack me up

    March 10th, 2008 at 8:38 am

    @ 10 smcnally - are you kidding? $100 MM of free press? Not quite. Not even close. Maybe $10 MM of free press. Then again, most of the press and blogosphere is already filled with Apple fanboys so the net effect is not that big.

    Overall, this is a retarded deal. It’s good to know someone is in a position of strength to negotiate with Apple.

    In other news… Ringo Starr renegotiates Thomas the Tank Engine licensing on iTunes…

  28. What a Joke

    March 10th, 2008 at 10:20 am

    What a joke. This sets a dangerous precedent for Apple. How much is Apple going to have to pay for AC/DC? Or how much will it take to get NBC back on the site? Will the movie studios now ask for money upfront before a rental hits the site? Apple should have just let the Beatles twist in the wind for another year or two.

  29. ZiZi

    March 10th, 2008 at 12:05 pm

    Wow, exactly at the right time for poor MJ, he is once again saved.

  30. ZiZi

    March 10th, 2008 at 12:07 pm

    what I dont understand is how PM or any of the beatles had any say in this??
    all the music is owned by Sony and MJ 50/50, anyone know?

  31. mobilekick.com

    March 10th, 2008 at 3:02 pm

    Theres like 500 beatles songs, and 1 million beatles fans on itunes. That leaves SJ with 100 Million, and one of the best exclusive deals ever made.

  32. nate

    March 10th, 2008 at 3:31 pm

    Move over U2 iPod…

  33. Greek-Songs.com

    March 10th, 2008 at 3:35 pm

    That’s really good news…

  34. Hey Jude

    March 10th, 2008 at 4:45 pm

    MobileKick.com you are retarded….

    those 1 million fans probably own all 500 songs….if you don’t then again, you are retarded….

  35. John C. McClore

    March 10th, 2008 at 4:55 pm

    MJ saved again, the man is just destined to be rich!

  36. John C. McClore

    March 10th, 2008 at 4:56 pm

    What’s next? If he loses this money he wins the Powerball?

  37. Bob Dole

    March 10th, 2008 at 9:40 pm

    I hope MJ buys Candy Mountain and gets Charlie a new kidney…joyness

  38. Andrew Akers

    March 11th, 2008 at 2:19 pm

    You guys have got to be kidding me . All of you guys are missing the point . How many I Phone / I Pods / is the Beatles Catalog Deal going to sell ( if it is indeed true) It will contribute plenty to the bottom line . Lets see another million phones @ about 150 profit per phone, plus the I Pods, and then of course the down loads . It will sell hardware and the Mac platform and get the Beatles music into a whole other generation. My children are now 19 and 23 and I started them on the Beatles at 5 years old . If it is indeed true it will put I Tunes wayyyyyyy over the top . Good Night Zune

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