The Beatles’ music catalog will soon be offered online, but will not be available exclusively from the iTunes Store as recent rumors have suggested. Neil Aspinall, the head of the Beatles’ Apple Corps, told Fox News that when the Beatles songs do get released online for downloading, “it will be on all the services, not just one.” That potentially means stores such as iTunes, Yahoo Music, Microsoft’s Zune store, and RealNetwork’s Rhapsody could all offer the the Beatles catalog.
Fox News also speculates that Apple Corps may have received iTunes and iPod royalties in its recent settlement with Apple Inc. “If you missed it, Apple Corps. sued Apple Inc. in 2002 over trademark violations after signing a 1991 agreement,” reports Fox News. “Jobs et al won, but the case went to appeal. Before the appeals court could make a ruling, a settlement was reached. The Beatles, sources say (and not Aspinall, whom I didn’t even discuss this with), may have won royalties on Apple iTunes/iPod hardware as part of the settlement.”
