The Beatles Rock Band Release Accompanied by Remastered CDs
After four years of work, EMI and Apple Corps have digitally remastered all of The Beatles for a CD release in September, along with the Beatles Rock Band game. That could be the prelude to a release in download shops such as iTunes.
The audiophiles of EMI and Apple Corps – the label founded by The Beatles – are sweet at Abbey Road Studios for four years been digitally remastering all Beatles songs to achieve an authentic yet contemporary sound. This will be released at the same time as The Beatles Rockband game on September 9, ie 09-09-09 – perhaps a reference to the group’s absurdist sound collage Revolution 9. Available separately and in a collector’s box, the collection includes the twelve studio albums, the first four of which are making their stereo debut, plus Magical Mystery Tour and Past Masters. All titles except the last one feature a Quicktime documentary about the making of the album. From that choice of format, it can perhaps be cautiously deduced that the other Apple will be including the oeuvre in iTunes in the foreseeable future.
Another clue is that the two surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison, have always insisted that the release of the Beatles material in download shops should not be taken overnight. gone. They argue that recordings of optimal sound quality should be offered, in addition to achieving a solution to the licensing issues that have dragged on for years, which make The Beatles the most famous band not for sale on iTunes. With the completion of the remastering process, at least one of the hurdles has now been removed.
Apple Corps owns the rights to the Beatles catalog along with EMI and Sony, complicating a digital release deal. In any case, Apple Corps and EMI don’t want to say anything about the progress yet except that there is talk. There has been speculation for years about releasing the catalog in download shops, for example last year the rumor surfaced that Apple had acquired the rights for 200 million pounds. However, with the release of the remastered CD collection and the appearance of the foursome’s music in the game The Beatles Rock Band – for the Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 – it could very well be an iTunes release in the UK. pipeline. However, this will not happen until the rightholders feel that there has been enough time to land CD royalties, and to continue discussing the distribution of digital copyrights.