Google and Amazon Bid for The Beatles' Catalog as EMI and Apple Corps Squabbled

115356 beatles walking

A pair of reports issued yesterday and today are shedding some light on the behind-the-scenes negotiations that finally led to The Beatles' catalog finally coming to the iTunes Store yesterday.

Billboard reports that the multi-year holdup in bringing The Beatles to iTunes was in large part a result of squabbling between record label EMI and Beatles holding company Apple Corps, neither of which had the sole power to reach a deal for digital distribution of Beatles content.

Much of the impasse was between Apple Corps and EMI. Although EMI has the rights to exploit the Beatles catalog under an existing agreement with Apple Corps, there was enough ambiguity in the deal that EMI was not free to fully negotiate in the digital realm as it would have liked.

"Apple Corp and EMI had some major issues to work through with respect to the granting of rights to exploit the master recordings that the Beatles gave EMI," a source with knowledge of the relationship says. "EMI would never be in the business of doing something against the wishes of the Beatles."

The stalemate was reportedly broken by EMI's new head of recorded music Roger Faxon, who made bringing The Beatles to iTunes one of his top priorities. On the other side, Apple Corps' Jeff Jones, who took over the reigns of the company in 2007, has also been credited with bringing a fresh willingness to negotiate to the table.

While Billboard's report notes that Apple is assumed to have paid a "substantial" advance to EMI to obtain The Beatles' catalog, a report from The New York Post claims that no such such upfront payment was made to EMI as part of the deal.

The New York Post's article also reports that Google and Amazon were pitching to obtain the digital distribution rights for The Beatles' catalog, but that Apple offered the other parties involved the best deal.

Google and Amazon were also pitching to secure the Beatles rights for their own digital music stores, according to industry sources.

In the end, Apple's iTunes, which remains the dominant digital music store, offered the Beatles the best deal despite the previous bad blood between the two entities, sources said.

The Beatles are currently making a strong showing in Apple's lists of top iTunes Store sellers, with over 60 of the group's songs currently ranked on the Top 200 Songs list and all 17 of the album/box set releases ranking among the top 50 albums.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Expected Next Week - Here Are the Release Notes

Friday March 28, 2025 2:01 pm PDT by
With the second release candidate of iOS 18.4 that Apple seeded out today, the company finally provided us with release notes that give a full rundown on what to expect. There's an Apple Vision Pro app, new Apple Intelligence features for notifications and additional language support, plus an Apple News Food feature for Apple News+ subscribers, and several updates that should improve the...
Magic Mouse Green

What to Expect From the Magic Mouse 3

Saturday March 29, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect. The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design. It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information. Relocated Charging Port While the Magic Mouse switched from...
top stories 2025 03 29

Top Stories: WWDC 2025 Announced, iPhone 17 Pro and iOS 19 Rumors, and More

Saturday March 29, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent. A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

Six Things to Know About Apple's Upcoming Foldable iPhone

Friday March 28, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We've been hearing rumors about a foldable iPhone for almost a decade now, but it looks like we might finally see the device come to fruition in 2026. We're going to be waiting many more months for the foldable iPhone, but so far we're hearing good things. Apple wants to make it creaseless. It's taken Apple multiple years to design a foldable iPhone that it's satisfied with because Apple ...
iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements

Apple Codename Provides Clue About iOS 19's Rumored New Design

Sunday March 30, 2025 6:40 am PDT by
Multiple sources have claimed that iOS 19 will introduce a new design with more translucent buttons, menus, notification banners, and more, and there is now another clue that points towards this glass-like appearance. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said the new design project is codenamed "Solarium" internally. A solarium is a room with glass walls that allow in plenty of sunlight, so this...
ipad pro 2024

Gurman: New iPad Pro and MacBook Pro Models With M5 Chips to Launch Later This Year

Sunday March 30, 2025 6:06 am PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPad Pro models with the M5 chip will "launch this year," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the new iPad Pro models have progressed to an "advanced testing" stage, and he expects mass production of the devices to begin in the second half of this year. If that timeframe is met, the new iPad Pro models could launch...
Facebook Feature

Facebook's New iPhone App Feature Turns the Clock Back to 2007

Thursday March 27, 2025 1:59 pm PDT by
In the mid-to-late 2000s, Facebook was all about staying connected with friends and family. However, as the social media platform added new features and grew over time, that core experience began to get drowned out. That changes starting now, according to Meta, which today introduced a new feature that will "bring back the joy" of classic Facebook. Specifically, Meta has redesigned the...