The e-Beatles are coming soon?

According to the source, the representatives of the legendary pop band Beatles are negotiating with music e-tailers for an exclusive distribution deal. The market value of the classic band seems to be everlasting, so the price tag for the exclusive deal will be huge.
"One of the things that has held back digital music online has been lack of availability of very popular artists, notably among them The Beatles," said Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg. "If they are able to come to some sort of licensing terms, it bodes very well for the online model and would probably pave the way for some of the other holdouts to come online."
..
"We've had several discussions with them, because we think it would be terrific to make all The Beatles' work available in digital services," said EMI spokeswoman Jeanne Meyer. "We would be delighted if they made that decision."
Source: News.com

Written by: Lasse Penttinen @ 9 Jun 2004 10:54

Advertisement - News comments available below the ad

10 comments

A_Klingon

I see lots of problems in the works on this one.

Firstly there are only TWO beatles left. Secondly, there is a very wild, wild-card in the mix, one Ms. Yoko Ono, who may/could cause problems. (Exclusive heir to the Late John Lennon's Estate).

Add to that, the current "ownership" of the entire Beatles' catalogue, copyright-wise. Is it not Michael Jackson?

I see seventeen tons of red tape to wade through before we see any "legit" online Beatles' tunes.

I have ALL their albums. I've also owned pretty much everything they ever did on the original vinyl releases, British Parlophone vinyl, German Marconi Apple pressings, Japanese pressings, analogue cassettes, and yes, even 8-track cartridge !

But regarding their regular fare music cds, -- they are terrible in some cases. (Quality wise). Just pitiful.

And I don't see how compressed versions of these same songs via the net, will *ever* improve the situation. (Not to mention that whatever form they come in will be soo hampered by DRM, it'll make you cry.

We don't need online Beatle tunes. We need honest, Hi-Resolution DVD-Audio versions of them -- 96KHz or 192KHz, 24-bit, from the ORIGINAL masters.

Whatever is in the works for these new Beatles' tunes, I suspect you'll do just as well with uncrippled .mp3 + P2P. (Truly!)

My .02c.

9.6.2004 13:46 #1

brian100

Quote:But regarding their regular fare music cds, -- they ae terrible in some cases. (Quality wise). Just pitiful.I agree totally. My Linn Sondek/Lp12/Ittok/Troika turntable makes the beatles vinyl Lp's sound superb. But then this setup of mine beats CD for quality on anything I throw at it. Bring back vinyl!! Burn all CD's

On Initial Viewing My Backup Looked Terrible,
But With One Eye Closed It Aint Half Bad!!

9.6.2004 14:12 #2

A_Klingon

If I had a front end like that, Brian, I'd never be able to listen to my Beatles' cds ever again ! (Even with my old Denon DP-790 + Shure V15-Type-IV, the cds sound like a cheap, 9-volt, 8-transistor radio).

As bad as the present day cds are, what earthly benefit could the (proposed) tunes have over yer basic .mp3s from your favourite P2P?

Trivia:

What's always been terribly wrong with the first four Beatles' CDs ? :

They're ALL mastered in Monaural (Mono) !

There can be no excuse for this. Despite what the "Fifth Beatle" (Sir George Martin) says, after listening to the original stereo vinly LPs of these albums, listening to these first four cds is genuinely painful.

And there's absolutely no comparison between these either:

The original 'Yellow Submarine' music CD --

..... is not even remotely the sonic match for the later DVD release of the same name:

And that's despite the fact that the DVD only has compressed Dolby Digital.

And the thin, watery, flat, dull, lifeless crowd sounds in the opening seconds of 1967's.... ...

.....sounds like popcorn popping through a hollow cardboard tube.

What Was Mr. Martin Thinking ? !!!!!!

Compressed music downloads of these things can hardly constitute an improvement.

DVD-Audio (genuine hi-res), lovingly remastered from the original sources (or as close as they can get) are the only realistic means of improvement 40 years after the fact.

(Nonetheless), Long Live The Beatles !

=====

9.6.2004 18:06 #3

Toiletman

I am fasinated by your loyal intrest in Beatles. To me, they're one of the greatest bands of the past, nothing more. Do not flame me, this is just my opinion. Well actually, flame me all you want.

I just wanted to ask these big companies, just because iTunes was so popular doesn't mean they're going to be as popular right?

9.6.2004 18:18 #4

brian100

A_Klingon

I will never forget George Martins face when he was asked his opinion on the sound quality of the Beatles CD's. He was visibly wincing when listening to them.

My front end was purchased way back in 1989, and it cost an arm & a leg. If you are looking for a good turntable (on a budget) you could not go far wrong by tracking down a "Regar Planar 3". If you can pick one up 2nd hand go for it, the thing just pees all over CD.

On Initial Viewing My Backup Looked Terrible,
But With One Eye Closed It Aint Half Bad!!

9.6.2004 22:09 #5

A_Klingon

Quote:....do not flame me ....Noo, noo, nooo..... I have no intention of doing that, toiletman.
Quote: I am fascinated by your loyal interest in the Beatles.I guess it depends a lot on how old you are. I'm a pretty old bugger - I can remember seeing the Beatles when they first appeared on the Ed Sullivan show! (Good Lord, we're talking 1963, I believe!). I was just a wee kid back then. We didn't even own a colour TV set.

I can even remember collecting the original, black-&-white bubble-gum collector's cards for something like .05c or .10c a pack! (Those original cards are worth quite a bit these days.)

For me anyway, they generated more excitement than any other single band ever since. (Guess you had to be there).

10.6.2004 19:21 #6

A_Klingon

Quote:I will never forget George Martin's face ... he was visibly wincing.WoW! Thanks for that info!

Sounds about right though, since it was George who was in charge of the cd mastering process. Although cds were very new at the time, that's really no excuse, because Mr. Martin has had a LOT of time since then to remaster the discs.

The merest listen to the 'Yellow Submarine" DVD I mentioned above, shows just how much LIFE there was (and still is) in these old recordings. A listen to my old British Parlophone Vinyls confirms the same thing.

No contest.

As I mentioned, farming out compressed, downloadable files of these things isn't going to improve anything.

10.6.2004 19:30 #7

chthomson

I still have stored away a copy of the Photo Journal of the Beatles in New York for the Ed Sullivan Show
An I agree "real music" is on vinyl not CD

10.6.2004 19:41 #8

TomGab

I found this thread during a Google search. Have any of you guys hooked up your turntables to a digital recorder and tried getting the vinyl sound in digital? Seems to me that would solve alot of the problems re bad CD sound. I have recorded much of my old vinyl and it sounds great on my portable and in my vehicle, though digital adds that touch of "harshness." I'd be interested to know what equipment you've used if you've achieved great sound by recording vinyl t digital. Cheers!

5.8.2005 13:57 #9

A_Klingon

Hi Tom.

Yep - I've piped many a vinyl LP through the sound card of my computer, with delightful results!

And for others, I've also transferred cassettes, 8-tracks (!), analogue FM radio shows, and even... (I swear), old, shellac 78-rpm records!

Even on a basic computer system with an average 'so-so' sound card (no expensive outboard D/A converter), you can make wonderful-sounding cds from your vinyls, that'll match it's retail CD counterpart any day.

You just have to adjust your input-levels carefully (digital overload is unforgiving), and avoid any "normalizing" (auto-level-control dynamic-range squeezers).

I only ever used EAC (Exact Audio Copy) - a free program which you can get right here in the A/D software section - to make the vinyl-to-cd conversion.

5.8.2005 20:17 #10

AfterDawn: News