Down(load) With The Beatles
IT’S “BEATLEMANiA”.
The Mirror, ever tuned in to the zeitgeist, uses its front page to trumpet the band that will conquer the world.
With their uniform mop top hair-dos and simple catchy tunes, the Fab Four, as the paper is calling them, may one day be every bit as popular as Oasis.
That’s the dream. For now, though, the news is that the band’s record company have agreed a deal to allow the Beatles’ songs to be downloaded from the “Internet”.
“PLAY JUDE,” says the caption to a shot of the foursome with headphones plugged into their ears. “We give classic Beatles album cover the iPod treatment.”
That this should be front-page news is no surprise. The Mirror is, after all, the paper that today offers its readers a free copy of the new children’s book “The Gingerbread Man”.
Like the Beatles, this creation has every chance of being a hit. It too is front-page news.
The background to this breaking Beatles story is that after 25 years of arguing over who has rights to the Apple name, iPod giant Apple Inc has settled with the Beatles’ record company Apple Corps.
Soon fans will soon be able to download Beatles songs to their computers and MP3 players. As the Mirror says, this means “Beatles hits will occupy EVERY space in the Top 40 once they can be downloaded legally”. Beat that, Simon Cowell.
Steve Jobs, of Apple Inc, says: “We love the Beatles and it’s been painful to be at odds with them. It feels wonderful to have resolved this in a positive manner.”
That’s just great. Good that two rich and successful companies can agree to be the bigger men and not look grasping and greedy.
And, as luck has it, the Mirror estimates that revenue from Beatles’ albums could shoot up from last year’s £30million to £500million a year in downloads.
Not bad for a new band with two very ex-members…
Posted: 6th, February 2007 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
