When are the Beatles going to put their music online?
May 28, 2006The last two years there’s been a Beatles fan festival held here in Louisville called Abbey Road on the River. I went both last year and this year, and I’m definitely planning to come back next year as well. It’s a great chance to get outside, listen to some bands playing familiar and not-so-familiar Beatles tunes and eat some really unhealthy fair-type food. I must admit though I was disappointed that they weren’t selling bangers-and-mash this year.
Anyway, I’m not really that big a Beatles fan, like I said I often hear unfamiliar tunes at the festival that everybody else seems to know the words for. This year the tune that I heard and really loved was “Dear Prudence”. Several of the bands covered it so I heard it a bunch and now of course I’d like to add it to my iTunes library. And that’s when I remembered that Beatles’ tunes are not available in iTunes, or in fact any of the legal download sites.
Now I’m sure the Beatles are not on the best of terms with Apple Computer after the recent court case, but I think they’re missing a big opportunity. Here I am, Mr. Consumer, credit card already stored in iTunes ready to use at a moment’s notice. I’ve got at least one song I’d love to buy from their catalog, but I’m not buying the entire White Album just to get that song. So basically they’ve lost a sale, admitedly a small sale but I bet there’s lots of people just from this weekend’s festival who’d love to pick up a couple songs each. Hundreds if not thousands of lost dollars for the Beatles.
Well I hope they come to their senses soon and get their music distributed somewhere, even if it’s not on iTunes. And hey, if anybody has a cheap copy of “Dear Prudence” on a single or something, let me know. I’m in the market.