The Beatles and iTunes: We Can't Work It Out

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After years of tough negotiations, courtroom trademark battles, and financial disputes, it looks like iTunes and The Beatles have FINALLY reached an....oops hang on...crap, talks have stalled again! Sir Paul McCartney told the BBC the group is once again at a standstill with iTunes, saying "We'd like to do it...but there are a couple of sticking points." Any iTunes fan will tell you the service is great, but not having the Fab Four on the list of available artists is like having a Baha Men CD that plays every song but Who Let The Dogs Out.

So why would history's most successful pop group not provide their catalog to the Net's most popular music site? How much time ya got? First of all, The Beatles' music management company, Apple Corps, sounds an awful lot like Apple, the owner of iTunes. That set off a trademark dispute that, although recently settled, left a bad taste in the mouths of all parties involved. Sir Paul now insists the "sticking points" are with EMI, the group's former record label. Apparently EMI, despite saying they'd like to make the songs available in digital form, refuses to play nice with iTunes when it comes time to negotiate. So, with the label playing bully with The Beatles' recordings, all Sir Paul can do is sit back and hope both sides kiss and make up. At least he's in good company though...Kid Rock is also an iTunes holdout...to the chagrin of all seven of his fans.

P.S. If you're just too impatient to wait for the dust to clear on these negotiations. Click the Video tab to listen to one of the group's more popular jams. Some naughty fellow digitized the song for us, the very action EMI is trying to get the exclusive rights to do.

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