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Will Apple and the Beatles come together?

Published: Sept 4, 2009 5:26 p.m. ET


Commentary: One fan clings to hopes that iTunes, Fab Four unite



SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- With Beatlemania about to sweep the U.S. again Wednesday with the release of the video game, "The Beatles: Rock Band," and the release of the Beatles re-mastered music catalog, fans like me also hope for a simultaneous launch of the legendary group's music on the iTunes music store.

Will my wish be granted at Apple Inc.'s AAPL, +1.77% Wednesday's media event? Only Chief Executive Steve Jobs and his top lieutenants know for sure. But both Beatles fans and Apple fanatics are groping for any clues that their wish finally will be granted, even as naysayers hose down our hopes. Count me among the wishful.

Hello? Could the timing be more perfect?

Apple Corps. Ltd., the holding company formed by the Fab Four in 1968, has been at odds with record label EMI over selling the Beatles' music over Apple Inc.'s iTunes. But on Wednesday -- when "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game is released by Viacom's VIA, +0.00% MTV Games -- Apple Corps. and EMI will join forces to release a major re-mastering of the entire Beatles music catalog on CD, the same day Apple Inc. is hosting its press event.

Fans have been waiting a long time for the Beatles catalog to migrate to Apple Inc.'s iTunes. As a serious Beatles fan, I am going to add to the ongoing speculation that the Beatles music will finally come to iTunes. Deal with it.

Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, so I can just start adding the Beatles to my iPod one song at a time. But having the Beatles individual songs and full albums on iTunes would also expand their reach to a younger audience. Doubters will say I can just buy the new re-mastered CDs and put them on my iTunes that way.

But the timing of the event prompts the question of why the computer industry's savviest marketer, Jobs, would pick the very same day for an Apple Inc. music-related event as one that involves the Beatles. He can't just be releasing new iPods, can he?

As John Lennon once said in a quip he later had to explain endlessly, "We are more popular than Jesus Christ now." Surely the same would apply to Steve Jobs, don't you think?

So if you think about it: Finally being able to announce having the Beatles in the fold is the only way Jobs can avoid being overshadowed by the iconic rockers on Wednesday.

A spokesman at Apple, of course, will not comment on my lunacy.

Clinging to clues

So I desperately cling to clues -- any clues -- that might tell me the day finally has arrived. Apple Inc.'s invitation says "It's only rock and roll but we like it," an appropriation of the popular Rolling Stone song. Some bloggers speculate the Rolling Stones reference is a red herring to throw us off track. But maybe it's a veiled reference to the British music invasion of the 1960s led by, of course, the Beatles? No?

OK, a reality check: There remains bad blood between Apple Corps. and Apple Inc. These two iconoclasts clashed over trademarks using the Apple name, starting back in 1978. That long-running dispute wasn't ultimately resolved until 2007.

Further, Apple Corps. and EMI, which owns the rights to the Beatles' music, have not been as easily wooed by Jobs as the rest of the music industry. Among other things, they reportedly won't agree to the conventional price of 99 cents per song on iTunes.

And some industry pundits say no way will the long-awaited Beatles-iTunes alliance take place. Among the chorus of analysts and experts who are trying to prove me wrong include none other than the Billboard Executive Editor Rob Levine, who told a MarketWatch reporter in an interview that he does not think the band is preparing to do a deal with iTunes.

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