McCartney’s Memory Downloaded; Beatles Next?
Better clear some space on your hard-drive for Memory Almost Full.
Paul McCartney’s upcoming solo album is going to be available for downloading and streaming via PCs and cell phones, marking the first time an entire disc from the former Beatle will be obtainable through legal online channels.
The contemplative Memory Almost Full, which McCartney has described as “evocative, emotional” and “rocking,” is due out June 5 on Starbucks’ recently formed Hear Music label. As part of its digital marketing push, the international java chain will prominently feature McCartney’s latest effort in the Hear Music section of Apple’s iTunes Music Store.
A few of McCartney’s collaborations with other artists, select Ringo Starr solos and John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Double Fantasy have made the kosher Internet rounds in the past, but for the most part the “Let It Be” purveyors have been conspicuously absent from online music stores and subscription services, leaving a gaping hole in many digital libraries.
But while the Beatles’ catalog has been under lock and key for years, it turns out that the chance to click-wheel one’s way through Rubber Soul may have arrived at last.
McCartney said in an interview for Billboard’s May 11 issue that a deal to clear the way for digital distribution has been “virtually settled” in light of the settlement of a lengthy trademark dispute between Apple Inc. (the Mac maker) and Apple Corps (the Beatles’ company).
The warring yet similarly named sides made amends in February, with Apple Inc. retaining ownership of all of the trademarks and logos associated with iTunes, including the bitten apple, and in return the computer purveyor agreed to license the trademarks that pertained to specific Apple Corps music back to the Beatles’ outfit. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, except that both parties agreed to pay their own litigation fees.
Apple Corps exec Neil Aspinall confirmed earlier this year that the entire works of John, Paul, George and Ringo were in the process of being remastered for a digital release.
Last year, Apple allowed the Beatles’ main producer, George Martin, access to the band’s master tapes so that he and son Giles Martin could score the Cirque du Soleil show Love, which opened in Las Vegas last June to much acclaim from Fab Four aficionados.
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