Good Day Sunshine as Beatles hits iTunes? Er, nope

Rumour mill continues to Revolver

By Kelly Fiveash • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 9th September 2009 12:59 GMT

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Sky News has yanked a story that reported Yoko Ono claiming that the Beatles' catalogue was finally coming to Apple's iTunes.

The story carried the headline: "The whole of the Beatles back catalog will be made to buy on iTunes, Yoko Ono has told Sky News."

However, the report is no longer available online and Sky bosses remain tight-lipped about over its Ono report and what in fact, She Said She Said.

Weirdly, Sky didn't issue a retraction, and attempts to view the Google cache of the story also brings back zero results via the search engine.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times is reporting that the catalogue won't be part of Apple's big press event that's taking place later today in San Francisco.

It got the official line from EMI - which owns the Fab Four's sound recordings.

“Conversations between Apple and EMI are ongoing and we look forward to the day when we can make the music available digitally. But it’s not tomorrow,” EMI's global catalog president Ernesto Schmitt told the FT on Tuesday.

We might know more (or less) when Apple is expected to catwalk a selection of new iPods at its annual shindig later today.

The rumour has unsurprisingly done the rounds all over the interwebs, even though it hasn't actually been corroborated anywhere by anyone - including John' Lennon's widow, Ono, who Sky cited as the apparent Beatles-on-iTunes bombshell dropper.

Speculation went into overdrive in part because Apple's event collides with the release of the Beatles' remastered back catalogue.

This is the latest Beatles-on-iTunes rumour to gain ground.

In November 2008 Paul McCartney pooh-poohed the suggestion that Beatles tracks could finally appear on iTunes because negotiations with EMI had once again stalled.

The long and winding road to get the Beatles’ back catalogue onto iTunes has proved a huge headache for Apple, which continues to be in talks with the band’s label.

Still, Apple is still capable of throwing up surprises at its conference, and it's in EMI's interests to make sure the Beatles' catalogue is available Here, There and Everywhere. ®

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