The Beatles on I-Tunes?
Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 10:53 amfrom the NY Times
April 2, 2007
Speculation Is in the Air Over EMI and Apple
By THOMAS CRAMPTON
PARIS, April 1 — Relations between Apple Inc. and the EMI Group, once at odds over the trademark rights to the Apple name, the record label of the Beatles, seem to be getting better all the time.
On Sunday, Steven P. Jobs, the Apple chief executive, announced a joint news conference to be held in London on Monday with Eric L. Nicoli, chief executive of EMI, the British music giant.
An Apple spokesman in London had no comment when asked for details, but the impending news conference set off a torrent of speculation on possible agreements between Apple and EMI. Theories ranged from a Yellow Submarine iPod factory-filled with Beatles music to a more radical shift toward selling digital music without copy protection.
Speculation that the Beatles’ music, which has been unavailable on legitimate digital music services, might soon be licensed for download from Apple’s iTunes service has been rife since early February, when Apple Inc. and Apple Corps, the guardian of the Beatles’ music interests, announced that they had settled their dispute over the technology company’s name and its use of an apple logo.
Both EMI and Apple have recently indicated an interest in making music available without antipiracy protection.
In recent months, EMI has discussed proposals to sell unprotected songs through a variety of digital music services that compete with Apple, including online retail units operated by RealNetworks and Yahoo, according to people briefed on the company’s affairs. But those plans appeared to stall after the parties could not agree on financial terms.
Mr. Jobs waded into the controversy this year with a letter, posted on Apple’s Web site, that urged the music industry to abandon the use of the digital rights management technologies that limit the ability of consumers to transfer music.
Apple has faced intense criticism from governments and consumer groups across Europe over the last year because of the digital protections on music sold by iTunes. France passed a law intended to encourage the easy transfer of music between digital devices.
While many independent labels already sell music without copy protection, EMI has placed itself at the forefront of the major music companies in questioning the usefulness of such protection.
Last week, Mr. Nicoli told a mobile operators’ meeting in Orlando, Fla., that test sales of unprotected music by a few artists offered some promising results, but did not say whether EMI would expand or abandon the practice.
If the announcement on Monday does involve the Beatles, the experiment may be a much-anticipated Yellow Submarine iPod that comes supplied with Beatles tracks, according to Mark Mulligan, a vice president at JupiterResearch who specializes in digital music.
“The trademark settlement deal clearly raised the possibility of Apple selling EMI music in a physical format,” Mr. Mulligan said. “This is an original idea and helps Apple with their core business, selling devices.”
Such a device had been rumored for introduction on Valentine’s Day, but never appeared, Mr. Mulligan said. He added that speculation that the announcement might involve the sale of music without copy protection is a result of EMI’s drawn-out negotiations with a number of music retailers.
“Negotiations for sale of unprotected music through retailers, including iTunes, Napster and others, just faded out,” Mr. Mulligan said. “The idea of a major record label selling unprotected music was unthinkable a year ago, but is now under serious consideration.”
The possible sale of unprotected music has been driven in part by the much larger illegal downloading markets, he said. Some European countries have so much piracy that five songs are downloaded illegally for each song sold over the Internet, according to JupiterResearch.
Mr. Mulligan insisted on holding in reserve one theory about Apple’s plans: “Knowing Apple, they could be bringing out a major surprise we have not yet considered.”
Jeff Leeds contributed reporting from Los Angeles.
April 2, 2007
Speculation Is in the Air Over EMI and Apple
By THOMAS CRAMPTON
PARIS, April 1 — Relations between Apple Inc. and the EMI Group, once at odds over the trademark rights to the Apple name, the record label of the Beatles, seem to be getting better all the time.
On Sunday, Steven P. Jobs, the Apple chief executive, announced a joint news conference to be held in London on Monday with Eric L. Nicoli, chief executive of EMI, the British music giant.
An Apple spokesman in London had no comment when asked for details, but the impending news conference set off a torrent of speculation on possible agreements between Apple and EMI. Theories ranged from a Yellow Submarine iPod factory-filled with Beatles music to a more radical shift toward selling digital music without copy protection.
Speculation that the Beatles’ music, which has been unavailable on legitimate digital music services, might soon be licensed for download from Apple’s iTunes service has been rife since early February, when Apple Inc. and Apple Corps, the guardian of the Beatles’ music interests, announced that they had settled their dispute over the technology company’s name and its use of an apple logo.
Both EMI and Apple have recently indicated an interest in making music available without antipiracy protection.
In recent months, EMI has discussed proposals to sell unprotected songs through a variety of digital music services that compete with Apple, including online retail units operated by RealNetworks and Yahoo, according to people briefed on the company’s affairs. But those plans appeared to stall after the parties could not agree on financial terms.
Mr. Jobs waded into the controversy this year with a letter, posted on Apple’s Web site, that urged the music industry to abandon the use of the digital rights management technologies that limit the ability of consumers to transfer music.
Apple has faced intense criticism from governments and consumer groups across Europe over the last year because of the digital protections on music sold by iTunes. France passed a law intended to encourage the easy transfer of music between digital devices.
While many independent labels already sell music without copy protection, EMI has placed itself at the forefront of the major music companies in questioning the usefulness of such protection.
Last week, Mr. Nicoli told a mobile operators’ meeting in Orlando, Fla., that test sales of unprotected music by a few artists offered some promising results, but did not say whether EMI would expand or abandon the practice.
If the announcement on Monday does involve the Beatles, the experiment may be a much-anticipated Yellow Submarine iPod that comes supplied with Beatles tracks, according to Mark Mulligan, a vice president at JupiterResearch who specializes in digital music.
“The trademark settlement deal clearly raised the possibility of Apple selling EMI music in a physical format,” Mr. Mulligan said. “This is an original idea and helps Apple with their core business, selling devices.”
Such a device had been rumored for introduction on Valentine’s Day, but never appeared, Mr. Mulligan said. He added that speculation that the announcement might involve the sale of music without copy protection is a result of EMI’s drawn-out negotiations with a number of music retailers.
“Negotiations for sale of unprotected music through retailers, including iTunes, Napster and others, just faded out,” Mr. Mulligan said. “The idea of a major record label selling unprotected music was unthinkable a year ago, but is now under serious consideration.”
The possible sale of unprotected music has been driven in part by the much larger illegal downloading markets, he said. Some European countries have so much piracy that five songs are downloaded illegally for each song sold over the Internet, according to JupiterResearch.
Mr. Mulligan insisted on holding in reserve one theory about Apple’s plans: “Knowing Apple, they could be bringing out a major surprise we have not yet considered.”
Jeff Leeds contributed reporting from Los Angeles.