Apparently, there are talks between Paul McCartney and Louise Harrison–George’s sister, who’s lived in the U.S. since before the Beatles blew up–to open a Beatles museum in Branson, Mo., Harrison’s home city. More »
If you’re a Beatles fan, prepare to be either horrified or economically exploited by the holiday lineup at Bloomingdale’s; the retail chain has gone frantic for the Fab Four. More »
Sony honchos in charge of the Fab Four’s publishing first voiced their enthusiasm for a Beatles-specific Guitar Hero game back in March, and now Apple Corps and EMI are meeting with both Activision (makers of Guitar Hero) and MTV Games (makers of Rock Band). Since the death of unofficial CEO Neil Aspinall, Apple has lost some of its usual promotional hesitancy, finally giving American Idol the opportunity to perform Lennon-McCartney songs. If plans for the game come to fruition, it may only be a matter of time before the band invades the digital marketplace in a big way. Surely the other Apple would be happy to see them warm up to it.
The Beatles’ catalog may be available on digital music services next year, according to Paul McCartney, leaving Kid Rock as the last one left to turn out the 20th century’s lights, as far as music-distribution methods go. More »
The Wu-Tang Clan song “The Heart Gently Weeps”–which you can listen to at Oh Word–was, according to a post on the hip-hop group’s blog earlier this week, the first-ever song to use a cleared Beatles sample, a fact of such epic import that the release date of the Clan’s forthcoming 8 Diagrams had to be pushed back from Nov. 13 to Dec. 4. The only snag? If you look at the details of the “first-ever sample” claim, it kind of falls apart:
Two sycophantic Macca interviews from which to choose: Stereogum’s fawning face-to-face (a good chunk of which is spent describing what it’s like to walk to a Paul McCartney interview) or Pitchfork’s fawning phoner, which actually posits the following question: Pitchfork: I wanted to ask about… More »
According to Billboard, the second living Beatle is preparing to put his solo work online: Starr has agreed for the first time to release his Capitol/EMI solo catalog online, including 1970’s “Beacoups of Blues” and “Sentimental Journey,” 1973’s “Ringo,” and 1974’s “Goodnight Vienna, beginning… More »
– Lupe Fiasco’s business partner was sentenced to 44 years in jail after police found six kilograms of heroin in a storage locker, a situation that is both loopy and fiascuous. More »
Today’s Wall Street Journal is reporting that Julian Lennon has sold his financial interest in the Beatles’ music-publishing royalties. The company that scooped it up is none other than Primary Wave–and why does that name sound so familiar? Oh yeah!
Primary Wave made headlines last year when it paid an estimated $50 million for a 50% stake in the music-publishing catalog of Kurt Cobain, which it bought from his widow, Courtney Love. It has since licensed the songs the late rocker wrote for his band, Nirvana, to videogames and other outlets. As part of the Lennon deal, the company has committed to help Julian Lennon market a forthcoming album, yet to be titled; it is to be his first since 1999’s “Photograph Smile.”
This morning, we got a press release from EMI teasing an “exciting new digital offering” from the beleaguered record label, one that would be announced at a press conference at its London headquarters tomorrow. The guests at the press conference: EMI CEO Eric Nicoli, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, and an unnamed guest who will provide a “special live performance.” Nicoli’s been giving Apple props lately, so Jobs’ attendance at this event got our interest piqued–and the fact that the EMI press rep who sent out the release attempted to recall it shortly thereafter, a trick that pretty much never works, only fueled our speculative flames. Could this be the long-awaited announcement that the Beatles catalog will be going online? Or did EMI’s PR department get a little too slap-happy with the prospect of pulling a big April Fool’s joke on everyone?
The full release after the jump.
UPDATE: Reuters is reporting that “a source familiar with the situation” is saying that tomorrow’s press conference will not include a Beatles-related announcement. We’ll be watching live at 8 a.m. ET, and you can tune in as well.
UPDATE 2: Holy crap!
