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Early in May, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and EMI Group PLC (OTC: EMIPY) announced that Paul McCartney's catalog would be released digitally for the first time before the end of the month. A week ago, another announcement was made that the material was to be released this week on iTunes. As of this writing, no such release has occurred on iTunes, but according to PC World, the tracks are all available on Napster (NASDAQ: NAPS), RealNetworks Inc. (NASDAQ: RNWK)'s Rhapsody, Viacom International Inc. (NYSE: VIA)'s Urge, and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT)'s Zune Marketplace.
On iTunes (and I checked), the only available McCartney albums are the pre-order for his new Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) flavored album and his 2005 Grammy nominated Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. Furthermore, comparing the price of individual tracks on iTunes, $0.99, with those available for purchase (not the subscription service) on Rhapsody, $0.89, I am wondering if all of Apple's pronouncements about EMI and The Beatles are falling apart. iTunes is not the only store that is privy to the new EMI tracks (without Digital Rights Management technology), but clearly it is now the only store without a significant EMI catalog. It is also the catalog that is supposed to lead into The Beatles' catalog being released. Whether that happens on iTunes seems cloudy at this point, but other digital services will likely stay ahead of Apple's service in this game.
Apple's stock has been growing for a while now, closing at $110.69 yesterday and already well above $112 today, and any lack of Beatles-related material on iTunes won't dampen that progress.
'Long and Winding Road' to iTunes' Beatle offerings
Posted May 25th 2007 6:13PM by Richard Driver
Filed under: Products and Services, Launches, Competitive Strategy, Apple Inc (AAPL), Starbucks (SBUX)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-25-2007 @ 9:45PM
fog city dave said...
Your assumption that "other digital services will likely stay ahead of Apple's service in this game" seems rather spurious to me. On what do you base this prediction, this lone instance? The reason for the delay of McCartney's catalog on iTunes seems exceedingly obvious. As there is only one week left in May, Apple will release the DRM-free EMI catalog on iTunes this coming Tuesday, and will use the McCartney catalog as a showcase for the new DRM-free option, a one-two punch that will reap all kinds of news and blog coverage. It would have been unnecessarily confusing to release his catalog one week early in the DRM format only. This little period in the sun for Rhapsody, Napster, Urge and Zune will be very short-lived, and forgotten by Wednesday. That's my prediction.
5-25-2007 @ 10:08PM
Richard Driver said...
The post is neither prediction or assumption. It is merely a thought based on the previously announced date of May 22 as the release date for the catalog. The fact that only one week remains in May is obvious and unimportant for this case. Yes, EMI announced before the end of May, but that announcement was followed by an additional, more definite date. The game though is who uploads The Beatles material first, which was thought and assumed to be Apple. This instance provides a possible instance that that assumption may not be the case.