Another Beatle to issue solo catalog digitally

Billboard reported yesterday that former Beatle Ringo Starr will issue his entire Capitol Records (an American record label under EMI Group PLC (LSE: EMI) catalog digitally in late August. Joining fellow Beatle Paul McCartney (who just turned 65), Ringo is the second of the four members to issue a solo catalog online, and it will be released without Digital Rights Management technology, just as the current EMI catalogs, including McCartney's, are available.

The release will encompass the four post-Beatles albums Starr recorded for The Beatles own Apple Records and Capitol Records in the early 1970s. Billboard notes that this "move raises further speculation that the Beatles catalog is next in line for digital release," but that excludes the catalog's of John Lennon and George Harrison, neither of which have seen digital release despite recent remastering reissues in the last five years. Lennon and Harrison were originally with EMI through the end of their "Beatle" contracts in 1975, moving to different labels after that. Both artist's catalogs have now reverted to EMI via the executor's of their estates (their wives).

Despite the constant rumors about The Beatles impending release, it is still nice to see this kind of development. No news may be made official about The Beatles, but one more step is one more indicator as Billboard says. In any event, the current rumor is that 2008 will be the year of Beatles reissues.