Beatles royalties row settled - April 13 2007
The Beatles have settled a £30 million royalties row with music giant EMI in a move which could pave the way for legal downloads of the band’s hits.

Speculation has been mounting about plans to release the band’s entire back catalogue over the internet, possibly catapulting many of their tracks back to the top of the charts.

The settlement of the long-running royalty dispute with the record company is seen as clearing the last hurdle for such a move.

Releasing Beatles singles and albums on music websites such as iTunes could net the surviving members of the legendary band millions.

Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and relatives of John Lennon and George Harrison alleged that EMI underpaid them by tens of millions of pounds in royalties on sales of Beatles’ records between 1994 and 1999.

An EMI spokeswoman confirmed the royalties row had been resolved, saying: "Last month we settled on mutually acceptable terms."

She refused to comment on reports that a new agreement on legal downloads would follow.

But earlier this month, EMI Chief Executive Eric Nicoli told a press conference the company was "working on it, we hope it’s soon".

The band also settled a long-running dispute with iTunes parent company Apple Computer in February over the use of the apple name.

The news comes as it was announced that Neil Aspinall, the chief executive of Apple Corps, was quitting his post after more than 40 years looking after the band’s interests.

Still no Beatles on iTunes - Jan 10 2007
Beatles fans were left disappointed after a rumoured deal to distribute the Fab Four’s music on iTunes failed to emerge.

Apple, the provider of the online music store, has yet to get permission to sell Beatles music. However, it was rumoured they would soon be announcing a deal.

During the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, Apple boss Steve Jobs played the band’s Lovely Rita, from the Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, on the company’s hotly-awaited new iPhone gadget.

But he didn’t follow it up with any announcement about the Beatles and the band’s music remains absent from the site.

After the show, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, refused to comment on why Jobs would demo a song not available on iTunes.

"We don’t have anything to say about that," he said.

The Beatles are among the last big music names that have not allowed their material to be sold online.

Sites such as Microsoft’s MSN and Rhapsody have also serenaded the lads from Liverpool -- but their record label, Britain’s EMI Group, has rebuffed suitors.

Beatles still make their stamp - Dec 28 2006
The Beatles are set to feature on some new stamps planned by the Royal Mail.

The new stamps in January will feature Beatles album covers, while others will pay homage to TV’s longest running show, The Sky At Night.

The show, which has been broadcast for 50 years, will be one of the stars of the 2007 stamp programme, alongside others commemorating famous events and the natural world.

Sir Patrick Moore, who has been presenting the show since the very first episode in 1957, has chosen six of his favourite celestial objects for the stamps, which will be issued in February.

Others later in the year will include underwater sea life, British inventions that changed the world, the abolition of the slave trade, British Army uniforms and the centenary of the Scout Association.

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