If the Beatles were to show up on iTunes any time soon, it’d be news to Sony/ATV Music Publishing — the Sony + Michael Jackson joint venture that owns the publishing rights to most of the songs.
A recent report on the UK’s Telegraph claimed that “the White Album and Help will be available on the popular iTunes website and are expected to top the download charts for several months on release.”
To that, Sony/ATV Music Publishing responded with something along the lines of, “the kid is not my son,” except replace “kid” with “Beatles music” and “my son” with “appearing on iTunes any time soon.” According to CNET,
Sony/ATV is a pretty good source. While EMI Group owns the recording rights to The Beatles catalog, Sony and Jackson own the rights to the vast majority of the catalog’s publishing rights. Had a deal been cut, Sony/ATV would “absolutely be informed,” the Sony/ATV spokeswoman said.
So there you have it. We’ll check back in with you when the next round of Beatles/iTunes rumors surface, which should probably be any day now.
Michael Jackson’s company denies Beatles coming to iTunes [CNET]