(great screencap from Flickr user jidnet)
I have to break my silence to share this very substantial news.
The handlers of The Beatles content, longtime holdouts of the digital music world (having never gone on iTunes, or sold anything through digital means) have officially ended their boycott of the medium and decided to release content through MTV/Harmonix’s Rock Band franchise. Ars Technica and Wall Street Journal have stories up tonight, and a formal press conference is planned for tomorrow morning.
So, a console video game will be the venue by which the Beatles will enter the digital music world.
I mentioned back in June that there were rumors of this, and the impact of which will no doubt rattle the whole industry. This comes on the heels of the 10-year anniversary of two very controversial pieces of Copyright legislation: The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Public Knowledge is running a great series on the occasion that includes a variety of interviews and reflective essays, for those who are really curious on how the legislation has changed how we handle copyright (for good and for bad). I have a sense that these two events coming together will lead to a massive discussion of technology, content, and commercialization – assuming of course we can tear ourselves away from election coverage for long enough to do so.
Incredible kudos go to Cambridge’s own Harmonix for being the ones that finally brought down the beast. I hope it all works out for all parties involved. As I said back in June, we as an industry want deals like this. At least I think we do.
[...] October I wrote that it was my current neighbors, Cambridge’s own Harmonix, that brought down the [...]
Pingback by The Beatles, in digital form: « Andy on the Road — 1 June 2009 @ 8:38 pm |