Beat Memorabilia & Famous Musicians

It was only 2 years ago that Paul McCartney was quoted as saying, “Beatles tracks are not coming to iTunes any time soon.” What a difference 24 months can make. The biggest-selling , most influential group in rock history is finally allowed to make their mark on the digital world.
On Tuesday November 16, 2010 iTunes unveiled the Fab Four’s music for legal downloading for the first time. Within hours of their availability, eight Beatles recordings were at one point among the top 25 albums sold on iTunes and that included the box set at $149.00.

But what was the story behing the hold-up? After all, iTunes was launched 10 years ago. Well, there are 3 distinct entities involved; Apple Computer who ownes iTunes, Apple Corps, who are The Beatles’ management company and EMI Group, The Beatles’ recording label. Because of a long-running trademark dispute with Apple, Apple Corps resisted selling Beatles music on iTunes.

From 1970-2007 Apple Corps’ chief executive was the forever Beatles’ road manager Neil Aspinall. Jeff Jones (formerly a vice president at Sony BMG where he specialized in repackaging classic albums) replaced Neil in April 2007 and the feud between the two Apples was resolved. Both companies aggreed on joint use of the “Apple” logo and name.

The next piece of the solution was Roger Faxon becoming CEO of EMI Group in June 2010. He was to be responsible for leading the operations of EMI’s music publishing and recorded music divisions. According to EMI representatives, Faxon met with Apple Corp CEO Jeff Jones in September, 2010 and “in a matter of hours” worked out the first steps of an agreement that allowed the iTunes deal to move forward. So you see, all it took was two new guys that both wanted new opportunites for Beatles music to reach music lovers, both new and old.

The downloads iTunes is selling are the stereo mixes of the entire Beatles catalog. The monaural mixes of 1963′s “Please Please Me” through 1968′s “White Album” were released last year as “The Beatles in Mono” 13 CD Box Set. But there does seem to be some contoversy over the sales of individual songs at $1.29 each. For Beatles “purists”, some songs were designed to be singles, but what about the “B” side of Abbey Road? The mix of songs like “Sun King”, “Mean Mister Mustard”, and “Polythene Pam”, these and other songs are only several seconds long. I’m sure The Beatles meant for these songs to be heard together. It might turn first time listeners off if they download one of these unique songs and expect it to be a typical song that you’d hear on the radio. And what about Revolution 9 off the White Album? What will newbies think about that song as a single download? We can always hope that curiosity would be peaked enough to eventually download the album in it’s entirety.

What about the naysayers that were of the opinion that “Almost anyone who has wanted to download Beatles songs has already done it via music pirate sites and software.” ? Well, the numbers are in: 2 million songs and 450,000 albums downloaded in the first week! Of course that number will fall off, but you have to admit, those are impressive numbers for a band that quit making music 40 years ago! If you are a true Beatles fan already, you’re not suprised by these numbers. You just get what The Beatles are, and their never ending influence on our world in so many ways.

To see what all the hubbub is about, click one of these links:

UNITED STATES
The Beatles. The band that changed everything, now on iTunes!

UNITED KINGDOM
iTunes GB

     What do two “bean counters”, a landscape business owner and a General Manager for General Motors Accessories all have in common?  They all Rock Steady in a band by the same name.

     The foursome started out about 6 months ago with Dave Lavin (bass) and Dave Wilson (guitar) playing music together in their church.  It wasn’t long before the two of them found out that their love for music was deeper than just playing worship.  Classic Rock is the love and passion for both of these guys, and thus began the arduous journey to find a drummer and lead singer to complete the band. 

      Fortunately the other pieces fell into place pretty quickly after an ad on Craig’s List and a few auditions, Bill Cantlon was chosen as the drummer and Angela Hammontree as the lead singer.  The nice thing about this lineup is that each of these musicians has had years of experience in other well known bands, and they seem to have good chemistry together.

       Angela Hammontree is a native Northwest singer, musician and songwriter.  She has been writing and performing original music for several years with her project, “The Angela Hammontree Band”.  With the focus of her original music turning toward writing and recording in recent months,  Angela began looking for a cover project that would keep her performing for live audiences.  She found a shared appreciaton of classic rock music with the members of Rock Steady and , as their lead vocalist, enjoys paying homage to the bands that originally inspired her to become a musical artist.  (Favorite Beatles Albums:  Rubber Soul and Revolver)

       Bill Cantlon was born and raised in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame city of Cleveland, Ohio.  Bill played in several local Seattle bands back in the ’70s and ’80s.  The past two and a half years, Bill managed and played drums with Seattle’s own Heart tribute band “Straight On”.  Bill recently played with former Heart members Roger Fisher, Steve Fossen, and Michael Derosier as well as Randy Hansen, Dudley Taft, Gregg Fox and Rick Knotts of Rail.   (Favorite Beatles Albums:  Beatles ’65 and Rubber Soul) 

        Dave Wilson has lived in the Seattle area most of his live, playing guitar in an eclectic mix of different bands and projects in several genres, including  rock, progressive rock,  jazz,  acoustic and worship.  A life-long devotee to the six-string, Dave cites his primary influences as Jimmy Page, Roy Buchannan, Bruce Cockburn, David Gilmour, Steve Howe and the Beatles.  (Favorite Beatles Albums:  The White Album and Abbey Road)

       Dave Lavin is a Seattle area native and has played in performing bands since the late 1960′s.  His band “Oscar Wilde” was a frequent and familiar guest at well known clubs during  the 1970′s, including “My Place” in SeaTac and “Aquarius” in North Seattle.  Having played in several bands since then, he has aso offered his talents to Eastside churches with music ranging from rock and alternative to upbeat gospel.  During 2008 he performed with “Rear View Mirror”, a ’60s mod theme band and most recently with” Triple Shot”, a 7 piece classic rock and R&B project.  (Favorite Beatles Albums:  Meet the Beatles and Beatles ’65)

     To be continued:  Part 2 of this story coming soon!