Conflicting sources turn Beatles iTunes announcement into pantomime

8 September 2009 23:19 GMT / By Stuart Miles

"He's behind you, Oh no he's not," is the usual cry at the pantomime and the same is quickly happening to the much hyped Apple announcement on the 9 September as conflicting source of what will and what won't be announced crash against each other.

Whether or not The Beatles will be launching their music collection digitally via the iTunes music catalogue it seems it doesn't get any more heated.

The facts are thin on the ground. The opinion is rampant.

Green for launch

9 September is a big day already for The Beatles. It's the launch of Rock Band: The Beatles, and the general release of the entire Beatles remastered back catalogue on CD from EMI.

Add to that Sky news publishing and then pulling a story claiming Yoko Ono confirming the release of the catalogue in the music download store and you would be forgiven for thinking it was a dead cert.

Get back in your box rumourmill

On the nansayers side there are also as many facts to prove that the launch in iTunes isn't happening.

First there is the fact that this is a rumour that has been floating around for over three years, with many expecting an announcement when Apple settled with Apple Corp over naming issues.

The second is that the invite clearly states a line from a Rolling Stones song, which by many are seen, not an enemy of The Beatles, but an entirely different camp. To quote one to launch the other would be like Apple sending out an invite with the Microsoft Start bar on it. They both say computers, but it's just not going to happen.

The final anti-launch piece of the puzzle is a quote from Ernesto Schmitt, EMI’s global catalog president. He told the FT, again in the UK that:

“Conversations between Apple and EMI are ongoing and we look forward to the day when we can make the music available digitally. But it’s not tomorrow,”

The story published at 4:45pm GMT should and could put the nail in the coffin. Surely the head honcho at EMI is going to know what it launching and what isn't, after all Paul McCartney has previously said to NME that:

"We were having problems with iTunes – well not iTunes, EMI was the problem – with downloading, which we'd like to do because that's how a lot of people get their music."

It will be alright on the night

So what's the real answer? It seems just like debate class at school there are good arguments for and against tomorrow's announcement rumours. Apple and Beatles fans are clearly excited.

Luckily we won't have to wait to long to find out an answer.

Tune in

Pocket-lint will be covering the Apple "Only rock and roll, but we like it" event from 6pm GMT.

We will keep you posted.

What do you think is going to happen tomorrow? Let us know in the comments below:

Full tags

Comment, Audio, iTunes, Apple, Beatles