Paul McCartney reveals download gossip

Tells Billboard Beatles music deal "virtually settled"

14 May 2007 13:37 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Paul McCartney has told Billboard magazine that a deal to allow the Beatles' back catalogue of music to be available on-line is "virtually settled".

McCartney was talking to Billboard to promote his new album "Memory Almost Full" which is due to be released on 5 June on the Hear Music label that is owned by coffee giant Starbucks. This solo album will be available for download via iTunes.

One of the reasons that the Beatles' music has never been digitally available is due to a long running dispute over the name between Apple Inc, who own iTunes and Apple Corp who were the Beatles' record label. This dispute was finally resolved earlier this year meaning that negotiation could begin to get the Beatles' tracks online.

Industry insider have speculated that as and when the Beatles' long back catalogue is finally available to download, the Fab Four's songs may well dominate the download charts as fans rush to own them for the first time in a downloadable format.