Beatles for sale... illegally, online, and on the cheap
by Stevie Smith - Nov 5 2009, 15:15
Get it while it's hot... in the criminal sense. Image: exquisitur/Flickr.
Hitting the news in the same week music labels EMI and Apple announced an ‘apple-shaped’ USB device equipped with 14 remastered albums from The Beatles, an online streaming service in the United States faces legal action for selling The Fab Four’s back catalogue without permission.
The service in question, BlueBeat, has reportedly ignored threats issued by EMI and continues to sell both original and remastered Beatles recordings for just $0.25 USD, which is around a quarter of the price individual tracks are sold for through leading online stores such as iTunes.
According to a spokesperson for EMI, the world’s fourth largest music label, BlueBeat.com has not been authorised to either sell or stream Beatles content, which has left the company with no other choice but to file a copyright infringement suit against the online platform.
Hank Risan, CEO of BlueBeat parent company Media Rights Technology Inc., has made short shrift of EMI’s lawsuit by telling the Wall Street Journal that allegations lodged against BlueBeat are “disingenuous.”
Not limited to just The Fab Four’s long list of musical accomplishments, BlueBeat is also carrying content from legendary rockers The Rolling Stones along with more modern artists such as Kanye West and 50 Cent – all of which is similarly cheap.
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