Posted on 12/17/2013 9:28:48 AM PST by the scotsman
Unreleased outtakes, demos and BBC sessions by The Beatles from 1963 have been released on iTunes.
The 59 tracks have been released on iTunes to stop them falling out of copyright and into the public domain.
EU copyright law covers recordings for 70 years if they have had an official release or 50 years if they have not.
The 2-disc set was apparently released, then removed, early on Tuesday, causing speculation it was only being published briefly to extend the copyright period.
Fans posted screenshots of the collection on the New Zealand iTunes store, along with links which later became invalid.
Online reports suggested the same thing had happened in Australia, Russia and Saudi Arabia - although the EU's copyright laws would not apply in any of these territories.
However, the full album appeared on the UK iTunes store shortly after 14:00 GMT. The BBC has been told the songs will remain on the site "indefinitely".
Gathering together live material and recording session offcuts, the compilation includes four alternate takes of She Loves You, two of From Me To You and several live versions of Roll Over Beethoven.
It also features three attempts at There's A Place, as well as demos of two songs the group gave to other artists - Paul McCartney and John Lennon's acoustic version of Bad to Me and Lennon's piano demo of I'm in Love.'
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
That's exactly why these tracks have never been released. Musicians typically record tons of material, then release only their very best performances.
I'm sure if the surviving Beatles had their way, these tracks would never see the light of day.
Anything over 30 years old is PD imo, and is treated as such.
HA! I have about 30 of them in my playlist. Granted, out of 19,000 songs, that's a small percentage, but the total is probably actually higher, as that only lists those with "Berlin" somewhere in the ID3 tag.
I don’t think the surviving Beatles get diddly for this. I think it’s Sony these days. I could be all wet, these may not be in “the book.”
May not work out as you think. There are inherent differences in the music of the Rock Era and that of the pre Rock Era.
We are ALREADY well into the envelope you describe in that anyone listening to The Beatles or Led Zeppelin are listening to music as old as Rudee Vallie’s stuff was in 1972. Huge numbers of young people know and love the old catalog.
Years ago I expected what you describe to happen as that is what history says will happen. The idea popped into my head in 1979 as I sat in traffic listening to “Whole Lotta’ Love’ as I tried to conceive of it being regarded as some kind of old Hal Roach dirge.
The big difference with RnR was that it was the music, the sound of Youth (rather than of people who happened to be young when they made it). As the music critic at the NYTimes put it back then “ it is ACTION oriented rather than romantic.” (Or something like that) Action still appeals to the young.
I see your point. It is very good and valid. Nevertheless, popular music is generational and passes along with the generations. So what that somebody’s grandchildren are listening to the Beatles (as reported on this forum recently and repeatedly in response to posts like mine.) Dollars to donuts that their grandchildren won’t. My own daughter, whom I raised on Vince Gill and Patty Loveless, later a Green Day fan, once fell for the long dead Gram Parsons. Who? I never really appreciated him myself, before or after.
In addition, something that I only recently discovered (dumb! dumb!), people judge much of popular music, especially live performances, by their experiences while listening to it. You can see it by reading comments on Youtube under godawful live performances by the Rolling Stones (or anyone, I suppose). I was there (meaning, I paid the exorbitant price for the ticket), I had fun with my girlfriend there, therefore it was good.
On Fakebook, while I post links to videos and free downloads by Filligar and Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, among others, my “friends”, who grew up with the Swinging Blue Jeans, not only fail to click Like, but respond by posting links to Gerry and the Pacemakers. Stuck in their youth. And I bet they say that Elvis will be forever, and Beatles too.
These are bits of BeeB chatter from radio broadcasts. Early days.
ANY works that have not already secured copyright 50 years after creation automatically BECOME public domain under the new Euro tradition.
This is why Bob Dylan, the Beatles, The Beach Boys, and others are having to open the vault if only for time-limited digital releases (and digital downloads have NO resale rights/potential).
A concept that must be lost on the joint media/marketing machine...naw, not really. Woohoo, let's make a(nother) buck! The suckers (suitably mind-massaged) are out there...
It’s perfectly reasonable to release the BBC sessions since they were broadcast and not outtakes, like what the Rolling Scones did recently with a couple of their albums from the 1970s (Some Gals and Exit on Main Drive), half-secretly improving on the outtakes and completing some of unfinished stuff from the time. (Those Jagger vocals ain’t from the 1970s, dude!)
Well the other stuff (like the full Chess Records’ Stones sessions) have come out of late but as high quality boots.
And the “copyright free” recordings are producing some extensive “greatest hits” (of an artist, label, or era) CDs.
They aren’t that high dollar at Half Price Books (often $6.99 for a two-CD set, maybe $17.99 for a 4 disc/100 track CD set with extensive booklet.
Yeah, they mystic pull of bootlegs... Somewhere in my LP collection there rests a bootleg double LP of Pink Floyd live at Pompeii (IIRC). Ostensibly recorded with one of those early Walkman-type devices appr. 500 yards removed from the stage - mostly one hears the surrounding fans mumbling in their drug-induced stupor. Yet someone actually thought it was a good idea to press vinyl LPs(!) from that...err...recording effort. (And the cover art is to die for..LOL) Hey, only 5 bucks from the flea market. No great loss.
*they* -—> *the*, darn it.
I'm as big a Beatles fan as anyone, but there's no way I'd pay good money for this collection. It's like selling the scrap paper doodlings of famous painters as 'master works'.
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