London: The Beatles take a step closer to selling their music online on Wednesday with the simultaneous release of the band's re-mastered catalogue and the MTV video game The Beatles: Rock Band.
The Beatles collection, available from 09/09/09, is expected to dominate the charts in key markets like the United States and Britain, bringing a windfall to the group's label EMI Music and the Fab Four's company Apple Corps Ltd.
Retailers who have seen physical music sales eroded over recent years are also gearing up for queues around the block for both the CDs and the video game, an added bonus after Michael Jackson's death in June saw a spike in sales.
While the re-mastered catalogue, its first overhaul since 1987, is seen appealing mainly to Beatles' fans who would appreciate subtle variations and improvements that technology has brought, most excitement surrounds MTV's video game.
"I think this (the game) is significant because it will enable the music to be heard by a new generation of fans," said Gennaro Castaldo of music and gaming retailer HMV in London.
"It just keeps the Beatles mythology growing and growing, so that's why it is so significant."
The fact that, according to Billboard, the Beatles will soon allow fans to buy at least some of their music in digital form as extra downloadable content for the game, underlines how close the digital age may be.
"I think the Beatles music soon will be available everywhere," Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer George and who produced the music for the game, told Reuters at London's Abbey Road Studios where the band recorded.
Fans of arguably the world's most successful pop band, with album sales of more than 600 million worldwide, have waited for years to be able to download the Beatles' coveted body of work, but have been frustrated partly by a trademark dispute.
The new music collection comprises 12 Beatles albums in stereo, with track listings and artwork as originally released in Britain, and "Magical Mystery Tour", which became part of the Beatles' core catalogue when the CDs were released in 1987.
In addition, the collections "Past Masters Vol. I and II" are combined as one title, making 14 titles overall.
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
Allan Rouse, who oversaw the re-mastering, said improved computer software had allowed his team to improve the quality and sound of the Beatles' catalogue, including through removing bad edits, electrical clicks and sibilance.
"Obviously the only people who are going to notice those little things are the fans, because they will know that they've gone," Rouse told Reuters.
"But on the other hand, for the future generation, they probably don't want to hear things like sibilance and pop and a bad edit. It's very close to listening to a master tape."
Another obstacle to appreciating the changes is the dominance of iPods, he added.
"The sad fact of it is that so many people ... are going to rip them into their computer and put them onto their iPods, so yes, listening on an iPod you probably will find it very difficult to tell the difference."
The game offers 45 songs from the band's catalogue, each member is animated in detail and real crowd noise from Beatles' performances is used.
With video game sales falling sharply in the United States, the makers of The Beatles: Rock Band are aiming to appeal to older consumers who have not yet experimented with the format but may be attracted by their love of the music.
"It's becoming a family event because it's moved from the bedroom to the front room where the whole family can play," HMV's Castaldo said.
Beatles Timeline
In 1962 an unknown pop group from Liverpool recorded their debut single. During the next eight years the Beatles created what is arguably one of the greatest collections of popular music recordings of the 20th century.
The albums have now been digitally remastered and are to be released on September 9. On the same day MTV launches The Beatles: Rock Band, a video game which allows users to pick their favourite member of the group and play along to the music.
Here is a timeline on the Beatles and their long playing releases.
December 17, 1960: First British performance as The Beatles, at the Casbah Coffee Club, Liverpool.
January 1, 1962: They audition for Decca records but are turned down because "groups of guitars are on the way out". Record shop owner Brian Epstein becomes their manager.
June 6, 1962: First recording session at EMI with George Martin as producer.
October 1962: Love Me Do, their first single as The Beatles, enters the British chart and reaches number 17.
January 1963: Please Please Me reaches Number One in four of the five British singles charts, beginning a sequence of 12 consecutive number ones.
PAGE_BREAK
February 11, 1963: Recording of their first album, Please Please Me, is completed in one day.
November 1963: With The Beatles becomes first million-selling album in Britain.
February 7-22, 1964: The Beatles tour United States for the first time, break TV viewing records on the Ed Sullivan Show.
July 6, 1964: Debut film A Hard Day's Night premiered. The soundtrack album of the same name was issued on August 10 and reached number 1. The album contained 13 new songs some of which were not included in the film.
December 4, 1964: The fourth album, Beatles For Sale, is released topping the charts immediately.
June 12, 1965: Queen Elizabeth awards the four the MBE (Member of the British Empire). John returns his in 1969, partly in protest at British support for United States in the Vietnam War.
July 29, 1965: The second Beatles film, Help!, premieres. The album was released on August 6 in Britain.
December 3, 1965: The Beatles start their final British tour. The last live concert in Britain takes place on May 1, 1966. Final concert of all is in San Francisco on August ust 29, 1966.
December 3, 1965: Rubber Soul is released and sees the group departing from their rock and roll roots for the first time.
August 1966: The Revolver album is released.
June 1, 1967: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is released and was British number one for 27 weeks. It becomes the highest selling British album of all time. It was one of the most innovative albums of its time and sounded like a continuous show.
August 27, 1967: Epstein is found dead.
November 27, 1967: Magical Mystery Tour is released in the US as an album and days later as two Extended Play records in Britain. The television film was first shown on December 26, 1967 and also starred Scottish actor and poet Ivor Cutler.
January 22, 1968: Apple Corp, a record company founded by the Beatles, opens offices in London.
February 1968: The group flies to India to meditate with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. As divisions appear, for the first time the group works separately on tracks for The White Album.
October 1968: Premiere of animated film Yellow Submarine. The album was released in January 1969.
January 1969: Documentary Let it Be is filmed. Intended as account of Beatles' "rebirth", it chronicles their demise.
May 26-June 2, 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold "bed-in" protest at Amsterdam hotel and record Give Peace a Chance.
July/August 1969: Abbey Road album recorded: the first recorded solely in stereo. Traffic outside studio was stopped for the cover photo of the group on a pedestrian crossing. The final mix on August ust 20 was the last day all four were together in a recording studio. It is released on September 26.
April 1970: Final studio session for a Beatles record -- but with only Ringo Starr there. No formal announcement is made, but news that the Beatles are no more appears on April 10. The thirteenth and last album Let it be is released on May 8 and the film was premiered in London on May 20.
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