Hard day’s night for Bluebeat as EMI sues over copyright
MUSIC label EMI, which is owned by Guy Hands’ Terra Firma, said yesterday that it is suing a US-based website that is selling unauthorised downloads of Beatles songs.
EMI filed a copyright infringement suit against Bluebeat.com, a small website based in California, which was selling the fab four’s music for download at just 25 cents a track – far lower than they would be priced if they were available on other sites, such as iTunes.
Bluebeat.com also allows users to stream songs for free.
Beatles tracks are not legally available in MP3 format, despite protracted negotiations between EMI and the company set up to handle the Beatles catalogue, Apple Corp.
Both the label and Sir Paul McCartney have said that they are keen to see the Beatles music available on digital stores, but talks have so far stalled.
As it stands, EMI can only monetise the back-catalogue through physical sales, such as the re-mastered “Fab Four” release, and video games.
There were hopes that Beatles songs would become available after iTunes owner Apple Inc ended its trademark dispute with Apple Corp in 2007, but obstacles remained.