Beatles join iPod revolution with EMI settlement - report

Apr 12, 2007, 14:12 GMT

London - The Beatles have settled a long-running legal row with record company EMI over royalty payments of 30 million pounds (59 million dollars), clearing the way for the release of the band's entire back catalogue over the internet, London's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported Thursday.

Executives at the group's company, Apple Corps Ltd, and EMI, would now sit down and work out a new royalties deal to cover music downloads of their hit singles and albums by websites like iTunes, said the paper.

The keenly-awaited internet release is likely to net millions for surviving members of the Fab Four and their relatives, and propel former Beatles' hits to the top of the download charts.

The band launched legal proceedings against EMI in December 2005 in the High Court in London and the Supreme Court in New York to recover the alleged missing cash.

Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and relatives of John Lennon and George Harrison had alleged that EMI underpaid 30 million pounds in record royalties on sales of Beatles' records between 1994 and 1999.

The Daily Telegraph said it had learnt that EMI and Apple agreed to settle at the end of last month. The details of the settlement are confidential.

However, it is thought that surviving Beatles and relatives of Harrison and Lennon will now receive a multi-million pound sum as part of the settlement.

The band members were entitled to a percentage of the wholesale price of every record supplied by EMI to record outlets. But an alleged deficit was uncovered during an audit of Apple's accounts.

The claim related to every album recorded by The Beatles as a group and later as solo performers between 1963 and 1976, including Help!, Rubber Soul, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road, as well as John Lennon's Imagine.

The royalty settlement means that EMI and Apple can agree new royalty terms for the sale of The Beatles' songs over the internet via download sites such as the popular iTunes music service.

That prospect was first raised when The Beatles ended another high profile legal wrangle in February by ceding ownership of the famous apple logo to computer company, Apple Inc.