We Can Work It Out

Today’s announcement that The Beatles are on sale at iTunes ends one of the great sagas of the download age. From today customers can either buy albums or cherry pick tracks, no doubt causing betting shops the length and breadth of the country to hurriedly dust off their old books and offer odds on all manner of Fab Four-related chart feats.

While a handful of other catalogues remain unavailable online - either by virtue of contractual wrangles or simply because the artists concerned remain unconvinced by the temperature of the digital water – these are pretty firmly in the minority. Although no-one is expecting those in the latter camp to be ringing the office of Steve Jobs first thing tomorrow, there are relatively few major pieces missing from the digital music jigsaw now. Key albums by artists such as The Eagles, Def Leppard and Frank Zappa appear to be among the higher profile long-term absentees, while some blips occur simply because the catalogues concerned are undergoing changes of stewardship (as with, until recently, the solo albums of Paul McCartney). The majority of the sceptical, however, have had at least a partial change of heart. Metallica – famously the band that took on the original Napster in the law courts – ended their digital exile in 2006. Led Zeppelin followed a year later, while Pink Floyd’s entire back catalogue is now available to buy online, albeit with some cherry-picking restrictions.

For either of the reasons mentioned above, there are always likely to be some holes in the digital offer. That shouldn’t, however, detract from the major strides made in recent years - and the addition of The Beatles’ catalogue is unarguably one of the most significant yet.