The Beatles' Apple Corps issued a terse statement today
regarding the Norwegian podcasts, which have been halted.
No word of further action was available. (Photo courtesy
Apple Corps.)
The Norwegian Beatle podcasts by NRK (Norway Broadcast Co.), that we wrote about here and here yesterday and which were to feature the entire Beatles catalog in free downloads, have been halted.
The company issued a short, terse statement in English on their website that reads: "The podcast is not available at the moment. Please check back for updates." NRK also formally posted a website page (in Norwegian) announcing the halting of the podcasts. The headline on the page reads "Podkasten stoppes," which is fairly easy to translate.
The podcast series was announced on Monday.
Roger Stormo of WogBlog in Norway says in his latest post that two albums, "Please Please Me" and "With the Beatles" were made available before the podcasts were stopped. "The Norwegian podcasts featuring original Beatles tracks were stopped today, after only two albums ('Please Please Me' and 'With The Beatles') had been made available. The explanation given is that 'NRK can not podcast programs with foreign music if the radio program was broadcast more than four weeks ago.'"
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Beatles' Apple Corps sent us this exclusive statement:
STATEMENT REGARDING NRK PODCASTS OF BEATLES MUSIC
It has recently been reported that a Norwegian broadcasting company, NRK, will make Beatles music available for download via a series of podcasts. These podcasts are not authorized by Apple Corps Ltd.
Stay tuned. It wouldn't be surprising if there were further developments in this story and soon. We'll have them here.
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RELATED:
- UPDATE: Norwegian broadcaster explains halting of Beatle podcasts
- Have the Norwegian Beatles podcasts burst a dam or unleashed a firestorm?
- Beatle News Briefs - 1/5/09 - Norwegian podcast series opens Beatle catalog for free downloads
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Comments
The economic landscape of music is so different than when I first bought "Meet The Beatles". I hope there's a cordial resolution.
Rob: I would be very surprised if there was. My guess is don't expect one that keeps the podcasts going.
Good show, old bean. You hinted that something might be "off" there.
I guess the name of the station's theme song should be "Norwegian Would - But Can't."
Mic C: And I don't think this is the end of the story.
Madelyn: Cute. :D
Maybe things like this will finally get Apple Corps off the schneid when it comes to issuing the catalog on ITunes and remastered CDs.
A side note, as outstanding as Paul's "Fireman" album is, maybe he and Ringo should make the Beatles catalog reissue the top priority for a change. Then, they can go back to their solo careers with an added publicity boost.
2009 MUST be the year for ITunes, etc., if it is to happen at all. Paul and Ringo have to know the clock is ticking on fan interest.
Indeed, Tim, you're right. 2009 needs to be the year of iTunes. And hopefully other things.
This reminds me when the legally dubious Alpha-Omega collections came out in the early 1970's, forcing Apple to issue the 1962-66, 1967-70 collections, more commonly referred to by fans as the Beatles Red & Blue albums.
There does seem to be a parallel. I don't think the pressure on Apple to get to iTunes increases that much with the podcasts since they're lo-fi, at least the one I heard was.
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