Beatles and McCartney to Be Released Digitally

Two of the three EMI digital holdouts may soon be digitally unleashed. The three are The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and ex-Beatle Paul McCartney.

Now Paul McCartney says that the digital release of the Beatles' catalog is coming soon. During an interview with Billboard magazine about the release of his upcoming album, McCartney was asked if the legal obstacles to the Beatles' catalogue being released digitally had been overcome. McCartney said, "Oh yeah, very much so. It's virtually settled. And in a virtual world, that's something." EMI announced today that it will be releasing McCartney's entire solo catalog "across all digital platforms.

"I don't want to pre-empt anything, but we're well on the way to something happening there, which is very exciting."

McCartney gave no specific time frame, and refused say whether the iTunes store would have an exclusive on the Beatles' catalogue. That scenario had been rumored earlier this year when the Beatles' Apple Corps settled its lawsuit with Apple Computers, the owner of iTunes.

Paul McCartney's new album "Memory Almost Full" will be played in 10,000 Starbucks stores in 29 countries on June 5th. This is McCartney's first for the coffee chain's label with the Concord Music Group's Hear Music. McCartney said the switch was not due to tensions with his longtime label EMI but because felt that he needed "new blood" in marketing his music digitally.

"A lot of the major labels, I've noticed for a while, have been floundering a bit, and it's shown in some of their results... You don't want to stay in a gang of mates who don't know where they're going; it's a bit unsettling. I'd rather have people who say, 'We're going there.' And you know what, it's worked. Starbucks are really keen... I just sensed the majors were not quite sure what to do", he explained.

The album will have a huge boost by being played in the numerous coffee shops, in addition to normal retailers. Memory Almost Full will also be featured on several satellite radio channels and the album will also have tie-ins with T-Mobile, which will feature ringtones from the album.

Memory Almost Full is said to feature several tracks that hearken back to his work with 1970s group Wings. "I think what happens nowadays more than it might have in the past was I'm not trying to avoid any styles that I used in the past. What I would normally do is, 'Oh, no, I've done that.' You know, 'I've done that sort of string quartet thing, therefore I should never do it again.' But it didn't bother me after 'Yesterday' to kind of do a stringy thing on 'Eleanor Rigby.'"

McCartney is planning a series of promotional concerts for the new set, although his representatives would not specify when and where the dates would take place. McCartney is 64.