Friday, November 6, 2009

Special Edition 'Abbey Road' To Hit Stores



Shops to sell 5,000 copies of Beatles album

U.S. independent record stores will sell a unique LP boxed-set edition, limited to 5,000 copies, of the Beatles’ Abbey Road” on Saturday as part of a series of promotions designed to drive foot traffic into stores hard-hit by the boom in digital music sales.

Exclusive 40th-anniversary vinyl edition of the album, licensed and produced by EMI, includes a T-shirt and poster featuring artwork from the collection’s two-sided hit single, “Come Together”/”Something.”



The “Vinyl Saturday” promotion is the latest stunt in the campaign dubbed “Record Store Day” involving 200 indie music retailers across the country.

Former Beatle Paul McCartney said he was happy to support the cause with what is sure to be a collector-coveted edition of “Abbey Road.”

“When I recently played Amoeba (musicstore) in L.A., I realized what fantastic memories such a collection of music bring back when you see it all in one place,” McCartney said in a statement.

In other Beatles' news:

EMI has won a temporary injunction against BlueBeat, the digital-music vendor selling Beatles tracks without permission. According to Billboard, a temporary restraining order demands the company cease selling all EMI tracks, including Beatles songs.

US District Court Judge John Walter has ordered the internet site Bluebeat.com to remove the Beatles songs that they were selling for 25 cents on their site. Bluebeat had argued that they owned the copyrights to what they were selling as they had re-recorded them as "audio visual performances with related sounds."

The judge issued a restraining order barring the site from any further streaming or selling of the songs and stated that he believed EMI would most likely win in a lawsuit against Bluebeat.

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