Beatles News

Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon & Julian Lennon Release Give Peace a Chance 40th Anniversary Single

Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Julian Lennon have partnered with EMI Music and Sony/ATV Music Publishing to release a 40th anniversary digital single of the Plastic Ono Band's historic recording of Give Peace a Chance. Proceeds from the sales go to the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF). The single became available today on iTunes and will be offered through the end of the year.

Ono commented, "I am thrilled that so many in the music business are readily supporting Give Peace a Chance on its 40th anniversary. It is indeed a time when we are all getting more aware of the necessity of doing something to achieve world peace, no matter how small. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I feel deeply that we are all one, regardless of where we stand."

The song was written during John and Yoko's March 1969 "Bed-In" after Lennon told a reporter "All we are saying is give peace a chance" in response to being asked what they were doing. The recording was made using a 4-track recorder on June 1, 1969 in Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Those that joined in and sang on the chorus included Tommy Smothers, Timothy Leary, Petula Clark, Dick Gregory, Allen Ginsberg, Murray the K, and Al Capp.



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USB Drive of Beatles Music Available


Though you can play Beatles songs on Rock Band and enjoy the band’s epic catalog on remastered CDs, you still can’t legally buy the music of John, Paul, George and Ringo on the iTunes store or other digital shops — yet. In a move that may represent Apple Corps. softening its traditionally inflexible view of selling the Fab Four’s music digitally, the company and EMI Music will release a limited-edition USB drive featuring the entire Beatles in Stereo remastered set as 320 Kbps MP3s on December 8th. All 14 albums and 13 “mini-documentaries” will be included on the 16GB USB drive, which will be shaped like the iconic Apple logo with “The Beatles” written on it. Only 30,000 of these USBs will be produced; onsale information is available at the Beatles Website. www.thebeatles.com

Following the 9.9.09 debut of the digitally re-mastered catalogue on CD, Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music are pleased to announce the worldwide release of a limited edition Beatles Stereo USB on December 8th.

This unique, apple-shaped USB drive is loaded with the re-mastered audio for The Bealtes' 14 stereo titles, as well as all of the re-mastered CDs' visual elements, including 13 mini-documentary films about the studio albums, replicated original UK art, rare photos and expanded liner notes. A specially designed Flash interface has been installed, and the 16GB USB's audio and visual contents will be provided in FLAC 44.1 Khz 24 bit and MP3 320 Kbps formats, fully compatible with PC and Mac.

In addition, EMI is going after a digital-music Website called BlueBeat.com for offering up the Beatles catalog as a digital download without permission. According to Variety, a copyright-infringement lawsuit was filed yesterday by EMI, which controls the digital rights of the Beatles music through an agreement with Apple Corps.