[Dixielandjazz] Beatles downloads on iTunes

[Stephen G Barbone]

On Nov 18, 2010 The LA New Monitor announced the first day sales of  
Beatles tunes and album downloads on Apple's iTunes. Perhaps not as  
strong as some predicted, they are doing pretty well, We OKOM bands  
might consider adding Beatles songs to our repertories if we are  
courting jazz challenged audiences, starting with "Hey Jude". And  
those songs on the album, "Abbey Road". Like "With A Little Help From  
My Friends" and "Love Me Do" (great for weddings) which are both  
readily adaptable to Dixieland arrangements.

Note also that prior to the iTunes releases, the Beatles have sold 600  
million records, tapes and CDs of their 1960s songs.

Cheers
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband

Beatles Fill A Big Void On iTunes
Fans of the legendary band, Beatles, have waited long for this day to  
arrive. Yes, the Beatles ballads are finally available on iTunes.

In the first day of sales, 54 songs of the band appeared in the top  
200 songs on Apple’s iTunes service. However contrary to expectations  
that the Beatles’ songs will make it to the top slots of the most  
downloaded songs in iTunes, the highest figure reached by a Beatles’  
track was 28. The track, Hey Jude, was the most downloaded song,  
followed by Twist and Shout, Here Comes The Sun and Let It Be, making  
it only to the top 50.

Industry watchers have raised concern over the figures predicting that  
Apple would be disappointed. A website Tech Digest said that, “Why  
have the Beatles failed to grab the charts? Surely it is because most  
Beatles fans have their albums already on CD. Also many of their older  
fans are probably not the type to download songs anyhow. The iTunes  
charts in the UK seem to be dominated by teen-friendly pop acts."

However the Beatles are doing way better in the top album charts,  
where they hold three positions in the top ten. Abbey Road, the best- 
seller of their catalog, ranks at number seven on the top albums  
chart, followed by The Beatles, popularly known as "The White album,”  
at number eight. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band occupies the  
number nine slot, and lastly the Beatles Box Set, which includes all  
13 of their studio albums, is ranked number 11. The least popular  
Beatles album so far in the countdown is Yellow Submarine, which ranks  
at number 49