As a Beatles fan from a very young age, and an owner of a games console, you can imagine my delight when The Beatles Rock Band was announced, launched with great fanfare by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr at E3 earlier this week.
It’s a surprising and yet strangely logical choice for the Beatles to move into this area. Nearly forty years after the band went their separate ways, their business arm, Apple, keeps a tight rein on how the Fab Four’s music is used. You won’t see Beatles tracks on compilation albums, you can’t yet download them from any legitimate online source such as iTunes, and even re-releases of their films on DVD are strictly rationed (the sublime Help! was the last to be released, Magical Mystery Tour and Let It Be are still waiting to see the light of day). Only in Sepember 2009 will the long-awaited remastered versions of the Beatles’ albums be released, the first such reissues for the band when their contemporaries have had albums repackaged, remastered, downloaded, re-repackaged, presented in lavish Legacy Editions and so on. But at a time when the music industry is in crisis, and age-old business models are falling apart at the seams, Apple seem to have got it right. Games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band are bringing fresh audiences to bands old and new with their combination of great music and fun party gaming, and a Beatles spin-off has the potential to do the same, as well as generating vast sums of money for the Fabs and game-makers alike. In the absence of a highly lucrative reunion tour – which for obvious reasons, would be difficult – this is an ideal opportunity for Apple to milk the Beatles cash-cow that little bit more, in a whole new and interesting way. And good luck to them – that’s what they’re there for.
Apple have been relatively shrewd and have tried to ensure that the music of the Beatles isn’t devalued by its ubiquity. Whilst this has had the knock-on effect of irritating many fans by possibly over-protecting the band’s material, it does mean that the Beatles maintain a cachet that many other big-name bands could only dream of. That’s not entirely down to Apple, of course – but it helps.
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