Apple has announced that it will release a 59-track, digital-only album of Beatles rare and unheard recordings to debut on iTunes today (December 17) in a bid to get around copyright laws.
The compilation includes four different takes on She Loves You, five of A Taste of Honey and various sessions they recorded for the BBC that have never been heard.
The copyright on the recordings was about to expire at the end of this month but releasing the compilation of studio outtakes and more songs recorded live for the BBC to iTunes allows the copyright to remain in effect for longer.
If the Beatles chose not to release the recordings before the end of the year, it would mean other record labels could theoretically put them out and profit from them.
In fact, the Fab Four’s 1962 debut single, Love Me Do, arguably slipped out of copyright last year, before the EU’s copyright extension was signed into law allowing at least one record company to issue a “remastered” version of the song, although that has since been deleted.
The copyright law in question only covers the recordings, as the songs themselves remain the copyright of the composer for 70 years after their death.
European law covers copyright for up to 70 years after a song has been recorded, but only if the album in question has seen an official release. Up until now, the “bootleg” recordings have not, and so they would expire now at 50 years. Making the album available for sale prevents that, which means the recordings will not go out of copyright until 2033.
Critics have argued that playing with the copyright laws is unethical, but will delight the millions of Beatles fans worldwide, as more than two million songs from the Beatles’ iTunes library were sold during the first week of availability in 2010.