Apparently, you can’t get any AC/DC music on itunes. Weird. I thought of the most obscure song I could think of…White Bird by It’s a Beautiful Day. Guess what…you can get that one on itunes. Some of these itunes holdouts surprise me.
The most glaring omission is the Beatles, who are represented only by their handful of pre-fame recordings (from when they were backing Tony Sheridan). Ringo Starr does have a lot of solo catalog on iTunes, but Lennon and McCartney solo are represented only by tracks from other artists’ albums (e.g., McCartney’s collaborations with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson; Lennon’s recordings with Elton John), and a search for Harrison turns up nothing at all.
(iTunes does have a cover of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” mislabeled as the Beatles!)
Usually, obscure groups and songs have every good reason to be on iTunes: I can’t imagine Richard Laflamme getting much in royalties for “White Bird,” so agreeing to iTunes is bound to help him.
Other groups are doing well and don’t want to dilute sales through iTunes. People will still buy Beatles CDs, so why cut into that market?
It’s up to the individual artist as to whether they grant permission.
The reason you won’t find Beatles music on iTunes has more to do with the animosity between Apple Computer and Apple Records than the record sales themselves.
I am surprised that Evanescence isn’t on iTunes. It just seems like the kind of band that would welcome the notion.
I was really surprised to find that the only Bob Seger song on iTunes is some Christmas tune from a collection.
The only Jethro Tull track they have is the semi-live Rolling Stones’ Rock & Roll Circus version of “Song for Jeffrey.”
It’s weird, because as others have said, you can’t find some really popular stuff, but I can find Indian* music - even old Indian music - under “World” music.
- E. Indian. Like Bollywood.
In a lot of cases, the labels probably have to sign off on having their bands’ works on iTunes.
Preciscely. When Apple Computer was founded, they made an agreement with Apple Records that they could use the Apple name so long as if they didn’t enter the music business. Now that Apple Computer has started selling music, Apple Records has sued them for breaking the agreement.