Today The Beatles finally became available to purchase on iTunes. I’m a big Beatles fan and I’m going to grouse about it because so much money was left on the table for both The Beatles and Apple.

It’s been seven years since the iTunes store opened. Seven years to get The Beatles on what is now the number one digital outlet for music. I won’t pretend to understand the why’s and wherefore’s of the situation which I’m sure are complex, but it’s still ridiculous. I will take back the too little part of my title simply because it’s The Beatles. No matter what the situation, The Beatles will always be one of the greatest bands of all time and unequalled in their influence over music. But too late, absolutely.

Here is the crux of the problem. The majority of Beatles fans already have their music and likely already have it ripped digitally to iTunes. These fans have bought the CD’s. There is no reason whatsoever for them to buy any of the music now coming out on iTunes. Young people I really wonder about. I just don’t see it. My daughter (11) certainly isn’t going to buy any Beatles. It’s not at all what she or most of her friends are into. Not even close. It’s a different world. Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Kesha rule these days. I’m not saying The Beatles won’t sell at all on iTunes, they’ll probably sell fine, but nothing close to what they could have sold if they were on a few years ago. The equation is simple. If you do not give people the music they want on their platform of choice, which is digitally now, they will get it from the Internet. It’s all out there and pretty easy to get these days.

The Beatles are on iTunes, hooray I guess. It all seams very anticlimactic. The real opportunity has been lost, gobs of money already left on the table.