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'Blackbird' won't fly to Apple's service

Forget about The Beatles hitting the iTunes Music Store anytime soon, as the Jackson/Sony publishing company Sony/ATV dismissed the chatter coming from England trumpeting a deal.

The $400 million agreement being bounced around as a done deal by UPI seemed like a low number even as we learned about it today. Split between living Beatles and the estates of Lennon and Harrison, plus all of the music labels with a stake in such a deal, $400 million didn't look like a lucrative payday, especially since the world's most famous boy band still receives fawning veneration to this day.

As it turns out, news of Beatles music coming to iTunes users appears greatly exaggerated. CNET said Sony/ATV denied any such deal took place:

While EMI Group owns the recording rights to the Beatles catalog, Sony and Jackson own the rights to the vast majority of the catalog's publishing rights. Had a deal been cut, Sony/ATV would "absolutely be informed," the Sony/ATV spokeswoman said.

EMI and Apple aren't talking right now, despite the reports swarming all over the Internet as well as in news publications in the UK. At this rate, the wait for The Beatles on a digital music service may outlive the band and all of its fans.