Beatles Catalog Now Streaming On Google Play And Eight Other Streaming Services

Google Play and eight other streaming services released the entire Beatles catalog at 12:01 a.m. on December 24. This will mean a very merry Christmas for millions of Beatles fans. In their day, the Beatles were renowned for their innovative use of technology, but, ironically, they have fallen behind the times in regards to technology and have been absent from streaming services. Google Play and others changed that today.

The Beatles website included a statement announcing the news that will make the music of this legendary band available to new generations “here, there, and everywhere,” which is a reference to one of over 240 songs recorded by the group. It’s a move that generations who experienced the excitement of the Beatlemania phenomena have wanted for a long time.

The Fab Four’s reluctance to join Google Play and other streaming sites was rooted in concerns over royalties and other issues, concerns that have plagued many musicians.

Many young people today are not familiar with the Beatles. Perhaps that will change with this move by Google Play and others.

I don’t know who Paul McCartney is, but Kanye is going to give this man a career w/ this new song!!

— Jo$h (@OVOJosh) January 2, 2015

The Beatles’ 13 remastered albums and four compilation albums will be available on Google Play, Apple Music, Amazon Prime, Spotify, Slacker, Tidal, Groove, Rhapsody, and Deezer.

Demand for Beatles songs was high on Google Play and other streaming services prior to the availability of their music catalog. The Guardian reports they have over a million followers on their Spotify profile and, thanks to a handful of compilation tracks, had over 300,000 monthly listeners. Their song “Ain’t She Sweet” has been streamed 5.7 million times.

On December 23, Google Play released a video making the streaming announcement.

“The wait is over. Beatlemania is back. Stream The Beatles starting December 24 plus 35 million songs on demand, ad-free.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbNJkywCnvg

Stuff reports that the most searched Beatles songs on Google are (in descending order) “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “A Day in the Life,” “Hey Jude,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Yesterday,” “Penny Lane,” “All You Need Is Love,” “Eleanor Rigby,” and “Here Comes the Sun.”

Another cool thing about the streaming news is the way that Android is responding. Android Police reports that if you say, “Ok Google, play the Beatles,” into your Android phone, it will reply with “Let it stream,” in reference to the Beatles hit “Let It Be.”

In case you’re new to Google Play Music, Clapway provided an explanation of the service. Users of Google Play Music have access to what the provider calls a music locker, a place for users to store music they can later listen to for free. But Google Play Music itself is not free. The cost typically is $9.99 a month. In addition to this music access, users of Google Play Music receive a commercial-free subscription to YouTube Red.

Android Authority announced yesterday that Google Play is offering several deals now through January 4, 2016. Among them is three months of Google Play access for just $1. This should bring lots of new listeners, many of whom may join just to have the Beatles library. In addition, during this promotion, you get full access to the new Google Play app “YouTube Music” if you are a new subscriber.

Google Play has also cut the $4.99 price for their popular game Minecraft to just 10 cents and is giving a 75 percent discount on movie rentals and a 50 percent discount on album purchases. Books have also been marked down by as much as 80 percent and in-app purchases by as much as 90 percent.

[Photo by Express/Getty Images]