From: kozinn@aol.com (Kozinn)
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles
Subject: Re: The Beatles CDs: Why'd They Take So Long?
Date: 12 Jul 1996 00:17:39 -0400

The question of why the Beatles CDs took so long is long and complicated, but the first thing to keep in mind is that EMI itself was way behind on CD. As of 1984, when most of the major labels were starting to put out their catalogues, Bashkar Menon, the head of EMI went on record saying: "CD is a crock. This company will never get involved with that format."

By the time they got going, several things were going on. One was negotiations with McCartney, which involved Beatles stuff as well as solo stuff (it's too complicated to get into at the moment); second, they were still in contention with the Beatles themselves. I don't remember which side was holding out -- either the Beatles were saying that if EMI transferred to CD without their permission they'd sue for that as well; or EMI said they wouldn't issue the catalogue on CD unless the Beatles settled. Perhaps both!

And finally, once they agreed to go ahead, there was a problem getting major plant capacity, which was needed for pressings as big as EMI needed to do. There were at the time only half a dozen or so plants making CDs.

Allan

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