Published March 2, 2007 | 
There’s not many artists that have the kind of recognition that the Beatles enjoy. It’s been over 30 years since they disbanded, but still their music is as fresh now as it always was. The Beatles however are not like most bands. Their influences are great and their reach is far.
As someone just on the right side of 40, I’ve lost track of the amount of times , I’ve purchased albums as vinyl, tape and CD. I’m sure this is the case for many people. Whilst thinking about this and also listening about the recent arguments on making music available for purchase in non DRM (free of Digial Rights Management) MP3 format, I had a thought. Wouldn’t it be neat if The Beatles released their entire catalog under a Creative Commons license. I’m not talking about giving the keys away to the crown jewels, well not totally anyway.There are many forms of Creative Commons license, the one I’m thinking of in particular would allow the general public to freely download the whole Beatles collection of music, but would not allow any kind of commercial use. This would allow the regular music fan to own the entire works of the Beatles, but allow them to earn revenue from organizations that want to make use of their works commercially, in advertising, films, etc
Maybe this is all a little pie in the sky, but what if there were something the Beatles and indeed many of the other iconic bands and artists could do to give a little back. What if each band released a single song to the world. The Beatles could give “All You Need is Love”. The Byrds could give “Turn, Turn, Turn”. Bob Dylan, “The Times They are a Changin’”. Pink Floyd, “Shine on You Crazy Diamond”, ad infinitum.
Yes maybe I am crazy with my head in the clouds, but just imagine how cool it would be.
