On Christmas Eve 2015, the record label that owns the rights to the music of The Beatles disclosed that the music would be available to certain streaming services. After holding out on streaming for longer than virtually anyone else, the band’s music is available on nine streaming services worldwide.

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The decision to make The Beatles music available for streaming is a game changer in the industry. When the largest selling group of all time isn’t available on your streaming service, that may very well be a deal breaker. The streaming music services with access to streaming music from The Beatles are Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, Amazon Prime Music, Tidal, Deezer, Microsoft Groove, Rhapsody and Slacker Radio.

We don’t know for certain why The Beatles’ label took so long to join streaming services. Evidently, they didn’t have to. The Beatles are the best-selling music artists in the United States, with estimated sales of over $600 million in records worldwide according to the RIAA and hold a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. People will still listen to the music and collect the merchandise from The Beatles a century from now. Bookmans does our fair share of buy-sell-trade with all kinds of The Beatles merchandise, collectibles, CDs, vinyl and so forth. The Beatles publishers have a plan and are acting conservatively about this shift in the music industry.

No doubt The Beatles label considers the possible consequences of streaming music such as damage to future sales or digital piracy. Some artists, such as Taylor Swift, Coldplay and Adele, withhold new music from streaming sites based on the same concern regarding future sales. Taylor Swift and Adele achieved top-selling physical albums in 2015. Adele’ album 25 sold a record 3 million copies in the U.S. in less than a week.

Bookmans is here for purists who want to own the music of recording artists. We aren’t anti-streaming. In fact, we likely have a device to help you with that. We also have CDs, cassettes and vinyl for people who value physical media.

* Bookmans is your store to explore. If you would like to pick up music or collectibles from The Beatles or any other band, please give us a call and we will check our shelves for you. Otherwise, we hope you will come and browse.