Apple to sell Lennon solo works

By Sue Zeidler

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Apple Inc said on Tuesday it would offer the entire solo catalogue of John Lennon on iTunes in its second such deal with one of the Beatles, who have been among the highest-profile holdouts to put tunes online.

The Lennon deal, a similar one with Paul McCartney, and a recent settlement to a lengthy trademark dispute between Apple and the Beatles' company, Apple Corps Ltd, is seen clearing the way finally for the Fab Four catalogue to be distributed online.

Apple said 16 Lennon solo albums from EMI Group were available for the first time on iTunes, with the "Lennon Legend" and "Acoustic" collections making digital debuts.

Industry sources said Apple would soon announce similar deals for the solo works of Ringo Starr and the late George Harrison.

All the band's members, except for Harrison, have in the past made some of their solo works available digitally, but not through iTunes until recently, according to EMI.

Asked in an interview in June if the Beatles catalogue would be online by the end of 2008, Harrison's widow, Olivia Harrison, said, "I don't know if it would be the end of this year, but it would be nice. Imminent, let's put it that way."

Apple declined to say when it expects to release the Beatles catalogue.

Geoff Mayfield, director of charts at trade magazine Billboard, said the market has been expecting Apple to release the Beatles catalogue since the settlement in February.