Let it stream: Beatles to be on streaming services for Christmas

An accompanying news release on their website simply said: “Happy Crimble, with love from us to you”, employing a term popularised by the late Beatle John Lennon to describe Christmas.

Music industry insiders were expecting to see an exclusive deal with one specific streaming service, but as it turns out, everyone must have been in the holiday spirit and a giving, generous mood.

The number of songs streamed in the United Kingdom stands at around 25 billion this year, up from 13.7 million in 2014.

The 17 Beatles albums span from “With the Beatles” and “A Hard Day’s Night” to “Abbey Road” and “Let It Be“, plus subsequent greatest hits collections. The list of services includes Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music, Amazon Prime Music, Rhapsody, Deezer, Slacker, Google Play, and Microsoft Groove. The Fab Four announced their entry into the world of streaming with a video that reflects on their entire recording career and trumpets “The Beatles Now Streaming”.

The Beatles were already available on Pandora, the Internet radio service, since it does not offer on-demand songs; a court decision recently raised the royalty rate for labels and performers on those services, known as pure plays. Until now, the band’s back catalogue has not been available on the likes of Spotify. The music became available just after midnight.