Professor Elam

Tuesday Nov 16 2010

Even as recorded-music sales have plummeted, the Beatles have remained one of the most reliable franchises in the business. In 2009, 39 years after breaking up, they sold the third-highest number of albums of any act in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan, with 3.3 million copies sold.

EMI, the parent label for the Beatles, was the subject of another foolish buyout by a hedge fund, and now of course, there is too much debt. But the good news is for music lovers who can now pick and choose among the Fab Four favorites, link below but by the time you read this it will be everywhere. 

For younger readers it is hard to describe the incredibly impact of

the British Invasion in the mid 60s knocking off groups like the Beach Boys and imitating classics like Elvis and Carl Perkins and even Chuck Berry. There was a host of other British groups notably the Rolling Stones who still sell out concerts to this day. But what about Peter and Gordon or the Dave Clark Five, cute but not the Real Music Deal. 

Amazon provides this overview