January 7, 2009 11:44

Beatles downloads removed from internet

Norwegian podcasts have been taken offline

Photo Gallery: The Beatles

A series of Norwegian podcasts which had been set to feature all 212 recorded songs by The Beatles have been taken offline due to legal issues.

Norwegian website Nrk.no had been posting a series of podcasts originally broadcast in 2001 which featured The Beatles' songs, plus commentary about them.

However, the podcasts have been pulled after the website bosses received legal advice from their lawyers and Apple Corps, which owns the rights to The Beatles' back catalogue, issued a statement to Examiner.com saying the podcasts were not authorised.

A message on Nrk.no reads: "Due to terms still being under negotiation, our own lawyers have advised us to pull back the podcasts containing The Beatles music."

Until the legal issues were addressed the podcasts had been thought to mark the first time The Beatles' music had been available to legally download.

In November Sir Paul McCartney said that download-related talks between representatives for the band and their former label, EMI, had "stalled".