The rumors were true: Universal has officially announced that the Beatles will arrive on streaming as of 12:01 a.m. local time on December 24. The band’s entire discography (including four post-1970 compilations) will be available on all the major streaming services — Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Prime Music, Google Play, Tidal, Napster/Rhapsody, Microsoft Groove, Slacker Radio, and Deezer — just in time to spruce up your Christmas Eve playlists. Even better: You’ll be able to stream their music for free. Flying in the face of Taylor Swift’s “art should be paid for†stance, Universal will reportedly make the Beatles catalogue available to stream on non-subscription (a.k.a. freemium) tiers offered by Spotify, Deezer, and the like. The Beatles have famously been slow to trust digital, keeping their music off iTunes until 2010, while the rest of the band’s solo work has joined streaming as recently as October. But with the Beatles’ arrival on streaming, they’re now — gasp! — more progressive than Adele. Happy Crimble!
Here’s the official announcement: