ART & COMMERCE DEPT., WITH AN EMPHASIS ON THE ART

During a release party for his new Fireman album yesterday in London, Paul McCartney said that the only thing holding up the migration of the Beatles catalog to the iTunes Store is the inability of Apple Corps and EMI to agree on terms, Reuters reports. "That is constantly being talked of, we'd like to do it," said Macca. "What happens is, when something's as big as the Beatles, it's heavy negotiations. We are very for it; we've been pushing it. But there are a couple of sticking points, I understand. So the last word I got back was that it had stalled, the whole process. [EMI] want something we're not prepared to give them. Hey, sounds like the music business. It's between EMI and the Beatles. What else is new."

Informed of Paul's comments, an EMI spokesperson told the bible: "We have been working very hard to secure an agreement with Apple Corps to make the Beatles' legendary recording catalog available to fans in digital form. Unfortunately, the various parties involved have so far been unable to reach agreement, but we really hope that everyone can make progress soon."

McCartney said he doesn’t regret leaving the major label realm. "I think the majors at the moment—I'm not dissing them—but I don't think they really know what's going on. With the download culture, they are floundering a little bit. I think I was right at that time, because right after that EMI got sold so I would have been in the middle of a sale situation. The other thing is, they've got so many people on their books, like it or not you're just one of them. It's not a great situation; you like to feel like you're among friends, so that was why I ended up going independent. And this time it's kind of even more indie."

John Mayer will play a one-hour exclusive concert at the Nokia Theatre Dec. 3 in celebration of the grand opening of the Grammy Museum, which will be housed in the L.A. Live complex. Following Mayer, the original members of The Time will reunite for a performance at Club Nokia. Both events will take place immediately following The Grammy Nominations Concert Live!! — Countdown To Music's Biggest Night, airing on CBS at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

The title song to Bruce Springsteen’s upcoming Columbia LP Working on a Dream is available as a free download at iTunes. It’ll be there for the plucking until Dec. 9.

Todd Rundgren, fresh off the release of Arena, his first studio album in four years, will be reunited with the New York Dolls 35 years after producing the band’s self-titled first album. The sessions kick off in January at Todd’s new studio in Hawaii (where he recorded Arena).

John Fogerty is in the studio with none other than T Bone Burnett, working on the way-belated follow-up to the Creedence auteur’s Blue Ridge Rangers, his 197x collection of country chestnuts.

Vanguard will release Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm on March 24, marking the tenth anniversary of Sir Doug’s passing. Contributing tracks are Delbert McClinton, Levon Helm, Los Lobos, Jimmie Vaughan, Alejandro Escovedo, Greg Dulli, Dave Alvin, The Gourds, Terry Allen with Joe Ely, Freda & the Firedogs, Shawn Sahm with Augie Meyers, Joe 'King' Carrasco & Texas Tornados and Charlie Sexton. Says SonicBoomers.com founder/editor Bill Bentley, the set’s co-producer: “These new recordings of Sahm’s songs by the musicians who loved him would no doubt have Doug proclaiming, ‘far out,’ and then grabbing his guitar to go find a place to play. He really was a Texas tornado, and there sure won’t be another Sir Doug.”