Morning Music Notes – Apple Has Some Money to Spare

Just What We Need: Another Beatles Compilation

For those who grew up after the Beatles broke up (read: me), it was hard not to consume them through compilation albums. We had the double red and blue albums, the Anthologies series, the Past Masters, and the ‘1’ album, to name a few. Lost in the shuffle, especially now that the Beatles are on iTunes, are the fantastically laid out collections of the actual albums themselves (see: Sgt. Pepper or Abbey Road). But now, iTunes has confirmed that there is a new collection featuring the Beatles “most powerful rock songs” (via Gigwise). To stop any laughter and to help promote it, a series of musicians have spoken out on the collection, notably Foo Fighters singer Dave Grohl. He simply says “If it weren’t for The Beatles, I would not be a musician.” Please support future generations of musicians by giving your hard earned dollars and pounds to the Beatles’ estates, and listening to yet another re-ordering of Beatles songs that you probably already have.

Apple’s Third Quarter Report: Merely $117 Billion in the Bank Now

Apple managed to add another $7 billion to it’s bank account this past quarter, bringing it’s cash reserves to a staggering $117 billion (via Tech Crunch). Other Apple stats revealed about Q3: there are now 650,000 apps in the app store (up 50,000). Apple has 372 retail stores, 123 of which are outside of the United States. Those stores saw a whopping 813 million visitors, so 17,000 per store each week. No wonder I can never get in the bloody store!

26 million iPhones were sold last quarter, which is about 3-4 million less than predicted, and down from last quarter’s 35.1 million phones sold. Rumours of the new iPhone 5 likely slowed sales, as well as strong, new phone products by Blackberry Samsung. The iPad fared better, increasing from 11.8 million sales in Q2 to 17 million this past quarter. It’ll be interesting to see if the Nexux 7 dents the next quarter. Everyone’s favourite castaway, the iPod, sold 6.8 million, which is still impressive, but that’s down 10% from last year and 12% from last quarter.

So do what you like with these stats – even draw nice graphs!

Great News! Rebecca Black Plays To Make Videos Until the Day She Dies

If I said “Here’s praying to an early death”, would that be considered offensive? I’m talking about myself of course, not the lovely Friday singer, Rebecca Black. She’s all grown up and 15 now (not “legally” grown up), and has announced she has finished an album (via Hollywood Reporter). She was asked if she plans to make more YouTube videos, and she replied “For sure. For sure. Until the day I die. Until the day I die.” Intelligently put, intelligently put, Rebecca, Rebecca.

Watch! Andrew Bird – Give It Away

The Red Hot Chili Peppers cover we’ve all been waiting for! A new video from Andrew Bird from his album Break It Yourself. The video is a bit of a nightmare birthday party – sure, it has cake. But is also has a guy dressed like a pinata, which might not be the best costume idea. Check out the candy-weirdness in the video below.

Andrew Bird – Give It Away

Watch! The xx – Angels (Live on Conan O’Brien)

This isn’t a blog that will often feature appearances from every band under the sun on Jimmy Kimmel, David Letterman, Jimmy Fallon, or Conan O’Brien. I’d rather feature new music by bands, or live music from concerts, not the small studio songs. Unless it’s a certain band, which is the beauty of running a blog. Last night, The xx stopped by Conan O’Brien’s show to perform Angels, their first single from Coexist. And since I just scored tickets to see The xx at their album release show in London in September, I’m in the mood for a little xx. Check out the song below (via Consequence of Sound).