EMI, Universal and The Beatles

Music Week has a big article about the EMI takeover this week.  It seems that the Beatles back catalogue is something that EMI are keen to keep, because the Beatles are the eighth most successful act in Britain since 2000, having sold something like 8 million albums.  Most of this is down to the 1 collection (just about to go over the 3 million mark), but Sgt Pepper has sold over half a million, and Abbey Road, Revolver, Rubber Soul and the reworked Let It Be have all sold over a quarter of a million, as has the Cirque de Soleil mix Gold.  The number of downloads is also apparently phenomenal, but spread widely over all the Beatles tracks, with Hey Jude and Let It Be (80,000 downloads) being the top tracks with Here Comes The Sun (60,000) close behind.  Over a million Beatles downloads have been sold in the UK.  Behind the Beatles as the second “legacy” act is Queen – also on EMI, and the biggest selling legacy LP is Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, also on EMI.  Worldwide, the Beatles have been the top selling act since 2000.  So why are EMI is financial trouble?