Beatles on iTunes: "We Can't Work It Out."

Sam Gustin writes: Negotiations aimed at making the Beatles' music available on iTunes have "stalled," Paul McCartney said on Monday at an event in London to promote his new album.

"The last word I got back was it's stalled at the whole moment, the whole process," Sir Paul told the AP. "I really hope it will happen because I think it should."

"It's between EMI and the Beatles, I think," McCartney added.

EMI, which owns the Beatles' recordings, has been unable to strike a deal with Apple Corps Ltd. -- which manages the band's affairs -- to release the material digitally, an EMI spokesperson confirmed.

"We have been working hard to secure agreement with Apple Corps. to make the Beatles' legendary recording catalog available to fans in digital form. Unfortunately the various parties involved have been unable to reach agreement but we really hope everyone can make progress soon," the spokesperson said.

The Beatles are the most famous major holdout on the digital music scene. Fans' hopes were raised last month when the band announced plans to join forces with MTV Networks to add the band's songs to Rock Band, which is produced by Harmonix, a unit of MTV. 

Almost exactly one year ago, McCartney predicted that the catalog would go digital sometime in 2008. Given the latest developments, that seems increasingly unlikely.