Just a little add on: Janet has played about 26 shows total on the Unbreakable tour. Including the ones she already missed and has just cancelled, more than 50 dates went into oblivion. So FYI.

Hey you guys… Happy Holidays to each and every one of you. I need you to know, I learned today, from my doctors that I must have surgery soon. It breaks my heart to tell you that I am forced to postpone the Unbreakable Tour until the spring. Every date will be rescheduled. Please hold on to your tickets. They will be honored in a special way when the new schedule is announced. Please pray for me, my family and our entire company during this difficult time. There will be no further comment. I love you all so much and am ever grateful for your understanding and your love. Gon’ b alright.

With these words, Janet Jackson took to Instagram and invoked the memory of brother Michael and his idol, Elizabeth Taylor. Things not going well? Tickets not selling? Getting bored? Announce an illness  and then get out of Dodge. I really like this line especially– the tickets will be honored in a special way when the new schedule is announced.

That should be good.

Well, we all hope Janet is 100% healthy and wish her well. Sorry if I can’t be less cynical. But the album didn’t sell, the concert dates drag on, and you know, it’s not as fun as it used to be. Insurance covers this. And the comeback next spring will give her a publicity hook. It’s very old school Hollywood p.r. I applaud it. Because if you’re a fan of certain people, like Janet or Liza or Cher, this is what they were taught. And we need that drama, don’t we?

Janet is following in the footsteps of her late Brother Michael, He was famous for not showing up or cancelling appearances, pleading illness. Michael learned how to do this from the Queen of All Illness, Elizabeth Taylor. He even missed court dates with a range of illness excuses.

This is a big deal, however. This is over 30 or more dates including key Northeast cities where media is really concentrated. No Brooklyn, Jones Beach, Boston, Washington. Those dates are important. So let’s hope Janet gets well and returns fit as a fiddle.

We never knew how long the iTunes deal for exclusive downloading of The Beatles was supposed to last. But after five years it does seem to be over. Amazon Prime is now offering all of the main Beatles albums for $7.99 apiece. The Apple party is over. The Fab Four are free of the closed iTunes world. Yippee.

The original deal, cut at the end of 2010, was the result of many legal disputes the Beatles had with Apple computers over the Apple Records name. Steve Jobs had liked the name and logo, so he took it. In an earlier settlement Jobs agreed that his Apple would never have a music company. But then Jobs did it anyway.

What’s interesting is that there was no announcement of the Apple deal coming to an end. The albums just appeared on amazon.com with a “Buy” button for $7.99. This is a very deep discounted price for Beatles albums, too. The physical CDs are rarely offered for anything less than $12.99. With amazon dipping to $7.99, iTunes has done the same thing, too.

One theory: this is the equivalent of an inventory sale. Now that the Beatles have finally remixed their hits on the “1+1” album, it’s only a matter of time before they sell all new mixes on all the albums. The sound on “1+1”
is amazing. If you play it side by side with the 2009 box set, there’s a huge difference. So my guess is Christmas 2017 we get the Beatles Remixed. We’ll have to buy the catalog all over again. It’s brilliant. Evil genius.

As we approach Beatles’ Eve– or Christmas Eve, as it used to be called– here are just a few numbers to think about.

According to SoundScan, the Beatles’ $50 “1 + 1” box set has sold an impressive 10,700 copies since November 6th.

The “1” CD, released in 2000, brainchild of the last Neil Aspinall, has sold 12.6 million copies in the U.S. This year alone, “1” has sold 182,000 copies.

On the SoundScan year end catalog list– that’s all records released up until 2 years ago– the Beatles have at least 4 albums in the top 100.

This year alone, the vinyl version of “Sgt. Pepper” has sold 43,000 copies. The vinyl version, mind you. (So glad I kept the original.)

“Abbey Road” is number 4 on the list of LPs sold this year.

So get ready. However it plays out on Thursday, it’s going to be a wild night on Spotify.