Just days after several British newspapers talked about an almost sure deal that was to make the Beatles discography available on Apple’s iTunes Music Store, the names supposedly involved in the deal started to deny the speculations, cataloguing them as false.

It isn’t for the first time that such rumors have started to appear, but the British press seemed to be almost certain about the validity of the news this time. That however was pure speculation to Apple, whose representatives denied the story.

It was also the case of EMI music label, whose representatives declared themselves unaware of any deal putting the Beatles discography on iTunes. And if we think of it, even if McCartney wants to close a deal with Apple, he is not the only one who should agree to that.

Among others, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which is a joint venture between Michael Jackson and Sony with recording rights, whose spokeswoman told CNET News.com that the rumors were “untrue,” as they have certainly not been informed of such a deal. EMI representatives were apparently just as amazed by the news.

However, the fact that the rumors started in the first place could be connected to last year’s affirmations of both Paul McCartney and George Harrison’s wife that the Beatles’ catalogue could be released sometime in 2008.

From a financial point of view, some rumors had it that Apple was willing to pay even $600 million for the discography, which could also be a sign that the whole thing was blown out of proportion, as Silicon Alley Insider noted: considering Apple’s grosses of 33 cents per song sold, the company would have to sell 1.8 billion Beatles songs to recover its investment… a little too much compared to Apple’s total of 4 billion tracks sold in the past four years.