Before One Direction, before New Kids on the Block, and before the Jackson Five, The Beatles were the teeny-boppers' dreams come true (hard to believe that a now-legendary rock band started its life as a "boy band," isn't it). And now, Apple Records has announced that a new batch of Beatles songs (almost 60 of them, to be exact!) will be available for purchase on Tuesday! 

According to the GMA Network, among the songs to be released on iTunes are versions of "She Loves You", "A Taste of Honey" and "There's a Place", as well as outtakes, demos and live performances recorded for BBC radio. A spokeswoman for Apple Records declined to explain the timing of the release or comment on speculation that it was aimed at extending copyright over the material. 

And, according to The Town Hall, these new songs being available have to do with the new copyright laws of the European Union: in 2011, the European Union ruled that copyright over sound recordings should be extended from 50 to 70 years from next year, but only for recordings released before the 50-year term had expired.

The bulk of the Beatles tracks available for download from Tuesday were recorded for the BBC in 1963 but not released.

Others have already capitalized on the changes to EU legislation to maintain control over their back catalogues.

The legislation has been dubbed "Cliff Richard's law" in Britain for the additional royalties it would provide for veteran rocker Cliff Richard, whose songs had been starting to fall out of copyright.

In late December last year, Sony Music released a compilation of Bob Dylan recordings from 1962 and 1963, giving away the reason for the move with a frank subtitle: The Copyright Extension Collection, Vol. 1.

Sony only released 100 copies of the Bob Dylan recordings. It was not immediately clear whether Apple Records would limit downloads of the Beatles songs.