Beatles songs being made available for streaming

The Beatles are set to release their back catalogue on streaming sites including Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal for the first time from Christmas Eve, the band's website said Wednesday.

The announcement comes after years when the Fab Four's songs were not available on the sites and five years after they were first made available for downloading on Apple's iTunes.

"On December 24 at 12:01am local time -- here, there and everywhere -- The Beatles' music is available for streaming worldwide," an announcement on the band's website said.

"Happy Crimble (Christmas), with love from us to you."

The Beatles were one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed groups of all time.

The announcement means that fans will be able to listen to the band's songs on nine services -- Spotify, Apple Music, Slacker, Tidal, Groove, Rhapsody, Deezer, Google Play and Amazon Prime.

Although some musicians have expressed concern about the amount of money their music can make on streaming services, most have decided they have little choice but to use them.

Taylor Swift removed her whole back catalogue from Spotify last year but did agree to stream on Apple Music when it launched in June.