Has it really come to this?:

"Troubled music company EMI Group PLC is talking to potential buyers for Abbey Road Studios, the hallowed London facility where the Beatles did most of their recording, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The talks are the latest sign of distress at the world's No. 4 music business, which has floundered since being acquired in a 2007 leveraged buyout by private-equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd.

Terra Firma is attempting to avoid default on a £950 million ($1.49 billion) loan backed by EMI Music, the company's struggling recorded-music business. It needs to raise more than £100 million from Terra Firma's investors to keep from defaulting on the Citigroup loan.

A sale of Abbey Road—which EMI hopes is worth tens of millions of pounds—wouldn't have any impact on that effort, a person familiar with the matter said. The transaction is too small to make a difference, and in any case wouldn't likely be completed in time to boost Terra Firma's latest fund-raising effort." Click HERE to continue reading at the WALL STREET JOURNAL...

Meanwhile, PAUL McCARTNEY told the BBC: "There are a few people who have been associated with the studio for a long time who were talking about mounting some bid to save it. I sympathize with them. I hope they can do something, it'd be great."