Apple Corps is coming to Apple, Inc. Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and Apple’s iTunes Store have reportedly reached a deal — worth at least $400 million — to put the back catalog of the planet’s most famous band on the planet’s most popular online music store.

According to a report in the British publication Daily Mail, songs from such classic albums as Help! and Dr. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band will be on the store by the end of the year. McCartney told another British publication that the release will happen in 2008, adding that “everyone wants it.”

Multiple Beneficiaries

The Beatles back catalog is a long list of hits, with at least a hundred songs by the prolific band considered to be classics and many valued as cultural milestones. Some observers are suggesting that when this wave of titles reaches the iTunes Store, there could be a major resurgence in the Beatles’ popularity, as new generations discover the group.

But teenagers discovering what was once new are not the only possible beneficiaries. The deal would benefit not only McCarthy, but fellow band member Ringo Starr and the estates of John Lennon and George Harrison. It might also benefit Heather Mills, who is going through a bitter divorce battle with McCartney and might ask the court to reconsider his net worth.

It will also benefit the record labels EMI and Sony, as well as singer Michael Jackson, each of whom owns various recording or publishing rights to the famous songs.

The other potential big beneficiary in this deal, of course, is the iTunes Store. Launched in early 2003, it is riding a boom in the online music industry it helped create. Digital downloads are soaring, while CD sales in the U.S. are down about 20 percent compared to last year.

Competition with Amazon

But Apple…