Garth Brooks Streams His Music For The First Time
Amazon just launched Amazon Music Unlimited, its paid music streaming service, last week, and it’s already scored its first major victory in the streaming wars. Alongside Tool and Bob Seger, Garth Brooks has always been one of the few big holdouts against music streaming. But now Brooks has caved, and his music is now streaming, for the first time ever, on Amazon Music Unlimited.
It appears that Amazon isn’t getting Brooks’ entire discography. Instead, it’s got the rights to his albums The Ultimate Hits, Fresh Horses, and Double Live, and Double Live is also available on Amazon Prime. Also, Brooks’ new single “Baby, Let’s Lay Down And Dance,” the first single from his forthcoming LP Gunslinger is an Amazon exclusive. That’s no small thing; these are all enormous records that have never been on any streaming service before. All that stuff is streaming on Amazon as of this morning. But it’s not like you can use Amazon to hear that Chris Gaines album.
Here’s Amazon’s video hyping its big acquisition:
In a statement, Brooks says, “It is a joy to work with a company that is all about the customer when it comes to service, and all about the music and its creators when it comes to the music. I applaud Amazon on their commitment to quality and thank them for this opportunity.” We can probably assume that this translates to: “They gave me so much money.”