After years of holding out, Anglo-Australian hard rockers AC/DC have made their entire catalog available in digitial form through iTunes.
AC/DC‘s selection includes the “Complete Set” for $149.99, “Studio Collection” for $99.99, ringtones, “Live At River Plate”, as well as individual albums.
AC/DC had previously rejected iTunes distribution in an attempt to preserve the concept of the album.
“Since iTunes came into existence, we’ve actually increased our back-catalog sales without being on the site. We were sternly warned by our management team and our record label that the complete opposite would be the case,” guitarist Angus Young said in an interview.
“I know THE BEATLES have changed but we’re going to carry on like that,” Angus told Sky News. “For us, it’s the best way. We are a band who started off with albums and that’s how we’ve always been. We always were a band that if you heard something [by AC/DC] on the radio, well, that’s only three minutes. Usually the best tracks were on the albums.”
Speaking to The Telegraph in a 2008, Young said, “If we were oniTunes, we know a certain percentage of people would only download two or three songs from the album — and we don’t think that represents us musically.”
“Maybe I’m just being old-fashioned, but this iTunes, God bless ’em, it’s going to kill music if they’re not careful,” singer Brian Johnson toldReuters. “It’s a…monster, this thing. It just worries me. And I’m sure they’re just doing it all in the interest of making as much… cash as possible. Let’s put it this way, it’s certainly not for the… love, let’s get that out of the way right away.”
AC/DC will release “Live At River Plate” on November 20 as a the three-disc red vinyl or a two-CD set featuring multiple covers and a 24-page booklet. The live record follows last year’s “Live At River Plate” DVD, filmed during their three triumphant Buenos Aires concerts on the “Black Ice” world tour, in December of 2009 in front of nearly 200,000 fans.
Source: www.blabbermouth.net