You can now join AC/DC on their Highway to Hell with a subscription to Apple Music, Spotify, Rdio, and even Jay Z’s Tidal streaming service. The Australian hard rockers have been particularly adamant against embracing new music formats in the past, holding out longer than their classic rock counterparts like Metallica and even Led Zeppelin, but Angus Young and his group of arena rockers have finally taken the plunge into streaming music.
AC/DC was previously opposed to even digital downloads due, at least in part, to the sanctity of the album format. The band had argued that its albums should be heard in full, rather than as individual tracks. Considering that the band has sold more than 200 million records worldwide, it hasn’t appeared to have had much effect on their near ubiquity.
“When the latest thing comes along, everyone wants to be the first to jump in. But we were hesitant. We were the same even when cassettes came along,” said Angus Young to The Wall Street Journal in November. “It was only later on that people said, hey, you were pretty clever. We were doing better because people were still buying the physical product.”
It’s been a slow evolution for Young and the band, which released the 2010 LP Black Ice exclusively at Walmart. By the time 2014’s Rock or Bust came out, though, the band had conceded to the digital realm, allowing the album to be hosted on iTunes for its launch.
Now the band’s entire discography — from 1976’s High Voltage all the way up through Rock or Bust — is available for your streaming pleasure. The new development comes just in time for the much-anticipated launch of Apple’s new music streaming service, which debuted yesterday. And while Apple Music doesn’t have exclusive rights to AC/DC’s tunes like it does with Taylor Swift’s 1989, or Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, it’s probably no coincidence that the band dove into streaming music the same day as the launch of the service.
However, Apple fan or no, anyone can now get down with AC/DC online. So, as we’re now obligated to say, whatever service you choose to use: For those about to rock, we salute you.
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