AUSTIN, Texas — Former digital holdout Garth Brooks is diving into the online music world once again, this time partnering with Amazon Music Unlimited. The country artist announced the deal to a few media members before his keynote address last week at the South by Southwest Music Conference.
“It allows you freedom that other digital companies do not,” he said of the new service, which he said offers more services than other digital platforms, including his own failed company, ghosttunes.com.
At one time, Brooks thought his own digital platform was the answer. As the singer began his comeback with 11 sold-out shows at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill., in September 2014, he broke his boycott of online music by announcing Ghost Tune’s launch. He promised a service that would cater to artists and offer music to fans that could be played on any device. But that company was “officially closed” two weeks ago.
“We just couldn’t do it on a scale” that could compete with other more established services, he said. The company offered digital downloads, but never got into streaming and soon “We were dead in the water,” eclipsed by other ventures such as Spotify and Apple that he had previously shunned because of issues of artist compensation and control.
As Ghost Tunes was folding, Brooks met with the CEOs of the other major streaming services. Spotify founder “Daniel Ek is a good guy who understands music and wants to help” but didn’t offer the variety of options that Amazon does. Apple “had its own rules and we would have to change to work for them. We’re not going to work with them.” Brooks did not mention Jay Z’s Tidal service as a contender for his business. Amazon Music Unlimited will offer streams, downloads and physical copies of artists’ music.
At the keynote, Brooks acknowledged that he’s not a total believer in a digital future quite yet. He is still an artist focused on albums rather than singles, and said that artist and songwriter compensation remains a central concern. “For music’s sake, for our sake, we must reinvest in the songwriter,” he said.
Though he’s embracing a streaming service for the moment, he still has his doubts. “How many songs do you love that you didn’t love at first?” he asked. With streaming and voice-activated personal programming such as that offered by Amazon how does a listener “discover what you don’t already know? … I fear for new stuff, different sounding stuff.”
But he insisted that his deal with Amazon, his first corporate sponsor, would not change his relationship with his fans. “No comp tickets?” asked Steve Boom, Amazon vice president of music.
“The answer,” Brooks responded, “is, ‘Hell no!’ “
