AC/DC: "Well, The Internet Can Be Good Sometimes. Also: 'Viral.' That's Internet, Right?"

Maura Johnston — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:30:00 EDT

So AC/DC isn't totally wary of the Internet, as the band members claimed to be in Sunday's New York Times: Part of the band's Black Ice campaign in the UK involves having the album stream for free from The Times Of London's Web site—if you can find it, that is. And there will also be "the roll-out of a viral campaign that will be seeded on YouTube" (god, marketing-speak is so rock and roll). Maybe they just have a different, more respectful-of-the-album Internet in the UK? [BrandRepublic via Sleaze Roxx]

AC/DC Puts Its Catalog Online, But Getting The Music Is Going To Be A Ballbreaker

mjohnston — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 10:38:47 EDT

Aussie hard rockers AC/DC are, after years of being on the list of big digital-music holdouts, putting their catalog online. There's a catch, though: For the first eight months, the band's digital catalog is only going to be available via Verizon Wireless. Wait, did I say that there was "a" catch? I meant that there were a few:

The music won't be sold over-the-air, but instead via sideloading. In order to get to your AC/DC tracks on your phone, you'll need to go through Verizon Wireless' web-based store, download the songs, and then transfer them to your device—a process that only takes 15 steps, only works on select phones, and doesn't work on Macs at all, according to Verizon's FAQ. (The songs can also be heard on the PC.)

Only one song, "You Shook Me All Night Long," will be available as a standalone song; the rest of AC/DC's Verizon catalog is album-only. Like "Thunderstruck," but think that the rest of The Razor's Edge is kind of subpar? Too bad!

The music doesn't come dirt cheap. Albums will cost $11.99, and as the WSJ piece notes, the deluxe edition of Back In Black only costs $9.97—and The Razor's Edge is only $7.97!

Given that Back In Black is still selling briskly, watching the digital sales of AC/DC's catalog—particularly "Shook," which will likely be the beneficiary of many drunken downloads—will prove to be an interesting experiment over the next few weeks. Will people switch to Verizon solely to get their digital Angus Young fix? Or will this very-walled-garden approach result in the launch of AC/DC's digital catalog being less of a big deal than Sony BMG is hoping for?

Digital-Music Holdout AC/DC Spurns iTunes, Signs With Verizon [WSJ, reg. req.]

Idolator: listen to the money talk

AC/DC: "Well, The Internet Can Be Good Sometimes. Also: 'Viral.' That's Internet, Right?"

AC/DC Puts Its Catalog Online, But Getting The Music Is Going To Be A Ballbreaker