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Garth Brooks album is online, but not for streaming

Nancy Marshall-Genzer Nov 11, 2014
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Garth Brooks album is online, but not for streaming

Nancy Marshall-Genzer Nov 11, 2014
HTML EMBED:
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Garth Brooks is following Taylor Swift’s lead, away from streaming music services. Not even a month after Swift pulled her catalog from Spotify, Brooks is releasing a new album that you can download, but not stream, for free. 

The album is called “Man Against Machine,” but it may as well be called “Man Against Streaming Machine.”

Garth Brooks is releasing the album on a new website he helped create, called GhostTunesThe site only allows you to buy music from Brooks and many others.

“It’s a sale, not a stream,” says Stephanie Kellar, the lead marketing professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston. She says Brooks faces a huge challenge: “How does he get people to go to his site and purchase music there?”

But GhostTunes says it’s not trying to be Spotify.

“There’s no question that we’re the smallest ant on this molehill,” says Randy Bernard, CEO of GhostTunes. 

Bernard says they’re aiming for a niche market, appealing to Garth Brooks fans, and offering extras.

“When you go on the site, you’ll be able to purchase merchandise or tickets from Ticketmaster,” he says. “We offer a one-stop shop.”

And, unlike Spotify, the site also offers Taylor Swift’s music.

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