REM release new album on Facebook and MySpace
By Claudine Beaumont
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2008/03/13/dlrem113.xml">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/ma ... rem113.xml</a><!-- m -->
REM are to share their new album on social-networking sites a week before its official release in shops.
Music on the web: REM's latest album will be available online before it hits the shops. The album, Accelerate, will be available for streaming through the iLike music discovery service. As well as listening to the complete album in its entirety, iLike users will also be able to embed the album on their Facebook, MySpace and Bebo social-networking profile pages, and share the music with friends.People who want to buy the album will be able to do so via links to Amazon and iTunes from the iLike pages.
"Debuting Accelerate across the web is in keeping with the spirit and immediacy of the album," said REM's lead singer, Michael Stipe. "We wanted to do something superfast and super real. Music, art, and pop culture are about right now, and nothing else matters. Accelerate is our turbo-charged response to the times we live in."
The album will be available from March 24 through iLike's dedicated REM page, <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.ilike.com/rem">www.ilike.com/rem</a><!-- w -->, and will be accompanied by an exclusive video of the band talking about the making of the album. REM have been experimenting with new digital music distribution methods for a while.
They recently invited fans to create their own music video for the album's first single, Supernatural Superserious, using raw footage provided by the group, and acknowledge that the music landscape has changed. "I think you can either go with it or sit back and watch it happen," Stipe told Billboard.com. " I would rather be out on the field than in the bleachers," he said. "It was one of those ideas that was presented to us and it seemed like a good one, so we ran for it."
Accelerate will be the group's 14th studio album in a career spanning more than two decades. Their decision to stream the album online first before its physical release is another example of music companies and bands embracing a new digital landscape.
In October, Radiohead allowed fans to decide how much they were prepared to pay for new album In Rainbows, while earlier this month Trent Reznor released his latest Nine Inch Nails album online in a variety of formats, ranging from a free download to an expensive, limited-edition album and merchandise package that appealed to super-fans.
