Just over two years ago, country legend Garth Brooks launched the online music platform GhostTunes as his answer to the digital age. Now, users need to move all the tunes they bought on the platform over to Amazon Music by March 3. Brooks struck a big deal with Amazon not long ago.
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GhostTunes essentially allowed Brooks to sell digital downloads of his music while retaining more of the money. Apple's iTunes service took a higher percentage, and Brooks had more control with GhostTunes. The platform also hosted millions of songs from other artists.
Unfortunately for Brooks, it never quite caught on. In fact, most people probably still don't know what GhostTunes is. Even though his massive tour was sponsored by his company up until his recent deal.
READ MORE: Garth Brooks Finally Comes to Streaming, but Only on One Platform
Now, eager listeners can download all of Garth Brooks' catalog from Amazon Music. They can also subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited, a new music streaming service with exclusive rights to Garth Brooks' catalog. Oh, and they've got his wife Trisha Yearwood's music, too.
Garth Brooks fought the digital age tooth and nail. When he announced GhostTunes, he also announced his return to touring and new music. It was an admirable effort, but the whole thing kind of overwhelmed people. Plus, music streaming already slowly started taking over digital downloads anyway.
Now, with his new (and more well-received) album Gunslinger, Brooks followed a similar pattern. He released the album around the same time he announced his deal with streaming services. There was plenty of chatter over just which service landed Brooks' music.
And then, of course, it just so happened to be a brand new service already entering the crowded world dominated by Spotify and Apple Music. Brooks helped launch Amazon Music Unlimited in October 2016. No word yet on how successful the platform has been or if it's making a dent in Spotify and Apple's user numbers.
