Why You Can Trust CNET Garth Brooks goes all-in on Amazon Music Unlimited
The country singer is putting his entire catalog of music on Amazon's Spotify rival.
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Garth Brooks is one of the best-selling recording artists of time, eclipsed on Billboard's historical Top 200 album rankings only by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Barbra Streisand.
Call it a Christmas miracle? Garth Brooks' entire catalog of music will be available to stream exclusively on Amazon's Spotify rival, Music Unlimited, beginning at midnight ET Saturday, the company said Wednesday.
Brooks, one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, had already opened up to Amazon Music Unlimited in October, the same month the e-commerce giant launched the service. He picked it to be the service to first stream any of his music ever, removing him from the rare breed of megastar holding out from streaming.
That also marked the first time Amazon had scored a high-profile exclusive. Those arrangements have become a key strategy of subscription music services including Apple Music, Tidal and now Amazon, which are elbowing each other to recruit members. (Spotify, which is the biggest music service by subscribers, is the notable holdout -- it doesn't play the exclusives game.)
In October, Amazon unlocked access to stream Brooks' latest single, "Baby, Let's Lay Down and Dance," as well as a double-disc hits album and a two-disc live performance record. The company said at the time it would add more of his music later this year. Since then, Brooks has become one of the top streamed artists on the service, and his "Ultimate Hits" and "Double Live" records have become top streamed albums, according to Steve Boom, vice president of Amazon Music, in a statement.
On Wednesday, Amazon said it would now stream Brooks' entire 16-album collection, including all 10 studio albums and his latest, "Gunslinger," as well as other material like "The Lost Sessions" and his Christmas releases. Amazon is also co-sponsoring Brooks' upcoming tour.
Members of Amazon's Prime $99-a-year, two-day-shipping program must pay $8 extra every month to unlock the wider library of Amazon Music Unlimited. In addition to the $4-a-month Echo-only price, any consumer can subscribe to the music service for $10 a month.