AC/DC allows Apple Music, Rdio, Spotify to stream their music

AC/DC, who only in 2012 decided to make their music available on iTunes, are putting their music on streaming services this week.

The legendary band are making their full catalogue available on services including Spotify, Rdio, and Apple Music as early as tonight (Tuesday in the US). Interestingly, links to buy AC/DC merchandise currently feature on Spotify, where the band’s Artist Page currently has over 700,000 followers.

The New York Times broke the news, reporting the information was passed on to them via “a number of people with knowledge of the band’s plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity.”

TMN reached out to music publishing and recording company Albert Music, which manages the music catalogue of AC/DC, however its representative declined to comment.

Echoing sentiments made by Metallica, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin – before each made nice with streaming – AC/DC had previously argued against making their catalogue available to be consumed piece-meal.

"For us it's the best way,” Angus Young told Sky News in 2011, a year before they followed The Beatles’ footsteps and joined iTunes. “We are a band who started off with albums and that's how we've always been."

While the Billboard, Official UK and ARIA charts have all made the decision to incorporate audio music streams into their official charts in recent months, AC/DC’s absence from the services didn’t hurt album sales. The band’s fifteenth album Rock Or Bust, their first LP to be sold digitally, sold 2.7 million worldwide and cumulatively, the band have sold over 72 million records in the US alone. Rock or Bust hit #1 in 12 countries, including Australia and Canada, and reached the top 5 in a further 12 countries, including New Zealand, the UK and the US.

As TMN reported earlier this month, the rock icons are officially the fifth biggest selling recording act in the world at the moment. That’s according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), which said AC/DC beat out Michael Jackson (forXscape) and the long defunct Pink Floyd (for The Endless River), followed by Sam Smith, Katy Perry and Beyonce.