Columbia Records and Apple today announced that AC/DC’s entire catalog is now available digitally for the first time exclusively on the iTunes Store worldwide. From their 1976 debut High Voltage to seminal classic Back In Black and 2008 smash hit Black Ice, every one of AC/DC’s 16 studio albums, along with four live albums and three compilation albums, are available for the first time ever on the iTunes Store. All tracks are Mastered for iTunes, and fans have the ability to download full albums or simply purchase their favorite individual songs. Fans can also choose from two specially packaged digital compilations: The Complete Collection, the complete iTunes-exclusive AC/DC catalog; and The Studio Collection, which includes all 16 studio albums.
AC/DC’s thunderous and primal rock and roll has excited fans for generations with their raw and rebellious brand of music, which also resonates with millions of new fans discovering AC/DC everyday. Their growing legion of fans will now experience the intensity of AC/DC’s music in a way it has never been heard before. AC/DC’s music has been Mastered for iTunes, ensuring the music is delivered to listeners with increased audio fidelity, more closely replicating what the artists, recording engineers and producers intended.
The full catalog which has all been Mastered for iTunes includes:
Collections
• The Collection (all studio albums for $99.99)
• The Complete Collection (all studio albums, live albums and box sets for $149.99)
16 Studio Albums
• High Voltage (1976)
• Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (1976)
• Let There Be Rock (1977)
• Powerage (1978)
• Highway To Hell (1979)
• Back In Black (1980)
• For Those About To Rock We Salute You (1981)
• Flick Of The Switch (1983)
• 74 Jailbreak (1984)
• Fly On The Wall (1985)
• Who Made Who (1986)
• Blow Up Your Video (1988)
• The Razors Edge (1990)
• Ballbreaker (1995)
• Stiff Upper Lip (2000)
• Black Ice (2008)
4 Live Albums
• If You Want Blood You’ve Got It (1978)
• Live (1992)
• Live (2 Volume Collector’s Edition) (1992)
• Live At River Plate (2012)
3 Compilation Albums
• Bonfire (1997)
• Backtracks audio (2009)
• Iron Man 2 soundtrack (2010)
The iTunes Store is the world’s most popular music store with a catalog of over 26 million songs and over 20 billion songs downloaded, and is available in 63 countries. The iTunes Store is the best way for iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music online. All music on the iTunes Store comes in iTunes Plus®, Apple’s DRM-free format with high-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings. iTunes in the Cloud lets you download your previously purchased iTunes music to all your iOS devices at no additional cost, and new music purchases can be downloaded automatically to all your devices.
Source: Apple Inc.
MacDailyNews Take: Now you know why Apple’s up $30 this morning. 😉
Welcome AC/DC! It’s well past about time!
Related article:
Music’s online holdouts: The Beatles, Led Zepplin, AC/DC, Garth Brooks, and more – February 16, 2007
So what, were these guys just iTunes hold outs? Congratulations for throwing away money you could have been making and making fans get your music for free online! Brilliance!
For those about to rock…. I salute you!
+100,000,000
Who cares? AC-DC is nothing but cheesy bubble gum rock with no depth that was bad in it’s day and even worse now.
What’s wrong with a little bubble-gum rock from time to time fun-hater?
MikeK is waiting for a Stephen Hawkings album.
“Plato Live At The Whiskey-A-Go-Go.”….remastered.
The formula works.
They make a lot more money than highly technical and talented bands like Dream Theater.
BTW, you’re not invited to any of my parties.
Just in time for the collapse of Microsoft and the PC kingdom, “Highway to Hell”. Lovely!
OK, after this long I’ve got a great big “yeah so?” for AC/DC
Why does Apple waste its time releasing duplicate tracks from “compilation albums” in the iTunes store? Complete waste of time.
Apple could do far better to ensure the date & album title of the original song release is correct, rather than brainlessly listing info from the release of the “greatest hits”.
… which is another reason why you should just go to your used CD store, pick up the whole catalog for less money than you would on iTunes, rip them to your machine in high-quality ALAC format, and get the info correct on the tracks so you can create some really great playlists.
“Why does Apple waste its time releasing duplicate tracks from “compilation albums” in the iTunes store? Complete waste of time.”
Probably because people buy them.
you completely miss my point. if a person buys the “greatest hits” compilation, the track info should reflect the original release date and album.
do you create playlists?
’bout time.
You can run, but you can’t hide from iTunes. It will consume you eventually.
I forgot who are the other big star holdouts at this point?
What’s AC/DC? A voltage rectifier?
All these mess with iTunes Match was JUST to promote AC/DC? Must be kidding, right? AC/DC hated Apple. Must be their sons’ fault. “Dad it’s a shame your music isn’t on iTunes, even Beatles is there… it’s like you’re irrelevant to the new generation, no good.”
Yes, all their 55 year old fans will be happy to download what they long ago ripped from CDs bought in 1984 or so. Not!
AC/DC is on TV ads, game breaks, cover songs, celebs t-shirts… it’s still a relevant music icon.
Yet another ‘who cares’ band joining the new digital era too late and completely irrelevant to the world.
Cream, Led Zeppelin, Animals, Rolling Stones, Traffic great bands, AC/DC ranks right at the bottom with Rush and Metallica.
Rush at the bottom? LOL!
Laugh all you want but Back In Black is the second biggest selling album after Thriller. I wouldn’t say no to 30% of that.
the black ice tour that ended in 2010 grossed almost half a billion dollars.
I doubt the lack of being on iTunes hurt these guys in the least.
Still nice to see their music show up finally.
Anyone who liked the band and their music, downloaded their digital works a decade ago.
I have the lossless version of their albums, but thankfully these releases are Mastered for iTunes. Just compared against ALAC version and the dynamics are far superior to the CD/ALAC version. I have Westone ES5 earphones, so trust me I can hear the difference!
Just like the manufacturer of the $300 headphones suggested you would right!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?……..!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?1
I mean I had no idea how great Beatles producer George Martin was until I listened to The Beatles through…hey wait, I don’t have expensive headphones…OMG!!! Then how the hell do I know George Martin is really brilliant!!!! OMG!!
And come to think of it is there an Easter Bunny ?
To celebrate, I will listen to their music (for the first time, voluntarily, mind you) OUT OF ALBUM SEQUENCE!!!!!!!!! Take that you %5 on the dollar royalty check receiving wankers!!!
and congratulations to the record execs who will receive the other 95%. kudos. Ass-Hattery is alive and well.
Let’s “drink some beers and R4p3!!” now shall we!!
Cool, now I can ignore them on iTunes too.
Not on iTunes Match. :/