Bob Dylan album goes for early sales to Citi customers

U.S. singer/songwriter Bob Dylan performs at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans April 28, 2006.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The times they are a-changin', and Bob Dylan's surprise decision to release his first Christmas album next month now comes with a banking tie-in that would have been unimaginable during the singer's 1960s protest years.

Citibank said on Tuesday that "Christmas In The Heart" will be available for Internet download to 13 million customers enrolled in the company's rewards program, during the week before it hits stores on October 13.

Nancy Gordon, executive vice president of Citibank's rewards program, said she expects the album will have "high appeal" to customers, who mainly get points by using their credit or debit cards. The CD will not be sold in branches of the Citigroup Inc unit.

Dylan, 68, will donate his proceeds from the Columbia Records release to charities that feed the needy. Columbia is a unit of Sony Corp.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Bob Tourtellotte, Gary Hill)