Kid Rock goes digital with Rhapsody

By Antony Bruno

DeNVER (Billboard) - Kid Rock has ended his resistance to digital music services by granting Rhapsody a four-month exclusive offering of his recordings.

Starting Friday (October 3), Rock's music on Rhapsody, the online music service run by RealNetworks, is available for digital-rights-management-free purchase as full albums only, while individual songs can be downloaded only under the subscription plan, or streamed via the service's 25-free-songs-a-month offer.

Rock has been a vocal advocate of keeping music available only as full albums, a stance that is the root cause of his music's continued absence from the iTunes music store. Apple's Steve Jobs insists on selling all music as both albums and as singles.

The addition to Rhapsody does not come as a complete surprise; Rock told Billboard in September that he was planning to add his music to digital retailers soon. After Rhapsody's exclusive offer ends, Rock's catalog of recordings likely will appear on additional services, with the caveat that any making the music available for sale must do so as full albums only.

The lack of Kid Rock music on iTunes has led to two cover versions of his hit single "All Summer Long," both of which have posted respectable sales numbers. Hit Masters' version has sold more than 267,000 downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan, while Rock Heroes' take on it has shifted 137,000.

Reuters/Billboard