AC/DC's Angus Young on Snubbing iTunes: "We Don't Make Singles, We Make Albums"

When AC/DC release their new album Black Ice on October 20th exclusively through Wal-Mart, the album will join the Beatles catalog and Kid Rock's Rock N Roll Jesus in the small "Not Available on iTunes" club. While the stance has done wonders for Jesus' renaissance, it nearly ruined Estelle's chart momentum. Despite the Wal-Mart exclusivity, AC/DC's Angus Young said Black Ice wouldn't show up on Apple's digital store anyway because "We don't make singles, we make albums."

iTunes allows customers to choose between single song or full album purchases. "Way back in the Seventies, we drew these figures on the back of an envelope for our record company. We showed them how much they earned from us if we sold 1 million singles and how much they earned if we sold 1 million albums," Young said. "The difference was staggering. That was to get them off our back because we only very grudgingly release singles. Our real reason is that we honestly believe the songs on any of our albums belong together."

Young also says that he recently met some bands that discussed withdrawing from iTunes as well because "I told them that since iTunes came into existence, we've actually increased our back catalog sales without being on the site." Young makes an interesting point: The Beatles and AC/DC rank one and two on the list of highest-selling back catalogs, and neither appear on iTunes. The Rolling Stones, meanwhile, ranked sixth on the list and are available on iTunes.

Related Stories:
• AC/DC Reveal "Rock N' Roll Train" Video, Go Paperless Ticket Route
• AC/DC Announce North American "Black Ice" Tour Dates
• AC/DC's "Black Ice" to Be Released October 20th; Pre-Order Info, Track List Announced

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Song Stories

“Baby Got Back”

Sir Mix-a-Lot | 1992

While watching a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl, Sir Mix-a-Lot thought the skinny female models in the ad didn’t represent reality. So he wrote this ode to ample bottoms, featuring its famous to-the-point lyric: “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” MTV banished the video, featuring shaking booties and sexually suggestive fruit, to 9 p.m. or later. “I thought my career was over,” he told Rolling Stone. “Then I called Rick Rubin, and I told him the video was banned, and he was like, 'Great!' We sold another 2 million records.”

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