R.E.M. to Launch New Album Early - on Facebook

BuzzSugar — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:31:48 -0700

Want to make Michael Stipe your Facebook buddy? Now's the time! R.E.M.'s next album Accelerate will debut online one week ahead of its official release date - on social networking site iLike and any of the sites that use iLike's application, like Facebook. According to Billboard, the March 24 roll-out is "the first of its kind for a major act."

Stipe says he's just going with the new wave of how listeners find music which he says "has certainly changed in the last 5 or 10 years. I think you can either go with it or sit back and watch it happen, and I would rather be out on the field than in the bleachers."

I have to say, I am loving the first track we've heard off Accelerate, "Supernatural Superserious," and most of you seem to like it, too. Regardless of how much they embrace the digital age, R.E.M.'s still got it.