Garth Brooks talks streaming and readies SiriusXM channel

NEW YORK – Garth Brooks is readying the fall launch of his SiriusXM channel, which will become one of two places fans can listen to the country star’s music digitally.

Brooks announced Thursday that The Garth Channel will debut Sept. 8 and will feature songs from his albums, live recordings and commentary. His music isn’t available on digital retailers like iTunes or streaming platforms such as Spotify; instead, he’s launched GhostTunes to house his music online.

The 54-year-old country singer said the deal could lead to possibly putting his music on Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming platforms.

“Sirius is the logical first step toward a streaming deal from one of the bigger companies if that’s going to happen,” Brooks said in a phone interview Wednesday from Nashville, Tennessee. “Since we are not streaming, this is the logically next step to eventually get to that streaming deal.”

Brooks said he’s completed his first session for Sirius. He said a 90-minute session turned into four hours as he discussed his first two albums (his debut was released in 1989). He said he’s excited to have his fans hear his music digitally after he took more than three years to digitize his extensive catalogue.

“This all has been remixed, remastered digitally for streaming purposes,” he said. “We (took) every individual guitar lick and digitized it and put (the songs) back together.”

Brooks, now on a sold-out tour, will play shows Friday and Saturday at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York.

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Online:

http://garthbrooks.com/

http://www.siriusxm.com/