R.E.M. has announced that it will stream Accelerate - the band's 14th studio album - in its entirety exclusively on iLike and its syndicates beginning March 24th. The iLike Worldwide Listening Party will continue through March 26th, six days before the album's North American release on April 1st, 2008. The iLike streaming deal was announced in a press release.
"Collaborating with iLike and debuting Accelerate across the Web is in keeping with the spirit and immediacy of the album," says the band's frontman Michael Stipe. "We wanted to do something superfast and super real. Music, art, and pop culture are about right now, and nothing else matters. Accelerate is our turbo-charged response to the times we live in."
"With 11 songs clocking in at just 34 minutes, Accelerate is intense and relevant, with songs inspired by the WTO riots in Seattle, the Hurricane Katrina disaster, and other topical themes," said Ali Partovi, CEO of iLike. "We are honored to play a role in helping R.E.M. introduce this album to their fans across the Web. This is our first-ever Worldwide Listening Party and R.E.M. has set a very high bar."
In many ways, Accelerate marks a break from R.E.M.'s recent albums, 1998's Up, 2001's Reveal, and 2004's Around The Sun - all finely crafted works exploring the textures and possibilities of the recording studio. Accelerate ties together the band's entire canon as part of the vision for the new album turning old dreams into a new reality.
iLike's popularity got a huge boost from being a popular application on Facebook. They've clearly been able to leverage that popularity to get a major band like R.E.M. to stream their entire album on their service before it is officially released. R.E.M. will also record a video message introducing and discussing the album that will be available via iLike for distribution across the Web.
