Advertisement

Aerosmith 'Head First' onto CompuServe

LOS ANGELES, June 15 -- Geffen Records said Wednesday it will release Aerosmith's new single on CompuServe, making it the first major record label to unveil a new song on an electronic information service.

The rock band's never-before released song 'Head First' will be available exclusively on CompuServe Information Service for a limited time beginning June 27, Geffen said.

Advertisement

CompuServe's estimated 2 million users will be able to download the Aerosmith single for free, but it is expected to take up to 90 minutes to transfer the song to their computers.

Aerosmith will waive their royalties for the song and CompuServe will waive connect-time charges because of the 'groundbreaking nature of this event,' Geffen said.

'If our fans are out there driving down that information superhighway, then we want to be playing at the truck stop,' said Steven Tyler, Aerosmith's lead vocalist. 'This is the future -- so let's get it going.'

'Head First' was recorded during sessions for the band's most recent album, 'Get A Grip,' which reached No. 1 last year on Billboard magazine's charts and has sold more than 8 million copies worldwide.

The three minute, 14 second track, produced by Bruce Fairbairn and written by Tyler, Joe Perry and Jim Vallance, was digitized and compressed by Jim Griffin, Geffen's head of information technology.

Advertisement

CompuServe members can type GO AEROSMITH to download the song.

'This is an experiment,' said Luke Wood of Geffen's marketing department. 'We've been providing 30-second song samples for some time and said, 'Why not a whole song?' Now the technology's caught up with the idea.'

Geffen was one of the first labels to provide sound and graphics through an electronic information service. Since last October, CompuServe members have been able to directly access Geffen Records via its music vendor forum to receive tour schedules, facts about the label's artists and new releases, full-color logos and photographs and 30-second electronic sound samples. Members have been able to write to artists during on-line interviews and leave electronic mail for Geffen staff members.

'We're trying to push the boundaries, and we're committed to exploring this idea and others like it in the future,' Wood said.

On Monday Geffen announced a venture with Jasmine Multimedia to produce 'Vid Grid,' an interactive CD-ROM that allows players get inside their favorite music videos. It will be the first CD-ROM game ever released by a major record label when it reaches stores in mid- September.

Vid Grid is a moving jigsaw puzzle with the screen divided into scrambled squares as a music video is played. The player has to put the picture in order before the end of the video to score points.

Advertisement

Latest Headlines