All signs are pointing toward Tool ending their boycott of streaming music. Bloomberg reports the hard rock act is in talks with “the biggest services,” including Spotify and Apple Music, about the best way to release their music ahead of their oft-delayed first album in a decade.
Frontman Maynard James Keenan declined to comment on Bloomberg’s report. However, in past interviews he described himself as a physical media purist who wants Tool’s albums to be consumed in their entirety and not as individual tracks. He told the Phoenix News Times in 2013 that digital music is “just this disconnected thing that you can’t touch and feel and experience.”
(Read: Which Artists Are Still Holding Out of Streaming?)
As for Tool’s fifth studio album, the band announced in February that Keenan had commenced working on vocals — an auspicious update considering he typically avoids joining them in the studio until the vast majority of music is written.
What we do know for sure, however, is the hard rock legends have scheduled a North American tour featuring festival appearances at Governors Ball and Boston Calling. Check out the full schedule here.
