Led Zeppelin to sell its albums online

For the first time in its history, British rock bank Led Zeppelin will offer its music for sale online in November 2007.

Led Zeppelin is one of the last major pop music bands to offer their catalogue digitally.

Warner Music has announced that all the catalogues of the band would be available online from November 13, 2007.

Led Zeppelin, one of the most popular rock bands of all time, will make its albums available for download from all online music retailers. However, it is not yet clear whether Apple’s iTunes would be among the retailers.

Led Zeppelin, which has to its credit such hits as Stairway to Heaven and Communication Breakdown, has sold an estimated 300 million albums
worldwide.

Meanwhile, over 1 million music fans have applied for the 10,000 available tickets of Led Zeppelin’s planned reunion performance in London on November 26, 2007. This would be the first concert that the band is holding in almost 20 years.

The albums being made available online include Led Zeppelin (1969), Led Zeppelin II (1969), Led Zeppelin III (1970), Untitled fourth album (1971), Houses Of The Holy (1973), Physical Graffiti (1975), Presence (1976), The Song Remains The Same (1976; recently remixed and re-mastered for reissue on November 20), In Through The Out Door (1979), Coda (1982), How The West Was Won (2003), and Mothership.

Analysts say that the band is joining the digital movement as sales of physical CDs continue to fall.

Media reports quoted guitarist Jimmy Page as saying: “We are pleased that the complete Led Zeppelin catalogue will now be available digitally. The addition of the digital option will better enable fans to obtain their music in whichever manner they prefer.”

Apart from internet downloads, Led Zeppelin is working together with mobile-phone service provider Verizon Wireless to provide ring tones and full song downloads.

The band is performing in London on November 26, 2007, as a tribute to the late founder of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun, who signed Led Zeppelin in 1968.

Led Zeppelin will also release Mothership, a two-CD collection spanning the band’s 12-year career and a remixed version of The Song Remains the Same soundtrack from the band’s three-night performance at Madison Square Garden in 1973.