Tool’s Full Back Catalog Has Finally Arrived on Streaming Services

For many years. fans of the influential post-metal band Tool could not find the group’s music on any streaming platform, which meant that their music had to either be purchased in physical form, or pirated. Today however, the band’s back catalog has been released across streaming platforms in its entirety, bringing the band’s music into the modern era of music consumption.

The process of releasing the bands music on these platforms has been ongoing for nearly this entire year, with a Bloomberg report stating that “the band’s camp had been having meetings with Spotify and Apple Music to potentially get their songs out via the now-dominant form of music consumption.”The band’s frontman, Maynard James Keenan also hinted that he was not the one to blame for their music not being accessible via these services around the same time, putting even more attention on this issue.

Keenan also released a statement in light of this recent news, praising the release of the band’s music on these streaming platforms. He mentioned various platforms that had been out of use for over two decades such as BetaMax and Laser Disc, both of which were massive failures at their time due to cheaper alternatives such as VHS tapes and eventually DVDs, as a way to comment on the band’s music access.

“Our obsession with, and dream of, a world where BetaMax and Laser Disc rule has ended,” said Keenan in  apress release. “Time for us to move on. But never fear. There’s a brand new thing we think you’re really gonna dig. It’s called Digital Downloads and Streaming. Get ready for the future, folks!”

Earlier this year the band announced that they would be opening up access to their music on these platforms,  which followed a reveal of their latest studio album’s title Fear Inoculum. Their first piece of music that appeared on a streaming platform was their early demo 72826, which was recorded back in 1991. The demo, which has a phallic looking wrench as the centerpiece of its cover art, became available on Apple Music, Google Play Music, and YouTube.