ABC News Radio (Feb. 26th 2014)

Blake Shelton Appeals to Garth Brooks to Release His Music on iTunes

Earlier this month, Blake Shelton took to Twitter to express his frustration over not being able to download Garth Brooks’ music online. “Dear Garth Brooks... For the love of god and all that’s holy, please get your music on iTunes,” he tweeted. “PLEASE! It’s 2014!!! #frustratedfan.”

 “I thought, man, I want to buy, I don't remember what it was. 'Shameless' or something,” he shares. “I got on iTunes and it's like tribute bands, and it's like, ‘What?’  So, then I got on Spotify, and it's not there. It's not on YouTube. It's not anywhere.”

Bringing Garth’s music into the digital age is especially important to Blake, since he consider the superstar his inspiration.

“He's the reason that I wanted to be a country singer. He's the reason that I worked a summer and saved up to buy a black Takamine guitar with a cutaway on it,” he recalls. “He's that important to me, and I just hate to think that people can't get their music -- get his music whenever they want to. I don't even have a CD player anymore. I don't even own one, I don't think. If I do, it's broke.”

The Voice coach worries that Garth’s music only being available on physical CDs means there’s a whole new generation who’s not discovering him.

“My ultimate fear is, and I've had friends tell me that their kids didn't know who Garth Brooks was, and that upsets me. I don't like that. I think it's because kids are walking around with their iPhones and their iPods, and if they can't get it on there, then they probably don't know it exists.”

Blake goes on to say he understands how the superstar feels about making his music available digitally, but he believes there could be some compromise.

“I know Garth's stance on it, which is he wants people to go buy the album and have the album experience. I still don't know why you can't do that on iTunes too.”