Garth Brooks + Blake Shelton’s ‘Dive Bar’ Is Only Available on Amazon — Here’s Why
Garth Brooks and Blake Shelton dropped their new duet "Dive Bar" on Tuesday morning (June 18), but you won't find it on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music or any other number of streaming or download services. The song is only available via Amazon Music, due to Brooks' exclusive deal with the platform.
Although Shelton -- whose music is widely available on streaming and download sites -- is featured on "Dive Bar," the single is Brooks' song, so fans will have to play by his rules, so to speak, in order to hear the track. Brooks tells Billboard he "made sure Blake understood" that setup before releasing the song.
"[T]hen I told Amazon, 'This guy gets streams out the ass because he's on Spotify, you guys and Apple. Doing this, you're going to cut his streams on this way down, so I need you to overperform on your end. Put him on every playlist you possibly can,'" Brooks says. "Of course that helps me, but the main thing is, I just don't want to hurt Blake."
"Dive Bar" is premiering at country radio on Tuesday, and will be made available on Amazon Music for Amazon Prime Day in July. Brooks has made his music available for streaming exclusively via Amazon's platform since October of 2016. Previously, in 2014, he launched his own digital platform, GhostTunes, to make his music available digitally for the first time.
Shelton and Brooks will perform "Dive Bar" together for the first time on July 19, at Brooks' Stadium Tour stop in Boise, Idaho. The multi-year trek began in early 2019. Shelton, who is keeping busy with his coaching role on The Voice, will open that show, and their performance will be filmed.
Brooks and Shelton previously worked together on The Voice back in 2016. Brooks was an advisor during the TV singing competition's 11th season. Brooks is from Tulsa, while Shelton grew up about three hours south, in Tishomingo.
Both Brooks and Shelton have been working on new music as of late. Brooks has been teasing a new album called Fun -- on which "Dive Bar" will appear -- since early 2019; he tells Billboard it should be done "by the end of July." Shelton, meanwhile, has said that, despite recently releasing a new single, "God's Country," he's not sure when his next album will be out -- or even if he'll release another full-length project.
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