Waiting for Tool to follow up 1992006’s 10,ooo Days with their fifth album has been a popular metalhead pastime for at least five years, and while there have been plenty of teases, small hints of progress, and studio updates, it’s been hard to get the sense that we’re any closer – until now. Bloomberg reports that the band are in talks to join streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music.
Tool have been one of the last holdouts to keep their music from streaming services, and the fact that they’ve reportedly started talking to streaming services being reported not by a webmaster, but by a business newspaper, suggests that they’re taking things a little more seriously. It would certainly make sense them to surprise-release a single, or perhaps the whole album, on digital services at the same time their catalog becomes available to stream. When you think about how much the online music world has changed since the release of 10,000 Days, there’s almost no reason they shouldn’t join streaming services. Interestingly enough, the article says that it’s the band members themselves talking to the streaming services, not a lawyer or manager. We’ll see what happens, but the possibility of having new Tool music to go along with their recently-announced tour seems like more of a possibility than it’s been for a while.
