New Order Debuts Album on Spinner.com

British pop group New Order debuted its new album, Get Ready, on AOL Time Warner’s Spinner.com Internet radio service, weeks ahead of its Oct. 16 release to retail stores, in what analysts said was a significant move. The online promotion reflects the recording industry’s growing momentum in its effort to offer albums to fans via the Web--a move that would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

New Order’s music label is AOL Time Warner’s Reprise Records. The company is offering a series of online promotions for the album, which is the band’s first studio album in eight years. As part of the advance premiere on Spinner.com or Spinner online radio service, the album is being streamed in its entirety from Aug. 20 through Aug. 27.

Several analysts viewed the promotion as noteworthy, particularly after major recording companies such as Warner Music had shunned releasing more than half-minute samples of music on the Web, fearing piracy and lost music sales.