Can You Buy Kanye West’s “FACTS” On iTunes?

In case you were busy having an actual life last night, you may have missed the fact that King Kanye West dropped a single in all of our laps to celebrate the impending New Year. It’s become an annual tradition at this point for West to release a new single on New Year’s Eve, maybe to remind us all that he is still around and still very much working on his music. But unlike last year’s “Only One,” which was released straight to iTunes for the cool cost of $1.29, West released “FACTS” to his Soundcloud page so that we could all enjoy it for free. Thanks, ‘Ye! Still, as much as I love me some free music, I also love having my music on my iPhone where I can listen to it without using up all of my data. ‘Cuz data ain’t cheap, y’all. So I’m wondering: Can you buy Kanye’s “FACTS” on iTunes? And, if not, when can you, because my car speakers are lonely without the sweet melodies of Yeezus.

Unfortunately, for all of us with limited data and a fierce addiction to our iPhones, “FACTS” is not yet available on iTunes. For the time being it’s only available on Kanye West’s Soundcloud page. So let’s all go and listen to it for free while we can.

As for when the song will be available on iTunes, I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. I’m assuming here, but I imagine Kanye will do like the artists who released free music before him did: Release music to his Soundcloud page for free and never release it to iTunes.

I’m thinking about Miley Cyrus and her dead petz, clearly. Remember when Cyrus announced the free album at the MTV VMA awards—complete with an amazing mic-drop-worthy performance—and then never made it available on iTunes? Yeah, you still can’t find the album or any of the songs anywhere on iTunes.

So while I don’t know for sure whether “FACTS” will be available on iTunes, I know it’s not currently, and I imagine West will do something similar with this song. Because it’s out there and free, there probably won’t be a huge market for people to pay for it on iTunes.

But that doesn’t mean it will never be there. It’s just a single, after all. I bet when his new album drops, “FACTS” and the rest of his amazing songs will be available on iTunes for mass consumption.

Until then we’ll all just have to bide our time and ration our data to listen to this killer song on repeat.