Billboard
Primary Wave Music, has put together a partnership with Motel 6 that will give touring rock bands free lodging in exchange for putting up the “Rock Yourself to Sleep logo on their social network sites, like Twitter, MySpace and Facebook. “Being on the road is an integral part of a band’s success,” Primary Wave partner/chief imagination officer Devin Lasker.” Unfortunately, touring is an expensive proposition, so we created this program to alleviate that burden.” Motel 6 became the sponsor of the campaign.
ARTIST EMBRACES ‘NAME-YOUR-PRICE’ STRATEGY FOR TOUR
Billboard
Toronto-based hip hop artist k-os will do for live concerts what Radiohead did for recorded music sales. Backed by an idea developed by his manager, Nettwerk Music Group chief executive Terry McBride, k-os will start a 10-date Canadian tour kicking off April 30, where fans will be able to pay what they want after witnessing the show. Telecommunications giant Rogers Wireless will also have 100 promotional tickets and are underwriting 60% of the costs, McBride says. Venues for the shows range up to 2,500 in capacity.
SEN. SCHUMER UNVEILS TICKETING LEGISLATION
Billboard.biz:
With the backdrop of this morning’s second round of U2 tickets for their fall concert in New York, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer unveiled new legislation to improve fans’ chances of getting tickets at face price and crack down on ticket resellers. The legislation imposes a two-day waiting period from when tickets go on sale via an authorized sales channel before a ticket reseller can buy those tickets to put on the secondary market, according to a press release. Schumer’s bill does not make ticket reselling illegal. When ticket buyers need to sell their own tickets, or they want to attend an event and are willing to pay more not to be part of the initial on-sale, ticket reselling is acceptable, according to the release.
DEATH CAB REVEAL EP DETAILS, ORCHESTRAL SHOW
Pitchfork:
Atlantic will release The Open Door to digital retailers on March 31. The band will start selling physical copies of the EP on tour starting April 5, and then regular stores will get it on April 14. The EP includes four unreleased songs and one demo version of the Narrow Stairs track “Talking Bird”. Death Cab will tour hard this spring and summer, and they’ve added shows with fellow indie heavies like Andrew Bird and Ra Ra Riot. And at their July 5 show at the Hollywood Bowl, the Los Angeles Philharmonic will back them up. You didn’t really think Death Cab would abstain from the whole bands-playing-with-orchestras trend, did you?
Common Market to Tour With Digable Planets
Seattle Weekly:
Seattle hip-hop luminaries Common Market just announced yesterday that they’ll be touring for almost a month opening up Digable Planets. That’s a good look considering how revered Digable Planets is nationwide. Common Market’s touring actually starts with two dates at SXSW in Austin on March 18, and March 21 so if anybody is headed to Texas for that raucous music festival, be sure to support these guys as they show the music world that Seattle hip-hop deserves more attention.
NATALIE PORTMAN’S SHAVED HEAD TO TOUR WITH LILY ALLEN
The Stranger:
Seattle’s own Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head will hit the road as special guests on the upcoming Lily Allen US tour this spring. The party caravan starts April 1 in San Diego, CA and includes stops in Los Angeles, the band’s hometown of Seattle, and NYC.
