Monthly Archives: May 2013

Music, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit

Bon Jovi Telstra PreSales Meltdown – Australian Tour

It’s a meltdown of incompetence. Bon Jovi pre-sales went on sale today via Telstra and Bang Tango, the new player to rival Ticketek. Guess what, it is an epic fail. It’s as bad as John Carter. This is what happens when greed comes into the picture. The fans get treated like dirt.

Jon Bon Jovi is safe and tucked away in his ivory tower, certain that he will be getting his guaranteed fee for touring Australia. How the tickets are sold to his fans, doesn’t concern him at the least. So if you are a fan of Bon Jovi and you want to get tickets and if you paid monies to be a Backstage JBJ member, you had first dibs. Then Showbiz was next, selling VIP packages from a thousand plus bucks. Now it is Telstra’s turn to sell the next lot of pre sales. What a disaster? Facebook and Twitter is melting down with anger. Check out the comments below from Facebook.

· Typical Telstra and their fantastic service

· Keeps saying bad request – how funny! The biggest communications company in Australia and they can’t even get that right! Ha ha ha!

· Typical Telstra lets u down

· Well done Telstra, and Bang tango, web site crash 2 min in!!!

· Thanks Telstra you’re a freakin joke! You got everyone to register and can’t get the server to handle the traffic… You’re a joke. Absolute disgrace. I call for a waving of the proposed $15 fee for using your service. Thanks Telstra for wasting my time.

· Would love to get my tickets but the site has majorly crashed and apparently something has gone majorly wrong. Good on you Telstra. Artist should always stick with ticketek

· absolute joke bang tango…..could of told us we’d need an account with you before the morning. Thought I’d only need my Telstra stuff…no wonder it’s not coping. been waiting since I got on at 9am this morning.

· only getting a white screen via Telstra/Bang tango – frustrating

· Bon Jovi PLEASE take notice of these comments and allow us all to be able to buy tickets from a reliable ticket provider. ticketek in Australia is probably the best and although it is hard to get onto for peak ticket sales it doesn’t usually crash as it restricts the amount of people that can log in at once to avoid the site crashing. that would be a whole lot better than the site we have to get tickets from that crashed and still won’t load over 1.5 hours later

· I was on before the sale went on watched the countdown.. expected the buy button to load… and nothing. Beyond a joke. Had to reload and nothing now. Sometimes I get the page … then can’t do anything. Silly presale. Did they not realise the overload.

· Telstra you SUCK! The servers crashed and no one can get on

· I’ve got a code… 1 laptop 1 iPad and 1 iPhone and it says ” we are signing you up” please wait… Yep been waiting 18 mins already

· Telstra you are a joke how can you expect to compete for our business when you can’t even handle a large amount of people logging into the system.

· Sorry JBJ, poor choice pairing with Telstra Bang Tango. Massive pre-sale fail when you get your code early, but can’t register with the site til the sale starts; then server crashes.

· Why on earth run a pre-sale if your website can’t cope with the number of people who will be trying to purchase tickets!! This is crazy, an absolute joke and disappointment. I can’t get to the ticketing part and that’s it. Telstra… Will you be giving freebies away to all is fans who relied on your pre-sale and haven’t succeeded??

· You would think they could do each state on different days so at least all of Aus isn’t trying to get on at the same time!

· Extremely disappointed and annoyed! Pre-sale Telstra tickets for valued Telstra customers??? I’m not feeling valued at all after taking the morning off work to purchase 2 great tickets for the Adelaide concert and not being able to even log onto the page. Waited so long for you guys to come back to Adelaide too. Very disappointed

· TYPICAL TELSTRA! Couldn’t organise a thing! Site in meltdown since 9.00am! So annoyed!

· No use promoting this pre-sales. Thousands of people in Australia have not been able to access. Been trying for last hour when the pre-sale opened. Nothing. All from our biggest IT Internet provider in the country

· BANG TANGO and TELSTRA You SUCK!!! I don’t even know why I bothered. ALWAYS stick to the trustworthy companies like TICKETEK! Telstra can’t even handle phone and Internet. Should of known they wouldn’t be able to handle something big like this! SEE YOU MONDAY TICKETEK!

· Technology is a joke! Back to the old line up days I say ; )

· Maybe each state should have had a different day or time to log in!

· This is a joke. Surely you would be aware that Bon Jovi has a HUGE fan base here in Aus, and you would have been prepared for a massive amount of activity on your website. To be promoted by a telecommunications company and STILL not be able to handle the volume is shameful. SHAME TELSTRA, SHAME!!!!

· ok, so here’s the thing. I don’t know why I’m bothering. Etihad SUX, Telstra SUX, Bang Tango SUX, prices SUCK, no seating plan SUX, extra charges SUCK!!!

· typical internet ticketing site crash. Should go back to the old school over the counter style.

· I HATE YOU TICKET SITE, my daughter is late for school, my soon has missed his swimming lesson, I am about to have a heart failure and I’ve just thrown my phone at the wall. All for nothing. Why isn’t it loading, I hit the button on for different computers/phone at 9 am on the dot. I deserve these tickets!!! As do everyone else…

· And Bon Jovi you should tell your marketing mob to do more research next time and not partner with the likes of Telstra in future.

· Bang tango website sux

· yeah Telstra a great way of saying thanks by charging an extra $15 per ticket booking fee NO THANKS!!

· STUPID website crashed as soon as ticket sale opened!!!!!!!

· 13 mins trying on pc and phone, won’t even open the page!

· This is pathetic ….. Been trying to log on for over 20 minutes – why was Telstra not prepared for this ???? So annoying

· Seriously Telstra I re arranged my whole morning to get tickets. Not happy

· better off standing in line, at least then when you get frustrated you can punch some wanker in the head!!!

· The only ethical thing they can do is cancel the pre-sale until tomorrow.

· … tried both mobile and computer, nothing. If your site can’t handle heavy traffic, don’t advertise lies! We got left in the rain with nothing! Been trying to refresh browser and on mobile phone to bang tango for half an hr. now! That’s very bad PR!

· there was no problems when it was done with VISA presale through ticketek 4 years ago. why change. U SUX Telstra/Bang tango!

· So heart broken, my girlfriend is a die-hard fan I MEAN HUUUGE FAN she runs a small business & has 2 kids all I wanted was to surprise her, she works so hard & Telstra’s fail means I can’t do something simple like jump online to buy a ticket, even their instructions were pathetic. so disappointed

· I’ve now got the bang tango page to load but it still won’t let you get into the ticket section

· They should provide discount tickets due to the shocking delays!

· Good luck to everyone, I hope your able to secure tickets. The VIP backstage tickets sold out super-fast too. rumour has it Telstra website has the mapping .

· Still no seating plan available. I’d like to know what my money gets me.

· Terrible and didn’t load, jumped on to Bon jovi backstage and got great seats in no time!

· This ain’t no Bed of Roses grrrrrrr!!!

· Any official word on what they are going to do? Surely they can stop, fix and give us a new time – they can’t expect us to sit here and wait

· This is the biggest failure I have ever seen Bon Jovi Just leave it up to the professionals Ticketek in future

· Still having problems, had 3 devices going (phone, iPad, lap top) 10 mins prior to sale, and none could connect… Bang tango was a blank screen the whole time!

· Yup still crashed bang tango is saying on fb they r trying to fix it, it’s almost 10 here in brissy and I’ve been on since it started at 9 not loading

· You shouldn’t have to pay to join the fab club and purchase tickets!! Especially when they r the price they r!!

· Bang tango site fail, not impressed

· Bang tango I hate you!!!! I might just cry! It’s crashed!!!?

· just got 2 tickets thru bj backstage, but u need to be a member ($60) and get charged a conversion fee of $16 each ticket, and can only get 2 tickets. I got Sydney section 110-1, not great but OK. I hope you all get tickets soon guys. SEE YOU THERE

Even though I had my code, I didn’t even attempt to go on and purchase tickets. I understand the frustrations fans are feeling at this point in time. This is where Jon Bon Jovi should be stepping up and offering a solution. All of the above posts are from Bon Jovi’s Facebook page, without a single comment from Bon Jovi or the Facebook admin. It’s ridiculous.

Also here are the prices. Cheap tickets is what the media outlets report. I say yeah right. There is nothing cheap about this Bon Jovi experience. It’s a farce. The media doesn’t report with any integrity anymore. The cheapest tickets are $35 from Ticketek and $32 from Telstra Pre Sales, to sit on top of the stadium roof, with your view hindered. Then they have a limit of two Bronze tickets, so if you want to take a family of 4 or 5 you are stuck. Nice one.

Brisbane / Sydney*
Gold Reserve $155.00
Silver Reserve $99.00
Bronze Reserve $35.00
Platinum Reserve $199.00
Diamond Reserve $250.00
GA Standing – Rear Field $125.00 (Sydney Only)

Perth*
Gold Reserve $199.00
Silver Reserve $129.00
Bronze Reserve $35.00
Platinum Reserve $249.00
Diamond Reserve $299.00

Ticket limit: Bronze Reserved limited to 2 per transaction
*A one-off service/delivery fee from $5.85 per transaction applies. A credit/debit card processing fee from 1.95% will apply. Ticket orders are subject to credit/debit card approval and customer account verification.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

Angus Young – Guitar World – March 1986 – Part 3

ANGUS YOUNG – RAW ENERGY IS ALL YOU NEED
Guitar World March 1986
By Joe Lalaina

(All parts in Italics and Quotes are from the March 1986 issue of Guitar World)

To this day. Angus continues to play in shorts, every show. However a lot of AC/DC fans say it s a worn-out routine,

“I guess it depends on which fans you talk to,” counters Angus. To me, it’s comfortable. If I took the stage and dressed like any other guitar player. I don’t think I would be able to be myself. The shorts are as much a part of me as my guitar.”

Lalaina is trying to get a reaction from Angus.  I lived through the Eighties, and during this period, glam and hard rock was becoming king.  All the bands had a similar look.  AC/DC didn’t fit this look and a lot of the journalists tried to put AC/DC down.  Even the sales of AC/DC albums started to tank during the Eighties.  It wasn’t until 1990 when AC/DC released The Razor’s Edge that their career was resurrected.  The response from Angus is typical of the attitude in AC/DC.  They never cared for trends.  To quote Frank Sinatra, the did it their way.

“When I first started playing in shorts, it was a challenge. People would say, Hey, this guy’s a clown—here comes Peepo or something. As a result, it made me work harder to prove to the people that I really did know how to play guitar. I just plugged it into the amp and played. I never used any of those wangy’ bars or stuff like that.”

These days, an artist would change who they are, just so they can please.  No one wants to be hated.  Instead of working harder to stay true to who they are like Angus, 99% of wannabe musicians would change.

In fact, Angus hates tremolo units.

” Those things never appealed to me,” he says. “If I want to get a similar kind of sound, I just de-tune the strings. Cliff Richard used to have this guy in his backing band, Hank Marvin, who used that thing on almost every note. He was like a Buddy Holly clone—he used to do these silly little steps. Guys like Hank set the music world back twenty years. I couldn’t believe guitarists like Beck looked at him as inspiration. Whenever I saw guys like Hank Marvin, I would always go in the complete reverse of what they were doing.”

That is what I am talking about.  By 1986, everyone was doing tapping, whammy dive bombs, sweep picking and had racks of gear to rival NASA.  Angus is totally against it, staying true to who he is, keeping it simple, keeping it real.

Angus says his biggest musical inspiration was his brother George Young, who together with Harry Vanda produced the first few AC/DC albums. Vanda and Young, you may recall, were the guitarists in the Easybeats, one of the most successful Australian pop bands of the late sixties.

That is what a lot of people seem to forget or don’t even know about.  Angus and Malcolm Young had a successful older brother. Does anyone remember the working class anthem, Friday On My Mind?

“We learned a lot from George.” says Angus. “He was the first one who said to us, To be different, you must do everything your own way. When he first heard us, he was impressed with the fact that we could take someone’s song—an old standard like ‘Lucille’ or something and make it sound like a new song altogether. George just let us do what we wanted. He didn’t make us put nice melodies in. If anything, he made us toughen our music up.”

“Although George had more experience as a guitarist and a songwriter, he was also a good producer. A lot of people call themselves producers, but in fact they may be more of an engineer, since they know more about sound than about songs or arranging. George knew about everything. A lot of producers can’t even tell you if your guitar is out of tune.”

“George was great to work with in the studio.” adds Angus. “He always said that since we’re a rock and roll band, the less gimmickry, the better. The last album he did with us was our live album back in 78, If You Want Blood You’ve Got It. I remember George saying, “This is the last AC/DC album I’m gonna produce, since you guys already know enough about the type of sound and songs you want.”

I have a strong viewpoint on producers.  A good, smart producer can really get the best out of a band, and to me, they are the real unsung heroes in the history of hard rock and heavy metal music.  George Young, didn’t try to change AC/DC into another Easybeats.  He made them play to their strengths.  He assisted them in making their sound tougher, rawer, edgier and grittier.

After considering a few producers (whom Angus says he would rather not name), AC/DC settled for Robert John “Mutt” Lange, who produced the bands next three albums, Highway To Hell, Back In Black and For Those About To Rock We Salute You. Of these, Back In Black was the most successful, selling a whopping eight million copies.

“That album is our biggest selling album in America,” acknowledges Angus, “but our European fans preferred our early albums. A lot of the sounds on Back In Black are very much like the sounds you hear on the radio these days.”

Mutt Lange, another master producer.  Of course he went on to massive things with Def Leppard, Bryan Adams and Shania Twain.

How many AC/DC fans knew that Lange, produced three AC/DC albums.

Of course, Back In Black has now moved over 30 million units worldwide since its release.  Highway To Hell, the last Bon Scott album has now moved over  10 million units worldwide since its release and For Those About To Rock We Salute You, has now moved over 7 million units worldwide since its release.

It was another super producer, Bruce Fairbairn that helped re-establish AC/DC in the Nineties with the excellent Razors Edge and the classic Thunderstruck.

Could this be why AC/DC decided to produce their last two albums themselves?

“Not really,” says Angus. “We went from working with Mutt to producing ourselves simply because we wanted to. All the material was ready before we went into the studio albums we did with Matt. He left the music to us because he knew what we wanted. But the difference between us and any other band he’s worked with is that he likes to spend a lot of time in the studio, we don’t. I mean, he’s a good producer and he’s good at getting a great performance out of a band, but he spends too much time recording. We can’t stay in a studio for six months to a year on an album – that’s ridiculous.”

Is Angus happy with how Fly On The Wall turned out?

“We think we’ve done a good job and we achieved what we wanted. We just wanted to make a tough and exciting rock and roll record. And that’s what we made.”

Fly On The Wall had two stand out tracks and the rest was filler.  That is why the Who Made Who soundtrack album that came next sold a lot.  Even though it had a two new songs, it was sort of like a greatest hits album, featuring the best AC/DC songs from Back In Black, For Those About To Rock We Salute You and Fly On The Wall.  It also had Ride On from the Bon Scott era.

It wasn’t until The Razors Edge album released in 1990 that AC/DC recaptured the public’s love affair with them.  Since then they have never looked back.  If any young artist is starting out, these articles form the key component to the A to Z of Making It.  Stay true to who you are.  If you do that, and you write great music, an audience will find you.

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Copyright, Music, Piracy, Stupidity

Fans Rushing The Stage – Part 2 – Copyright As Censorship

It looks like the video I was linking too in this post, was taken down from YouTube, due to a copyright complaint filed by SME (Sony Music Entertainment).  This is wrong on so many levels.

For starters, there is no music playing on the footage.  So I am struggling to understand how this infringes on any copyright.

Next, Motley Crue is signed to their own label, Eleven Seven Music, and the distributors are Universal Music Group and RED Distribution, LLC which is a Sony Music Entertainment division that handles distribution for independent record labels.

Again, this is a very far reach from SME to say that they own the copyright to a fan filmed video, that first has no music in it and it is from a band that is on their own label and use a division of SME for distribution ONLY.

I see this as legacy industries using Copyright as Censorship.

What these legacy industries fail to understand is that the internet is a copy system.  Here it is again.

And again.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music

Silent Lucidity – Chris DeGarmo – Queensryche

Silent Lucidity is another Chris DeGarmo classic.  When Queensryche released the Empire album in 1991, the musical landscapes they explored on that album where exactly the same landscapes my head was in at the time.

I was starting to get tired of the hard rock / glam rock albums that the bands started to release.  A lot of hard rock journalists and artists blame Grunge for killing off the glam/hard rock scene, however, that is not the case.  The hard rock scene killed itself off, due to over saturation.  So when Grunge came in, it was different, it was raw and most importantly it dealt with what is real.  Of course, when Grunge came into the mainstream, every label wanted a Grunge band and by doing that, history repeated itself.

Silent Lucidity is about lucid dreaming. Chris DeGarmo has stated the same, in magazine interviews he was doing at the time of the release.  At the start of the song, it seems like a parent is consoling a child who just had a bad dream, and then they start telling them that they can control the things that happen in dreams.

Silent Lucidity was never meant to be a hit song.  It was never written to be a hit song.  The beauty of music is evident here in the way that a song connects with people from out of the blue.  The current pop charts these days, have songs written by a committee of writers.  Those songs are written so that they chart.  There is no soul in them, no life.  History will repeat itself here as well.

Silent Lucidity was written because Chris DeGarmo wanted to write it.  It was a topic that was special to him.

It’s a place where you will learn
To face your fears, retrace the years
And ride the whims of your mind

Commanding in another world
Suddenly, you’ll hear and see
This magic new dimension

Didn’t we all want that kind of place as children growing up.  When we played fantasy sports outside and we are always the winners.

I
Will be watching over you
I am gonna help you see it through
I
Will protect you in the night
I am smiling next to you
In silent lucidity…

Relax child, be safe, the guardian angel will always be there, next to you, to lead the way, to protect you, in silent lucidity.

Geoff Tate is the ring master in the way that he delivers the vocal line, with all the authority of a guardian protecting their child.  Listening to the song today, it sounds fresh and current.  It’s not dated.  It was a natural progression for Queensryche to move into.  If YouTube was around back in the day, this clip would have had a billion views.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music

Bridge – Queensryche

Chris DeGarmo really went to town on the 1994 Promised Land album.  His name is all over the song writing credits?

Bridge is a song written by DeGarmo and he is referencing his relationship with his father for inspiration.  Growing up he didn’t have the relationship with his father and now that he’s all grown up, his father wants to be in his life, however the only problem, is that the bridge was never built.

Time has made you finally realize
your loneliness and your guilt inside.
You’re reaching for something you never had,
turning around now you’re looking back,
and you know… I’m not there.

You say, “Son, let’s forget the past.
I want another chance, gonna make it last.”
You’re begging me for a brand new start,
trying to mend a bridge that’s been blown apart,
but you know… you never built it dad.

You can feel the anger, the disappointment.  DeGarmo is telling his dad, that he is not going to be there for him, in the same way his dad wasn’t there for him.  Stop trying to have a relationship, it was never there to begin with.  Geoff Tate nails the vocal for it.  This is the Queensryche that exists, not the poor imitations that they are now.

DeGarmo’s dad died during the recording of the Promised Land.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music

I Don’t Believe In Love – Queensryche

Queensryche were opening up for Metallica when Operation Mindcrime exploded.  It was a ballsy move to do a concept album as they weren’t really established yet.  In the history of concept albums (Coheed and Cambria and Madina Lake are exceptions here), the bands normally make the concept album once they become established and see a certain amount of success.

I Don’t Believe in Love was written by Chris DeGarmo and Geoff Tate.  It was on the Operation Mindcrime album that was released in 1988.  The album was produced by Peter Collins.  Although the song is part of a larger story, on its own this song tells its own story.

The female character in the story, Mary, has just died. Nikky the male character believes it was him that did it, due to his drug habit, he has black outs and struggles to remember. He was even given the mission to kill Mary by the villain of the story Dr X.  When Nikky refused to do it, Mary was brainwashed by Dr. X to kill herself.

Every open hand’s there to push and shove
No time for love it doesn’t matter

What a line.  That is life in a nutshell.  From the day we are born, people are pushing and shoving us into what they want us to be.  No wonder we are all damaged a little bit.  How can we love, when we don’t even know who we are.  The person we see in the mirror is the molded one, the imposter.

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A to Z of Making It, Music

Far From Being Normal – That Is Why We Love Them

I remember a band member once asking me, what do I believe needs to be done to make it.   I always had the viewpoint that successful people are far from being normal.  The ones that make it had something to prove to someone.  There could be abandonment issues, broken homes, mental issues, drug dependencies or some other X factor.  Of course, there are the 1 percents of the small 1 percents of people who make it, that just keep on persisting their way to the top.

Let’s look at Motley Crue.  Nikki Sixx was the driver of that vehicle and look at his childhood. 

Machine Head’s driver is Robb Flynn.  He was adopted.  He had something to prove. 

Metallica at the beginning was all Dave Mustaine.  He was the one that had something to prove as he had the abandonment issues from Mustaine Senior.  Once he was ousted, it was all James Hetfield.  His Christian Science upbringing was the catalyst.  Lars was the connections guy in the band, while James was the driver.

Van Halen had David Lee Roth, the troubled son from a renowned eye surgeon.  Yes, I know that Eddie Van Halen wrote the music and the riffs, however DLR was the show, the ideas man, the troubled teen that had something to prove.

Megadeth had Dave Mustaine.  Mustaine had something to prove when he was in Metallica and after his ousting he really had something to prove. 

Dream Theater had Mike Portnoy.  Portnoy’s mum died in a plane crash and his step dad was a prick.  Talented as John Petrucci is, if Mike Portnoy wasn’t there, Dream Theater would never have made it.  Portnoy delivered the X Factor.

Slipknot had Corey Taylor. Corey had even overdosed twice in his teens.

Something to think about when our heroes mess things up.

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Music

The Crazy Lifestyles of the Rockers and Metallers

The rock and metal music world that I love so much has had its fair share of controversies recently.

The most recent, is finding out that Jeff Hanneman’s liver failed due to alcohol related cirrhosis.  With so much focus on the flesh-eating bacteria, everyone forgot Jeff’s love of the demon alcohol. 

We all have those little demons that can either gives us the edge or destroy us.   Ozzy Osbourne has been battling them his whole life.  Nikki Sixx has gone to war with them and it looks like at the moment he has come out on top.  Robb Flynn from Machine Head has been more than open with his alcohol battles and depression.  Steven Adler the original GNR drummer is back in rehab.  Anthony Kiedis, Slash, Kurt Cobain, Duff and the lists just go on and on.  

Randy Rhoads battled his whole life to become famous and when he got it, he wanted to walk away from it.  It didn’t satisfy him, the touring, the bus trips and the hotel rooms.  Randy found solace in his instrument, others find solace in drugs and alcohol.  Surrounded by enablers and yes people, it’s very easy for people to get caught up in a culture that thrives on drugs and alcohol. 

Then you have the bad break up’s – Phil Anselmo still trying to reach out to Vinnie Paul with all that forgive and forget self-help mumbo jumbo.  To me it’s all just B.S.  My motto is to move on but never forget.  Let’s put the facts into context, if Pantera stayed together, Damageplan would not have been playing at the small crappy venue with terrible security, where Dimebag was killed. 

Bad break up number 2 – Geoff Tate and Todd LaTorre both operating as Queensryche.  They are further diminishing the great name of the band, with two incompetent releases.  What a dead set joke? 

Bad break up number 3 – Even though Jon Bon Jovi goes on to Ellen and says that Richie is still in the band and that he is just taking time out to deal with personal issues, it’s over.  The famed Bon Jovi Circle is broken.  Thanks Richie for writing some of the best songs, and I still think you got robbed by Jon for not getting a writing credit on Dry County.  The song was handed in by Jon at 4 minutes long, Richie made it a 9 minute epic however only Jon was listed as the songwriter.

Bad Break up number 4 – this one happened a while back, however it came back into the news a few weeks ago when the Breaking Benjamin band name was returned back to vocalist and main songwriter Benjamin Burnley.  This break up aired a lot of dirt, especially the recording contract type of dirt and the inner workings of a BAND AGREEMENT.    

On the other side of the spectrum, Tim Lambesis, the lead singer of As I Lay Dying, has just entered a not guilty plea for his alleged involvement in trying to hire a hit man to kill his estranged wife.  This one came from left field.  It was a WTF moment.  How stupid can someone be?  Has anyone seen how this dude looks.  I am sure he could have gotten any other chick.  I know it’s not a joke, but I couldn’t stop making comparisons to the Horrible Bosses movie.

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Music, Treating Fans Like Shit

Bon Jovi – The price of tickets for the Australian tour

Bon Jovi announced in April that they are touring Australia in December 2013. Backstage Jon Bon Jovi members, which is the Bon Jovi fan club had the first bite at securing tickets. It isn’t free to become a Backstage JBJ member.

To become a premium Backstage JBJ member for 2 years, it costs $300. To take out a Signature package for 1 year, it costs $160. To take out a Standard package for 1 year, it costs $80 a year and to take out an online membership package for 1 year, it costs $60. Of course, each package has different perks.

So if you are a Bon Jovi fan club member, you had first dibs at purchasing tickets. We will call this the pre (pre (pre(presales))).

If a Bon Jovi fan wanted to sit in Row 1 and purchase a Diamond VIP package, the price of one ticket is $1975 + $10 booking fee.
If a Bon Jovi fan wanted to sit in Rows 2 to 5 and purchase an Emerald VIP package, the price of one ticket is $1475 + $10 booking fee.
If a Bon Jovi fan wanted to sit in Rows 6 to 13 and purchase a Sapphire VIP package, the price of one ticket is $975 + $10 booking fee.

So it looks like the Bon Jovi fan club members didn’t want to purchase the VIP tickets, and they came up on sale via Showbiz which is a pre-sales seller.

For the Sydney show, the Diamond VIP tickets have been sold out, and the Sapphire VIP tickets have been sold out as well. The Emerald VIP tickets remained when I last checked. The other shows, still had all three VIP options available. I am sure that they will sell out eventually, as a fans devotion can yield unexpected results.

The next stage of the sales, is the Telstra pre-sales. The next stage is the Ticketek VISA pre-sales, then the final pre-sales and finally the public release. What a collusive, exploitive and unregulated process.

However, I still believe that what Jon Bon Jovi is doing is plain greedy. If he lowers the entry barrier to his fan club, he will get more people to join. It’s simply economics. Do you want 100,000 fans joining at the higher prices, or do you want 10,000,000 fans joining at the lower prices.

Let’s just say that 100,000 fans take out the $300 option for two years, that is $30MIL paid into his pocket right now and that covers a two year period.

If he lowers the price to $10 a year and have a lot of perks for that like concert recordings, sound check recordings and demos to entice people to join, he will get millions to join. So let’s say that 10 million fans join at $10 a year. This will bring in $100MIL per year. $10 is small change in a fans pocket. More people will part with it. This isn’t just for Bon Jovi to do, all the bands need to be doing this. Building fan to band connections isn’t just for social media. The first port of call is the fan club.

I know what I would want as a muso. It’s all about building connections. That is the new currency.

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Music

Bon Jovi – What About dropping 20 places to 96?

The Bon Jovi tour juggernaut continues to book shows around the world.  Richie Sambora is still out due to personal reasons or issues.

The Australian tour just had Kid Rock added to the schedule.  Big thumbs up to Kid Rock for selling $20 concert tickets to his U.S. shows, as well as taking a cut on merchandise, parking and other sales.

Interesting to note, that Bon Jovi’s tour of Australia will be offering $32 ticket prices to Telstra customers.  However, this doesn’t mean that Bon Jovi is taking a loss or a pay cut.

Bon Jovi still get paid the monies offered to them.

This is Telstra taking a hit, so that they can push their brand even more.  This is Telstra sending a message out to fans of live music.  Telstra is saying, “Hey check us out, we are a real game player in the selling of cheap tickets to great live shows.”

However in order for the music lover to purchase, they need to be a Telstra customer.  So Telstra will be expecting a surge in memberships, which in turn, will be a surge in revenue.  It will be a big win for Telstra.

As a Telstra shareholder, I can’t complain with that.  Maybe they will increase their dividend payments one of these days?  What kind of $32 tickets they will be for a venue that fits 40,000 plus remains to be seen.

In the meantime, What About Now, the album described as the best thing we have ever done, by both Jon and Richie, continues to fall away on the charts.  After 7 weeks it’s down to position 96.

In comparison, the Greatest Hits album that Bon Jovi released in 2010, is still charting and selling.

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