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Rolling Stones Phone It In
07/28/2006 2:46 PM, E! Online
The Rolling Stones are giving music lovers even a bigger bang for
their buck and a bigger phone bill..
The veteran rockers
have announced a service allowing fans from all over the world to phone
in to a toll-free number and, for a nominal fee, listen to any of the
band's European concert dates in real time.
The "Start Me
Up" purveyors are the first to implement the technology, dubbed Listen
Live Now!, for the European leg of their A Bigger Bang tour, kicking off
Friday in Paris. The service costs $1.99 per seven minutes of concert
time and is available through both cell phones and land lines, per a
press release.
"It's a great thing for the artists," Marty
Erlichman, a veteran music manager and a principal in the Live Now!
venture, told Reuters. "It's passive income, and they're helping fans to
enjoy the experience without affecting ticket sales."
Exactly how much Mick, Keith & Co. would pocket from the additional
listeners was not revealed, though Erlichman said the British boys would
get a fair "piece of the action." The deal came through after several
months of negotiating and runs through the final European show, taking
place Sept. 3 in Denmark.
The technology allows for up to 1
million callers to phone in per date, starting with the Stones' opener
in Paris' Stade de France Friday night. As the shows can only be
listened to in real time--they will not be taped or delayed--it means
West Coast listeners in the States will need to dial up around noon to
partake of the nighttime gig. (Take heart, lunchtime listeners: You've
fared far better than would-be Japanese dialers, who have to phone
up--and wake up--at 4 a.m. their time.)
Erlichman told
Reuters that a voice will warn listeners at the six-minute mark that
their time is nearly up and give them the option to continue listening
or drop the service, a minor enough interruption, but one designed to
keep bootlegging to a minimum.
The shows will not be taped,
says Erlichman, which may give fans who view the endeavor as a lo-fi
novelty more incentive to call in and eavesdrop.
As of now,
A Bigger Bang is already the top-grossing concert tour of the year,
despite the band's need to postpone 15 dates this spring, following
Richards' concussion-causing run-in with a coconut tree.
According to Billboard, the group is on track to usurp U2's Vertigo tour
and become the top-grossing road show of all time. The group has already
raked in $250 million from the worldwide tour, which kicked off last
year.
Earlier this week, the Stones announced plans to
return to the U.S. and Canada this fall for a victory lap, hitting both
major markets and some oft-skipped cities including Wichita, Kansas; El
Paso, Texas; and Boise, Idaho.
In the meantime, global
groupies can tune in to any of the 16 European dates by calling
1-877-784-2777; additional information is online at ListenLiveNow.com.
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