ESPN Scores Petty Premier
Mojo streaming on ESPN Music site
Need evidence of how inside out things in the music industry are? The approach Tom Petty is taking to his tour and album release tells ya all you need to know 'bout it. Concert tickets used to be a lot more affordable because bands undertook tours mostly to promote album sales. With album sales in the dumper and legal digital downloads not coming even close to compensating for the earnings gap resulting from the reduced royalty payments from those sales, artists now view tour income as a much more important part of the income pie. In the case of Tom Petty, the new album, Mojo, (6/15 release for those of you that still believe in the concept of actually buying albums) is being used as a give away to sell concert ticket sales. Sure, some dollars for the album factor into the ticket prices - but the decision to go that route is a pretty good indication of the revised expectations when it comes to album sales. Petty is even sweetening the deal by offering ticket buyers a live album download at the end of the tour. That's not the only sign of how radically different things have gotten.
Petty has given full album premier streaming rights to ESPN.com. Not his own web site, not Rolling Stone, not Billboard, not Rock Insights (hey, we can dream)... ESPN. ESPN is launching a music site within its site. Why? Some media relations spin master is sure to have put together a clever PR package explaining what they want you to think the reason is. Our bet is it's mostly for leverage to get artists to grant them rights to use music in ESPN coverage and programming - a proposition artists like for the promotional exposure the network gives the songs and a deal we presume has a % of linked album sales going to the network. Product placement with a good beat.
As for ESPN's music site, on first glance it's another site that lumps together info on artists that have nothing in common, forcing visitors to wade through all kinds of irrelevant stuff about artists they don't like or have never even heard of to find the ones they do care about. We need another site like that like a fish needs a bicycle. Rock Insights was created as an alternative to sites like that. You may not like all of the artists we do updates on, but at least you know who they are. So check out the new Tom Petty album on ESPN.com or visit Rolling Stone's web site if you want to be up to speed on Lady GaGa, Madonna, Prince and the latest Nashville sensation in addition to Tom Petty and other Rock artists. But if you want updates focusing on Tom Petty and artists you probably like if you like Petty & The Heartbreakers, bookmark Rock Insights and share the link with fiends you think will appreciate what we do. Thanks!
MORE TOM PETTY INSIGHTS ALL CURRENT STORIES
