NightDriver

Aaah, the butterflies...congratulations!!

Know By Now - Robert Palmer

Lookin' Out My Back Door - Creedence Clearwater Revival

^ Agreed!

This is Celia Hirschman with On the Beat for KCRW. As the record business trends downward, savvy rock stars have had to shift marketing gears to stay relevant with their fan base. Take Tom Petty. He kicked a North American tour of 46 major and secondary markets, beginning June 1. His twelfth album, titled Mojo, was released just last week. So Petty is out on tour as his album hits record stores – all record stores - digital and brick and mortar. The only problem is, unlike years past, there's no central marketing platform to build a buzz for the new tour. In years' past, Petty would rely on the power of MTV, Rolling Stone, rock radio and even retail to help gather fans. But the marketing environment is completely different for music now. Like all other artists, Petty's album was released into a highly bifurcated media market, with thousands of media outlets representing a fraction of the marketing impact. For both legendary artists and newcomers, this is the greatest challenge of the digital age. How does a musician concentrate enough viewers and listeners to generate a buzz? Tom Petty changed plans. He, his live promoter, Live Nation, and his record label, Warner Bros tried a new strategy. They booked the regular stadium, arena and amphitheater tour. They kicked up ticket prices, which certainly angered some of his fans. But starting June 15, everyone who bought an online ticket to the show was given a link to download the Mojo album for free. And fans who bought Petty tickets before June 15 were immediately sent two songs from the album, with a link to download the entire album on street date. Every person who bought online tickets to Tom Petty's show will also receive eight live tracks at the end of the Mojo tour. This is a very smart way to help market a well established artist. Think about it. I can only guess that Warner Bros got a piece of the ticket sales for giving away the album. And more importantly, they had to have gotten the email addresses of every Tom Petty ticket buyer. That's far more valuable then hoping those fans will hear about the record somewhere and go buy it at a store. Ticketmaster has to love the idea because it helps market a very expensive tour; and Tom Petty has to appreciate it because it directly connects him with his fans at the gig. Plus, everyone will know the sound of the album before they get there. For a superstar pushing 60, that's not a bad deal. The only group that will not be pleased with this arrangement is record retail, who are completely cut out of the economic food chain. But in the music business, it's survival of the fittest. This is Celia Hirschman with On the Beat for KCRW. Click here for the podcast...

Field Of Diamonds - Johnny Cash

Maybe that's a little nod to John Fogerty. After all, that's the way Fogerty would pronounce "turnip". The song reminds me a bit of CCR, too (as well as JJ Cale, of course).

Crying - Roy Orbison

Thanks for your reviews, everyone! Nice to hear Steve was wearing his World Cup jacket...didn't help, though! :003: I dig those three lions on your shirts, but I'm just fine with three stars (going four)!

Burning Bridges - Status Quo

Very nice, and in HD too! Thanks surfnburn!

Yay! The 90-minute-show is streaming on tompetty.com now!

Sunday Morning Coming Down - Johnny Cash

^*sigh* I have to - mow the lawn - drink a beer to recompense myself for mowing the lawn - watch Germany win over Ghana in the FIFA World Cup tonight Nurk, this reminds of that one joke... Quizmaster: "Congratulations, you have won! You can now choose between two prizes: A - A night with your wife..." Contestant:"B!!!!!!!"

Indeed, Sugar rocks!

Jeans On - David Dundas

"Little Girl Blues" sounds like it could have come from "You're Gonna Get It"...a tad "Too Much Ain't Enough"-ish... Me likes it!

Thanks, dreamgirl! I have taken on the quest of installing iTunes and a payment account (since iTunes Germany don't support PayPal and iTunes USA don't support a German PayPal account :009:) and then have bought the bonus track and the two videos (they are offering I Should Have Known It and Good Enough only over here). So, I'm fine over here - thanks again for you kind offer!!!

Somebody To Love - Queen

Absolutely! My favorite line, too! :045:

Still The Same - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

Holy smokes, is cotton worth ten times its weight in gold these days??

The BluRay arrived on Saturday (again, we're treated with an early release) and I listened to the 5.1 mix yesterday. The sound quality and the mix are absolutely stunning to say the least. You can hear so many nuances, Ben's keyboard playing is everywhere in the room, Ron's Bass is so warm and pleasant... My favorite right now is Trip To Pirate's Cove...it resonates in the room so perfectly... I can't thank Ryan Ulyate enough for bringing this out in 5.1 (and of course for his perfect engineering) and I really really hope many music fans will appreciate it, too. I read a comment by Ryan recently; he said, if there is a market for BluRay audio, he will try and put out Tom's back catalog on this format. Keeping my fingers crossed!!

"Let Yourself Go" doesn't really rock my boat. The lyrics are cool though... Does anybody else feel that "Good Enough" doesn't really belong where they put it, after "Something Good Coming"? I mean, SGC really is the last song to me. Plus, "Good Enough" is in 3/4 time just like SGC. Really not typical for them to put two songs in 3/4 time together...

I'm Leaving Now - Johnny Cash