Blog Assignment 5

Proofs!!!

Rocking On, Lollapalooza Style by Mary Ellen Podmolik

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-tue_lollapaloozaapr08,0,3026508.story

The author of this piece put a different spin on the Lollapalooza festival by elaborating on how much revenue it creates rather than just focusing on the acts. She went into detail about how festivals and touring have become the main source of revenue for artists due to a decline in CD sales. Artists now have to tour in order to generate revenue. The author also mentioned how prices for festival shows have gone up in the past couple of years due to the demand. Fans are used to paying into the hundreds for festival tickets now, so they will. She also briefly mentioned how the festival acts have radius clauses that keep performers who are part of the festival from playing certain concert halls in the area before the big show.
As far as my story goes on the politics behind Lollapalooza, the financial aspect and radius clause within this story support it fully. They are two important angles that I am focusing on in my story. The radius clause in particular interests me because of how it affects the music scene here. Since bands that are on the bill cannot play in the area, what do they do in the meantime? Are they losing any money because of the radius clauses?

Nine Inch Nails follows Radiohead and dumps label - By Josephine Moulds

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/10/09/bcnnine109.xml

In this article, the author elaborates on how both Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have basically stuck it to the record companies by releasing their music independently through their own websites. Both have made large profits off of cutting out the middle man, which makes me wonder whether Lollapalooza organizers specifically focused on the getting these bands on the bill this year.
One small question I would like to answer within my story is if organizers feel that these bands will bring in more revenue. While my story focuses more on the smaller bands and the politics behind playing the illustrious festival, it would be interesting to included a little bit of information about these almost “guerilla” marketing tactics used by these both bands. Is this something that organizers were looking for while creating the bill? Did bands have to have some sort of criteria relating to this possible “guerilla” theme in any way?

Full Lollapalooza Line-Up Announced, Perry Peeved At "Pepe Le Pew"

http://idolator.com/376674/full-lollapalooza-line+up-announced-perry-peeved-at-pepe-le-pew
This is an interesting blog entry because of the author mentioning how this year’s lineup was supposedly leaked by Chicago Sun-Times writer Jim DeRogatis. This may be just hearsay, but it offers a little bit of perspective on how Lollapalooza organizers really like to keep everything extremely confidential. It kind of reflects where I am currently at with my piece. Why are the politics behind the festival kept so quiet? Is there anything going on behind the scenes that the public should know about?
Towards the end of the blog entry, the author displays a quote from the festival mastermind Perry Ferrell, talking about how many of the artists will be collaborating on music together to put onto ITunes, and then performing the songs they create together on stage at Lollapalooza. This has some validity within my story because of the fact that it may involve some of the smaller bands I am trying to showcase. Will one of the smaller more local bands get to collaborate on a song with Radiohead? If so, how will they end up getting to do that? Who decides who collaborates with whom?

MTVs You R Here Interactive Website
http://yourhere.mtv.com/

This I found to be rather interesting. It is an interactive fan website that allows the user to upload images and video at certain live concerts and create blogs about their experience and the content. This could be an interesting facet of my story because of how bands that are set to play Lollapalooza might be able create more buzz for themselves.
Are there any bands that are set top play that are involved in any websites or marketing campaigns like this? And if they are, did Lollapalooza organizers pick up on certain campaigns and determine the lineup from instances like that?