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"As an indie we are always looking for new ways to break out of the traditional Artist-label-fan relationship without alienating the people that keep us in business."
——Bill Armstrong, Co-Owner of SideOne Dummy.

SIDEONEDUMMY BOWS
CD-TICKET PLAN

Label Teams With CAA, Musictoday to Offer New Sales Initiative
In an effort to find new revenue streams through the sale of music, SideOneDummy Records, CAA, Musictoday and the Vans Warped tour have teamed to offer CD tour compilations to fans who are the first to purchase tickets to the upcoming Warped tour.

Through this alliance, both the ticket and the CD can be purchased at a lower cost then just a ticket alone would cost when purchased through other avenues. The average cost on a Warped tour ticket is around $7-$8. Through this effort, the costs are $3.50 for the CD plus $3.50 for handling fees, plus a $0.25 charitable donation to Camp Pacific Heartland for a total fee of $7.25. The CD and ticket is then delivered to the customer's home.

The plan is to have the first 40,000 or so kids who buy the tickets online get a CD for every ticket purchased. The Warped tour has typically been a big word-of-mouth tour. The first kids who buy their tickets go out and tell their friends and the tickets just keep moving in a very viral fashion until we hit 15,000-20,000 fans at the shows, organizers said.

This year’s Warped tour features top punk acts Pennywise, the Used, the Distillers, AFI, Rancid, Mest and Simple Plan, with Sum 41 showing up for a few dates.

"As an indie we are always looking for new ways to break out of the traditional Artist-label-fan relationship without alienating the people that keep us in business," said Bill Armstrong, Co-Owner of SideOneDummy. "We approached the Warped tour with this idea and everyone felt this would be a great way to get the record into the hands of the hard-core Warped fan early, at a great price. We feel the people that are passionate about this tour and its lifestyle are our biggest supporters. If they get a great record we feel they will in turn be passionate about spreading the word to their friends. After running the idea by our distributor, retail and some of the hard-core fans it felt like a real win win situation for everyone."

Armstrong added, "We are excited to see the response with the tour compilation, but we feel the big picture is the concert business working in tandem with the record business generating a publishing and master revenue stream through ticket sales. If bands like the Eagles, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen or even more boutique or heritage artists like Jimmy Buffett with loyal fan bases can offer records at wholesale prices to their fans via ticket sales it could open up a new revenue stream at the same time giving fans an unbelievable price. With the amount of time it takes to set up and promote a record it would be nice if a band could put together a traditional or specialty record and get it directly into the hands of fans via ticket sales."

Armstrong and partner Joe Sib’s SideOneDummy Records are the indie darlings of 2003. The six-year old profitable company became ADA’s biggest selling label in 2002 with four albums that sold over 100k units. The small label has outsold Matador, Sub Pop, Touch and Go among others, and is home to Flogging Molly, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, the Casualties as well as the previous Warped Tour and Atticus Clothing compilations to name a few.

CAA’s Darryl Eaton added, "We thought this would be a truly unique opportunity to get the music of the Warped tour directly into the hands of fans early so they could act as mini-marketers, generating tremendous word of mouth about the tour and the upcoming CD release. It also gives extra value to the most loyal fans. In the competitive concert marketplace, it makes sense to keep trying to come up with ways to enhance the concert experience and provide more bang for your buck. The Warped tour has always had one of the cheapest tickets, but this promo adds even more value for the fans."

Andrew Snowhite, Musictoday's VP of Business Development, said, "Musictoday is excited to work with the Vans Warped Tour on their 2003 outing. The ticket/CD bundle is a really creative offering and we are glad to be able to provide a solution to fulfill it to the fans.

While looking at a new way to sell records, organizers thought this model would work for retail as well. "We believe that this is something that will only enhance and complement our retail programs. With the album sales, the kids that are the true hard-core Warped fans are the best marketing tools for the tour and the record."

Musictoday is a state-of-the-art e-commerce and fulfillment company providing online merchandising solutions, Web-ticketing services, and online fan club products to the music industry.

In addition, SideOne principals are in the management game with acts Critter Jones on Maverick and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.