Geriatric rockers The Rolling Stones have hopped on board the mobile music train — sort of. Through a service called Listen Live Now!, fans will be able to listen live to their concert today in Paris via their mobile phones. And when I say via their mobile phones, I don’t mean some sort of streaming audiocast — they call in and get a feed from the mixing board piped across a standard phone connection to their handset. Sounds brilliant. But it gets better.
Users will be charged $1.99 for 7 minutes, and there doesn’t appear to be a way to simply buy the whole thing at once — so users who actually want to shell out the $40 or so to hear the whole thing will have to do it $1.99 and 7 minutes at a time. The Stones’ manager says the move will help deter bootlegging — seriously — and that “It’s passive income, and they’re helping fans enjoy the experience without affecting ticket sales.” Somehow I expect the “passive income” bit, rather than the “enjoy the experience” is what they’re focused on. But then again, when concert tickets are $150 or more, it’s not really about the music or the fans, is it?
Update: As Colby points out, the site says “On Friday July 28th at 3:00PM EDT (start time is approximate)”. What happens if they’re seven minutes late?
[tags]mobile, mobile music, rolling stones[/tags]
Rolling Stones phonecast has a stupid hitch…
Rolling Stones fans can listen to a soundboard mix from the group’s Paris concert today by calling a telephone number and paying $1.99 for 7 minutes. The ridiculous thing is that after your seven minutes are up, you have to call back to hear more. App…
[...] Well, That’s Certainly One Way To Do Mobile Music at MobHappy: Did I read that right…. the Stones will only play 7 minutes through the phone from soundboard… to prevent BOOTLEGGING????? Yes, because bootleggers get kicks out of the compression from telephone lines. When will (most) bands realize that bootleg recordings of shows are the best inner and post record cycle marketing tools they have? [...]
hate that attitude. it’s all about money.
[...] From MobHappy.com [...]
[...] David Pescovitz: Rolling Stones fans can listen to a soundboard mix from the group’s Paris concert today by calling a telephone number and paying $1.99 for 7 minutes. The ridiculous thing is that after your seven minutes are up, you have to call back to hear more. Apparently, there’s no way to hear the whole show uninterrupted. Rolling Stones manager Marty Erlichman says that’s to prevent bootlegging. Carlo Longino has more over at Mobhappy. Link [...]