Whether it's your first Bonnaroo or you’re a music festival veteran, we welcome you to Inforoo.
Here you'll find info about artists, rumors, camping tips, and the infamous Roo Clues. Have a look around then create an account and join in the fun. See you at Bonnaroo!!
For the record, I personally wish this long and personal post is what you had written to begin with. This is the most measured, sincere and nuanced argument for exactly what you believe in.
What's more, I don't disagree. I wouldn't assume that i would put Apple on par with CC, I am a huge Apple fan and in fact began as an online journalist covering the company many years ago. But I felt like when I pointed out the positive partnerships Roo had with companies (or the arms-length they kept them) that it was still not good enough and that any work with corporations was a death knell; so I pointed out the Apple/Dylan issue.
I guess I'm more of a wait-and-see; Because CC is still pretty removed from Roo, even if they have interest in their online ticket transactions, it's far from omnipresent. Plus, and I hesitate to even keep saying this, we don't even know if they will continue using MusicToday. It's not like there aren't plenty of other music-related e-commerce companies out there (personally I'd like to see Roo use Cinderblock). But I'm willing to wait and see what plays out. Superfly/AC is not going to break a contract, so the telling moment will be when renewal comes up and I don't think any of us know when that is.
Clear Channel is fucking_evil. No doubt.
Ticketmaster is also fucking_evil. No doubt.
But I've also seen that artists can avoid them if they want to, and some bigger names have been successful in changing the culture. Moreover, I think Roo itself has done a lot to change the culture and again i point to the corporate rape that is Lolla for comparison.
And Roo's vibe and way of doing business is so diametrically opposed to what CC has done (renting a local non-CC venue, radio station, farming out live downloads and filming to non-CC companies, pulling the plug on Krewe, not advertising with CC stations or pubs and more). Plus remember that they also pulled the plug on Zooma, which probably didn't make all those LiveNation venues happy. So I'd like to naively think the jury is still out.
Anyway. Thanks again for your post. I'd be remiss to not point out that its' not okay for me to say I have an MBA for frame of reference and perspective, but you can let us all know how you're wife's a "player" at a major corp. Just pulling your chain on that one man. It's all cool.
And an interesting thing has now happened in my own music world and I wonder if the same won't happen with Roo...
NIN, who has used MusicToday for their very successful fan club in the last year, just announced they are dumping them (even though it looked like they were staying with them just two months ago). Word has it that it's due to the LiveNation involvement. It's timed right when they were set to renew the contract.
So- anyone remember when the Krewe was officially killed last year? That might give us an idea of when MusicToday's contract with Roo is up for renewal. And when we could see a separation...
The Krewe was dumped because it sucked. I mean it was cool for what it was, but Inforoo is a much better (and was then) site for information about the Roo. I don't think that Music Today has anything to do with that. Bonnaroo will always sell tickets. If they happen to have a company running the ticket selling, or the merchandising, or their damn myspace for that matter, that is in someway connected to Clear Channel does not mean my $200 a ticket is now going 100% to clear channel.
I dislike rumors as well. There was a lot of buzz surrounding this past festival that Led Zeppelin would be at Roo. Alas, it was all a lie. Superfly instead booked a weird cover band. Two, actually. Boo on them.
After reading an interview in The Tennessean with Robert Plant after his concert here with Alison Krause, I think we can put this one to bed. Alison has been compared to Yoko and they asked Robert about it. He got pretty ticked and said Alison had nothing to do with Zep not getting back together. He did not say it would never happen, but implied it was not in the foreseeable future.
I think they just don't want to disappoint. And let's face it, no matter what they do, for some they would.
Instead of dirt and poison, we have rather chosen to fill our hives with honey and wax; thus furnishing mankind with the two noblest of things, which are sweetness and light.