TourVote.com
PRESS RELEASE
Local Web Sites Give Live Music Fans "a Voice"
Voting Uncovers Demand for Artists to Take the Stage
BALTIMORE, MD (Nov. 4, 2003) – That hot new band from California - the one
you discovered online a few weeks ago – will be performing, live, on stage,
right here, in your town. And it's because of you – and many other local
fans – that they are coming. You personally requested the show. Because of
that request, you were among the first to find out about the gig and to
have immediate access to tickets. Sound too good to be true? Not to Demand
ID Systems, a Baltimore / DC startup running a service dubbed "TourVote"
that connects music fans with the live performances they want to
experience.
Thousands of Maryland, DC, and Northern Virginia residents already are
casting their TourVotes – requests for live shows by the artists they want
to see – on live music venue sites like those run by The Black Cat, The
Funk Box, Mother's Grille, The Recher Theatre, Fletcher's, The Velvet
Lounge, Jaxx, Galaxy Hut, and Jammin' Java. TourVotes are being cast on
music sites like MusicMonthly.com, OnTapOnline.com, 411Party Zone.com, and
RadioMojo.com as well as on musical artists' own sites and those run by
fans of the bands – sites like Oddbox.com, RushPetition.com,
NinaStorey.com, and FromGoodHomes.com, to name a few. Walther Productions,
a leading Mid-Atlantic concert promoter, was one of the first to enable
live show requests on their web pages. Other local web sites – recent
partners in The TourVote Network – will install TourVote buttons on their
web pages in the coming days.
"We're proud to have some of the region's most progressive live music
venues, music publications, and online music sites participating in The
TourVote Network," said Skip Daly, partnership manager for Demand ID. "They
are very customer-focused companies that jumped at the chance to establish
two-way interaction with their site visitors – helping them to get the live
music they want." In the future, our partners will also benefit from the
ability to publish live music "Top 25" charts, akin to those published by
Billboard for musical recordings, and other features that build traffic,
revenues, and repeat visits.
When live performances are scheduled, TourAlert emails containing the
relevant details will be sent to the music fans who requested them, often
with a link to the site where they can purchase tickets online. "When the
TourAlert system is fully operational, music fans – those who cast
TourVotes – will never again complain that they missed a show because they
didn't find out about it until it was too late," said Cruz.
The complete system is offered free to any entertainment-related web site,
from daily news sites and alternative newsweeklies to concert calendar
sites and radio stations. “TourVote adds a new dimension to online music
sites by empowering their visitors with respect to live music,” said Ben
Cruz, co-founder of the company. “Music fans now have a 'voice' – a chance
to deliver their wish-lists to musical artists, promoters, and venues
rather than silently scanning the event listings and hoping, often in vain,
that the acts they want to see get booked locally."
The company plans to introduce its DemandIntell service in a few months,
enabling live music venues and promoters to see comparative levels of local
demand for shows by any of the thousands of artists in the database.
"DemandIntell helps entertainment buyers to uncover opportunities to stage
shows they might never have considered otherwise," said Jay Bartlett, VP of
Product Management at Demand ID. "The demand for live shows by an
increasing number of artists is greater than ever before as millions of
consumers discover new music on the internet. Until now, the live music
industry has had no means to take advantage of that market growth."
"TourVote and the DemandIntell service promise to be a boon to all
participants in the music industry – artists can tour more profitably;
venues and promoters increase audience attendance with reduced promotion
and advertising expense; A&R and talent agents can spot rising talent at a
grassroots level; and more recorded music is sold,” adds Carl Freed, a
leading national concert promoter. “The revolution begins with web sites
that believe that the key to sustained success on the internet lies in
delivering the power of community – that their site visitors will delight
in having a collective voice in shaping their own local music scene.”
About Demand ID Systems (www.demandid.com) – Demand ID Systems is the
developer of a unique market intelligence and audience acquisition system
for the live entertainment industry. The company’s mission is to bring
Choice, Control and Convenience to consumers of live entertainment and
greater profitability to all players in the live entertainment industry.
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