Bon Jovi, Ticketmaster Bundle Digital Album, Tickets

By REUTERS
Published: June 10, 2007
Filed at 5:34 p.m. ET

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - In what's being billed as a first, Bon Jovi is bundling a digital iTunes copy of the band's upcoming album, "Lost Highway," with advance tickets for October concerts in Newark, New Jersey.

The stand, which begins October 25 and may be expanded beyond the initial five shows, will open the new Prudential Center in Newark.

The online presale program will be available exclusively to American Express cardholders beginning June 12 through June 14, and to the general public from June 15 through June 22. Tickets without the digital album download will then be available for purchase by the general public beginning June 23.

Fans who purchase the Lost Highway Ticket Package will receive a code from Ticketmaster that enables them to download "Lost Highway" from iTunes beginning on its June 19 release. The ticket/album package will be priced at $9.99 higher -- the price of the album on iTunes -- than those later sold outside the package. Album sales in the bundle will count toward SoundScan and the album's Billboard chart position.

For those fans who have already pre-ordered "Lost Highway" from BonJovi.com or iTunes, Bon Jovi and Ticketmaster have arranged for iTunes to provide a passcode that will enable them to purchase a single presale ticket for $9.99 less without adding the digital album.

The program is similar in concept to previous Ticketmaster initiatives with acts like Bob Dylan, Maroon 5 and Daddy Yankee. The difference is that the other programs offered albums and tickets in two separate sales via two separate sites.

The Bon Jovi deal is the first "all-in" presale that bundles together a ticket and a digital album as a single transaction sold via Ticketmaster.com. In this way, the promotion is more a digital version of Prince's 2005 Musicology tour, which included with the ticket price a physical version of his new album, to be picked up at the venue.

The $375 million, 18,000-capacity Prudential Center will be managed by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and booked by its live entertainment division, AEG Live.

Reuters/Billboard