Jon may not read message boards or YT comments himself; but I'd bet my next paycheck that there are people in his organization or Azoff's - whoever is in charge of PR - who get their paychecks to do exactly that, and to keep Jon posted.

It would just be stupid for them not to. It's free marketing feedback and the comments are more honest than what they could get from any focus group.

You can track it over the promotion last fall, if you're interested. Note what was being said on the message boards about Jon's comments in one interview, and then compare it with how his statements were modified over the next interviews to reflect it.