Dixie Chicks "Poor ticket sales" is actually "No Tickets Put On Sale"

[KeepItReal]

This here article in the Houston Chronicle says "Radio" (apparently radio stations are now a petty, vengeful individual) doesn't like the Dixie Chicks any more and refused to accept money to advertise the concert in Houston.

"More than 20,000 Dixie Chicks fans in Houston bought the band's latest album, the 1.5 million-selling Taking the Long Way. That much is clear, along with the fact that the Dixie Chicks' Houston concert date was canceled. The promoter blames the radio stations.

Initial reports cited slow ticket sales. But tickets for the Toyota Center show never went on sale.

...
"Radio has chosen not only to not promote (the Dixie Chicks); they wouldn't even accept our advertising money," Messina (their promoter) says."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4116099.html

[Joanne98]

1. Clear Channel headquarters are in Houston.

[zbdent]

18. And they have the stranglehold on most of the venues

at least, in Northeast Ohio ...

Oh, and the billboards, and a sizeable portion of the radio stations ...

[LTR]

44. I have heard that they spun off their concert ticket division

Ticketmaster is now Live Nation, and I guess they're not a part of CC anymore (allegedly).

Still, I don't give CC any slack.

[zbdent]

50. Sure they spun it off

kinda like all those "companies" that Enron spun off ...

:eyes:

[LTR]

43. Actually, San Antonio

Close enough.

[Lisa0825]

56. Yeah, I had my picture taken there....

mooning the office! :evilgrin: GOPisEvil and WestHoustonDem are my witnesses.

[geomon666]

2. Yeah

You don't think these disgusting bastards in the radio business won't do anything to hurt anyone that dares speak out against Bushler?

They only wish they could go back to the 'good old days' of lynchings.

[joeunderdog]

3. Thankfully, the Chix are not bowing to the dollar and have conviction.

Fuck BushCo and the Facist regime. I don't like country music, but I love those Dixie Chicks!

[depakid]

4. Score another for the consolidated media

AND to the sell out Dems like Bill Clinton who made it possible.

Thanks again for killing off diversity in radio, Bill.

And essentiall handing over broadcasting over to the far right.

[tbyg52]

29. Hey, give Bill a break

He only put the final nail in the coffin. :sarcasm:

[Cha]

34. Yeah, some legacy..

Wonder what this country would be like with fairness in broadcasting?

[Freedom_Aflaim]

5. I thought they had stated they didnt want Country music stations

anymore, and were going after a better audience.

Don't get me wrong, I support the D.C's, but they cant have it both ways (telling Country music stations to piss off, while asking them to promote their concerts)

[zreosumgame]

17. I don't think they put it quite that way

and I don't recall them blaming the audience. This article more points out how fucking stupid bringing partisan BS is causing the stations to shoot themselves in the foot. If the stations(s) did not even allow tickets to be sold, they lost whatever promotional value they could have gotten as well as any share of the gate they might have recieved. They also may have had contractual obligations they failed if the venue decides to go after them.

[Mr_Spock]

60. That's a somewhat narrow view of what they said

...but I guess it was interpreted that way. If they want to be small about this, then let them.

[AX10]

6. The Country "Music" Community is founded in the horrific concept of...

FASCISM! The girls need to go to Sony and make a latteral move out of the Country Community. That way, they will get air time on NORMAL radio.



I tell you, if I were and artist/songwriter, I would have NO dealings with Country Crime Family!

Artists always support each other's right to express themselves, even if they don't agree with what those other artists are saying. That was NOT the case in Nashville. Any artist who dare to not tow the Bush line was blacklisted.

Shame on Country!

[MadHound]

55. I think that you paint with too broad a brush there

Country music is *not* founded on fascism. It is founded on rural, Scots-Irish music that evolved into the folk and country music that we know today. And many, many country music artists were and are not fascists. Some of them have been distincly, liberaly political, like Woody Guthrie and the Dixie Chicks. Others became more political as time went on, like Johnny Cash. Others were and are apolitical. And yes, some of them are conservative. A pretty mixed bag, much like any genre of music:shrug:

Now the country music industry could justifiably be called fascist, but then again that goes with any media empire these days. This is what happens when 95% of your media is controlled by, literally, a handful of corporations.

[truedelphi]

57. Great post

But let's not forget that Dylan went country there for a while...

Nashville Skyline is one of my favorite albums ever (and on it, he sings with Cash)

[CatholicEdHead]

7. "Free Market" indeed

:puke:

[raging moderate]

9. Could we perhaps post addresses to buy Dixie Chicks tickets?

I would definitely like to attend a Dixie Chicks concert some time.

[lonestarnot]

28. We certainly need to do something! This burns my ass!

[Change has come]

41. Ask and Ye shall receive.

This was updated about a week ago. It seems they've dumped a few of their dates in the midwest and are going to Australia and Canada instead. I'll be enjoying the show Nov. 14th in Sacramento. :bounce:

http://www.dixiechicks.com/06_ontour.asp

[Rosemary2205]

8. It's the station's choice.

I bet they don't run ads for titty bars either. They know what their listeners will revolt against - and likely they decided Dixie Chicks ads would cause them more headaches than the money was worth. While there are still Dixie Chicks fans in the south there's no denying that country/country rock music fans in the south have drop kicked the Dixie Chicks.

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. That is the problem with monopolies

which Clear Channel has become. There are no longer any other alternatives in many 'markets' and that is way to much power and control over what the public sees and hears for one Corporation to have. Not if you still want to call the US a democracy?

[acmejack]

19. I would say that was a broad generality.

In fact, I could guarantee that they could fill this Southern venue.

[Rosemary2205]

42. I'm sure they could

that's not the question. The question is, will so many radio listeners in Houston country stations scream about the ads that it isn't worth it for the station to take Dixie Chicks ad money. To MANY southern country fans the Dixie Chicks are called some really nasty cuss names by so called "Christians". I imagine any Houston station that ran the ads knows all creation would bust loose.

[fleabert]

53. you haven't listened to radio in texas- plenty of titty bar ads-

an inordinate number if you ask me. strip clubs line I35 from Austin to Dallas- more than I see in the seediest part of San Francisco.

[Selatius]

10. If this isn't free advertising for satellite radio, then

I don't know what is. When you pay the subscription fee, you can listen to anything you want. Why? Because it's YOUR FUCKING MONEY. You don't have true freedom of choice with these authoritarian radio networks like Clear Channel.

The difference between corporate run media and state-run media is that in the former, the corporation dominates instead of the state, and the government is merely a servant of the corporation.

[AX10]

13. True.

Clear Channel is a FASCIST organization.

[LittleClarkie]

11. Oh well. Speaking out has consequences.

That's what makes it a brave thing to do. People don't have to buy your wares after you say something they don't like.

Radio... didn't they do a movie on that guy?

[AX10]

15. ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1915765&mesg_id=1915794

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

21. Well it doesn't have anything to do...

with people not buying their wares, now does it?

[LittleClarkie]

22. What is "it" in your statement

I'm not quite getting your response.

Ticket sales equals "wares" doesn't it.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

23. It = people not buying Dixie Chick tickets.

Sounds more like censorship to me than people not wanting to go.

[LittleClarkie]

27. Can't radio stations play what they want to play?

Why would they have to play the Dixie Chicks?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

30. It's really not got to do with that either, no does it?

Since the radio stations are controlled by large corporations in bed with this administration.

It's like when they banned John Lennon after 9-11. Do you really think people didn't want to play/listen to John Lennon?

[Iwasthere]

14. I bought four the day they went on sale in Portland Oregon

And they were selling fast!

[Xenotime]

16. Stick to your message, girls...

I support you.

[knitter4democracy]

20. I bought their CD Sunday night.

I like it, and I'm more of a folkie gal. They've got good stuff on there. Too bad I missed their concert in Michigan this summer. :(

[lonestarnot]

24. Cindy will promote them! She bought land right there in Crawford! That's

a hookfuckingup waiting to happen!

[lonestarnot]

25. I'll woodstock them here in Arizona!

[LostinVA]

26. That's what happened in Greensboro, too

I bought presale tickets, along with some other DUers... but they never even went on sale. I'm pissed, because I would have bought tickets in NOVA instead.

[MethuenProgressive]

31. VH1 #1 Video 8 weeks in a row - and counting

Yes, I watch TV...

[Cha]

32. And the red cross wouldn't accept

a $$Million Bucks from them to help Katrina victims. I would never donate to the pompousass red cross again. If the Dixie Chicks money isn't good enough for them then my money isn't, either.

I know the Dixie Chicks are gonna be just fine without all those stupid fascist radio stations.

[lonestarnot]

33. Do you have a link for this allegation?

[Cha]

36. Sorry, I don't..I just know it was

all over DU when it happened and I remembered it.

[LostinVA]

35. That's the US Red Cross

I haven't given money to them in years. Right Wing AND top heavy in salaries AND they do with your money whatever they want to -- even if they tell you they're using it for a specific purpose. Liars and cheats.

The International Red Cross rocks.

[Cha]

37. Good to know the difference..thanks.

And, yeah, lizzie dole was the president of the red cross so that would mesh with the fascist cheats.

[lonestarnot]

38. Splains that!

[LostinVA]

45. I know -- *shudder*

[Junkdrawer]

51. link

...

At several venues, demonstrations have been staged. In Little Rock, Arkansas, a few days earlier, a local radio station handed out anti-Chicks T-shirts. More ludicrously, the American Red Cross turned down the group's offer of a $1m donation from the tour proceeds because Bush is one of its patrons.

...

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/fridayreview/story/0,12102,1026475,00.html

[AX10]

52. I won't be giving any money to the "American" Red Cross.

Seeing that they didn't want the Chicks 1 million dollars, they obviously don't want any money from people who don't support Bush.

[Nicole]

68. That is not true

The Red Cross refused the $1 Million in 2003, which was before Katrina.

But what bothers Ms. Maines the most, she says, is that the American Red Cross refused a $1 million donation from the Dixie Chicks in 2003.

"It has nothing to do with being taken off of the radio," says Ms. Maines, 31, by phone from New York. "It has to do with the absurdity of death threats and the absurdity of being so awful that people won't even touch you. That the Red Cross won't take a million-dollar check from you. How can the Red Cross turn away a million dollars for charity?"

But it's not as simple as that, responds national Red Cross spokesperson Julie Thurmond Whitmer in a prepared statement.

The band would have made the donation "only if the American Red Cross would embrace the band's summer tour," writes Ms. Whitmer, referring to the group's 2003 U.S. tour after the London incident.

"The Dixie Chicks controversy made it impossible for the American Red Cross to associate itself with the band because such association would have violated two of the founding principles of the organization: impartiality and neutrality...

"Should the Dixie Chicks like to make an unconditional financial donation to the American Red Cross, we will gladly accept it."

http://www.nwcn.com/sharedcontent/features/country2/052806ccdrMUSICnatalie.3a3fb996.html

While I do think all donations should be accepted, I can't fault the Red Cross for standing by their founding principles of impartiality and neutrality. Maybe that should be changed but until it is I can't argue with it, as long as it's applied universally.

[ComerPerro]

39. I would see them if I could get to a show close by

[OzarkDem]

40. It's a monopoly - hope they sue n/t

[wicket]

46. I love this part:

"I'd rather have a smaller following of really cool people who get it," Chicks fiddler Maguire said in the Time story, "who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life, than people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith. We don't want those kinds of fans. They limit what you can do."

:rofl: :rofl:

[Clark2008]

47. Must be, I happened to catch a teaser for Joe Scarborough

in which he stated that the Dixie Chicks had to cancel their concert in my town because of poor ticket sales.

However, if they were due to be here, well, I never heard about it. In other words, it was never advertised and probably never even booked.

I don't listen to country music, but I think I'm going to start calling and emailing the local country stations and requesting their music. :evilgrin:

[LynneSin]

48. Dixie Chicks can come back to Philly - we sold out the Wach

I should know,I was there.

Dixie Chicks will be around for a long time and just because those redneck mouth-breathers won't buy their music anymore doesn't mean there isn't a Market for them. Their new album is a combination of Bluegrass, Folk, Country intermixed with a bit of Rock N Roll. It's a great CD!

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

49. This is just stupid

What's with these people? Don't they know how much money they can make on these girls? So what they don't like there music. There is plenty of people in that do and will drive a long way to see them. Houston economy needs the money ANY concert can gernerate.

[boolean]

54. Here is your 5th vote

People need to know when the media manipulates them.

[Lisa0825]

58. They're the only country band I'd pay to see.

We were going to get a Houston group together for it. I wish I had themoney to do a road trip for it, but I don't. I hope they keep doing just what they're doing. After all, they are all millionaires already, and they have a loyal fan base. If they never make as much money as they did over their peak years, but they still please their loyal fans, and still get to say whatever the hell they want, then no one's boycott really worked. It only worked if they felt they had to change because of it.

[Dinger]

59. What About Willie Nelson Or Merle Haggard?

Willie has recently helped Camp Casey III, and Merle has a helluvan anti-W-ar song. Saw Merle in 2003, & he had NOTHING good to say about *.

[Lisa0825]

63. Willie supports Kinky Friedman, so he's on my shit list.

I don't care for the music of Merle Haggard. I am not much of a country fan, but I like the Chicks.

[Dinger]

72. I Like The Chicks Too

I didn't know about Friedman.

[lisainmilo]

61. I have the newest cd and it is fantastic

there are about 7 hits on the new cd, including..... not ready to make nice. It is really good.

[Joe Chi Minh]

62. How many other singers would love to have those kinds of sales

without having to tour? Now that's REAL popularity.

[Initech]

64. Check Ticketbastard - tons of shows have been cancelled

And a few big-market cities like LA are not even on sale right now.

http://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/758656

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

65. I saw the Chicks last night at the United Center

here in Chicago and they put on a great show.. As far as I could tell there wasn't an empty seat in the place even in the nosebleed section. They were well worth the $75.00 I paid for my ticket.

As for the country music stations, if they want be a**holes about these talented women, that's their loss. I've given up listening to US 99 here in Chicago, not because they don't play the Dixie Chicks, they do, but I can't stand the rest of the crappy so-called "country music" they play..

[mmonk]

66. The show I bought tickets for in a pre-sale

were cancelled. I was disappointed as the concert date was on my birthday. I'm tired of sick rightwing fanactics running my life.

[gatorboy]

67. They've always been Petty.

Speaking of which, many refused to play Tom Petty's album when he had released a single talking about how shitty radio has become.

Honestly though, anything I've bought in the last five years is from listening to streaming stations like Radioio on iTunes. Incredible music, I otherwise, would never had discovered if I stuck to the mainstream.

[B Calm]

69. From now on they should advertise on Air America!

[RebelOne]

70. You oughta hear Neal Boortz' name for them.

Heard it on the radio today. He calls them the Dixie Twits.

[LaPera]

71. Would the station do the same if Dixie Chicks criticized Prez Clinton?

Or only right-wing fascist presidents?

Still the dixie Chicks will sell well OVER 2 million albums before this summer is over (they've already sold over 1.5 million).

[BrightKnight]

73. Dallas show and alternative marketing

I have tickets for the December show in Dallas. I really hope that they find a way to make it work.

I am sure that there are many effective means of promoting the tour.

CD signing at local book stores would be a great opportunity to plug the show. Local news media would probably give them free publicity.

There are a lot of good places to post fliers and posters. A few billboards

Radio would be more efficient.

-------------

The stations are clearly doing everything possible to harm them financially. Why couldn't they sue for damages?

Based on poll numbers this has nothing to do with public opinion.

[BrightKnight]

74. Radio station song request numbers and web pages:

Requesting their music might make a difference. They have made it very easy to do.

http://www.dixiechicks.com/06_request.asp

[rman]

75. Where "Radio" = "Clear Channel"

Much unlike calling it "radio" suggests, the vast majority of radio stations are owned by one and the same media corporation.