Retailers Sponsoring Tours

NEW YORK‹Best Buy's sponsorship of six national concert tours this summer confirms growing interest by music retailers in this high-visibility form of promotion.
Tower Records has garnered publicity as the sole music retail sponsor of this year's Lilith Fair, as well as the retail partner for concerts by the artist Jai.
Retailers who have been involved in tour promotion say it raises awareness of their stores and helps sell product, especially catalog. And labels say that the additional retail exposure afforded by concert sponsorship is especially valuable for developing acts.
Best Buy's plans are the most extensive. The Eden Prairie, Minn.-based operator of 288 consumer electronics and entertainment software stores is sponsoring tours this summer by Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, Stevie Nicks, Janet Jackson, Michael Bolton and Wynonna, and Chicago and Hall & Oates, as well as Ozzy Osbourne's Ozzfest. Last year the retailer backed the Ozzfest and national tours by Fleetwood Mac and John Tesh.
As it did for Fleetwood Mac and the Ozzfest, Best Buy will produce special-edition collector's CDs for each of the touring acts. These will be available only to concertgoers who mail vouchers handed out at the venues to the chain and pay for shipping and handling.
The touring acts' products will be displayed in Best Buy store endcaps, and the concerts will be promoted in advertising campaigns on television and in print.
Laurie Bauer, spokeswoman for the company, says Best Buy has committed more than $10 million for promotional marketing and advertising for all six tours.
"The success of our special offers and the increased sale of catalog titles are the reasons we're increasing our sponsorships," says Bauer.
She adds, "We're looking for additional sponsorships for this year and next year."
Some of the artists will be appearing in stores during the tours. Bolton and Wynonna, for instance, are expected to show up at Best Buy outlets in Texas.
Best Buy also plans a charitable tie-in to the concerts, expecting to raise about $500,000 from the proceeds of the Page & Plant dates for the Best Buy Children's Foundation.
Tower is this year's sponsor of the Lilith Fair, which showcases female artists and bands led by women. The 47-venue, 57-date tour begins June 19 in Portland, Ore., and ends Aug. 31 in Vancouver and will feature such artists as tour organizer Sarah McLachlan, Paula Cole, Sin ad O'Connor, Shawn Colvin, Diana Krall, and Sheryl Crow (Billboard, April 18). Tower says it paid a "six-figure" sponsorship fee.
The operator of 192 stores worldwide, Tower will set up 20-by-20-foot booths at each venue that hold more than 5,000 music, video, and book titles by female acts. Each booth will have about seven listening stations. Tower's sponsorship also has a charitable element‹5% of sales from each booth will go to LIFEbeat.
"This affords us a wonderful opportunity to take Tower on tour to markets where we don't have stores and raise awareness of women in music," says Louise Solomon of Tower's special product marketing.
She says that although Tower has no current plans to sponsor another festival, after the Lilith tie-in was announced, the retailer was "inundated with calls from people organizing festivals to see if we're interested."
Last summer's highly successful Lilith Fair was sponsored by Borders Books & Music. A spokeswoman says it was a successful promotion and could lead to other chain sponsorships. Borders says it passed on involvement this year for budgetary reasons. At present, the only tours supported by Borders are staged in the chain's stores throughout the country.
Besides its Lilith sponsorship, Tower has also been the backer of a 17-city tour by Jai, a U.K.-based developing artist on RCA Records, in February and March. Solomon says that sales of Jai's recordings in markets where the concerts were held rose by 40%.
Hugh Surratt, VP of marketing (U.S.) at RCA, said in an interview during the tour, "We're learning to fill the radio gap by turning to resourceful marketing partnerships that bring artists, labels, and retailers together. The joint effort between RCA and Tower has been a great springboard toward launching Jai's single, 'I Believe' " (Billboard, April 4).
Tower and Best Buy also sponsor local and regional concerts and festivals. Tower is affiliated with jazz festivals in such California cities as Monterey, Newport Beach, Long Beach, and Sacramento, as well as Chicago and Philadelphia. Best Buy lends its name to festivals in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Helena, Ark.