Grabbing Hands

These days it's strange to remember that one of Depeche Mode's earliest staples, which became the name of Martin Gore's publishing company, was a song condemning greed in the music business. Over the past few years there have been high priced cd singles box-sets, an album ("Exciter") written because of pressure from the record company and a confused remix album that required shelling out extra for the "limited edition" if one was interested in more than a couple of current remixes and even more for import singles and online exclusives to complete that collection of new remixes. Now the latest from DepecheMode.com:

Los Angeles, CA - September 12, 2005 - Depeche Mode has teamed with Ticketmaster for the first-ever digital download, concert ticket pre-sale, scheduled to begin tomorrow on the iTunes Music Store.

Beginning Tues., Sept. 13 through Mon., Sept. 26, Depeche Mode fans who visit iTunes Music Store in the US and pre-order the band's new album will receive a password for the chance to purchase up to four tickets from ticketmaster.com for select dates on the band's 2005 North American tour. The pre-sale offers Depeche Mode fans the chance to access priority concert seating before tickets go on sale to the general public beginning Sept. 24. Fans who pre-order Playing the Angel from iTunes will receive the album via digital download when it is released on Oct. 18 on Sire / Reprise Records.

Additional information about Depeche Mode's digital download concert ticket pre-sale is available on the band's official Web site at depechemode.com, at ticketmaster.com, and at the iTunes Music Store at itunes.com. Ticketmaster's Internet pre-sales for Depeche Mode begin Sept. 20 at 10 AM (local) and pre-sale dates vary by market. Touring the Angel, Depeche Mode's first North American concert tour in four years kicks off Nov. 2 in Ft. Lauderdale at Office Depot Center. Depeche Mode's Playing the Angel album is scheduled for release on Oct. 18 in North America on Sire / Reprise Records.

"Depeche Mode always delivers for its fans," said Ticketmaster's David Goldberg. "Packaging event tickets with music makes sense and Depeche Mode's decision to do it digitally with iTunes is a great win for the band's fans."

: I don't know if you caught that, but the itunes pre-order goes live the day the album is out in stores. There is no incentive to buy the digital album (which I believe is marked up from the average $9.99 itunes album price) except for the promise of getting early tickets to live shows. DM do a great live show, but one would think if they were really interested in what really "delivers for its fans" they would do what many bands do in the internet age and offer pre-sales to people registered on their site or signed up for their mailing list. The sad thing is that I've seen some fans on forums who actually paid extra for a similar promotion a couple of tours ago who ended up only able to buy worse seats than what was available once tickets were on sale to the general public. Talk about "a great win for the band's fans."