How Not To Connect With Fans: Let Them Vote And Then Ignore The Vote

from the nice-going-kiss dept

Tue, Sep 1st 2009 2:33pm — Mike Masnick

Someone who prefers to remain anonymous sends in this example of how the band KISS tried and failed (miserably) in its attempt to "connect with fans." Apparently the band held an online contest to get fans to vote for where KISS would perform -- calling it the "You Demand It Tour." Well, people voted, and the second largest vote getter was Manchester, New Hampshire. So what happened? The band ignored the vote and booked a show in Boston instead. In response, some local radio folks are starting a petition to try to get the band to actually live up to its promise to go where fans demanded:

Three months ago - when KISS launched their "You Demand It Tour", Buzz Lumpa's jumped all over it in an effort to bring KISS back to the Verizon Wireless Arena. The deal was that the band would rout their tour to the cities that wanted them most - and that meant the cities that cast the most votes. Manchester NH did just that - beating out EVERY major U.S. city! We cast more votes than New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and yes- Boston. Over 240 cities were vying for the band - and Manchester NH placed 2nd in the U.S.! And yet, when KISS announced their tour itinerary, Manchester NH was NOT on it. The band chose to play Boston instead. KISS lied to you.

Of course, given Gene Simmons' comments on new business models and the experiments of bands like Radiohead to better connect with fans (Simmons claimed it was killing the recording industry) perhaps this is no surprise.

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Filed Under: fans, gene simmons, kiss, manchester, new hampshire, voting

26 Comments

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Shawn (profile), 1 Sep 2009 @ 1:38pm

I thought this was going to be about NASA since the C.O.L.B.E.R.T. was delivered with this shuttle mission ;)
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Thomas (profile), 1 Sep 2009 @ 2:30pm

Morons
Gene Simmons is an idiot who doesn't even know how he got rich. Who ever listened to kiss records for the musical expression or subtle, nuanced performances? Love Gun? Are you kidding me? kiss have always been about the live show. Teenybopper kids sharing their albums with their friends so they could memorize the lyrics for when they went to the show. And buying all the kiss branded dolls, T-shirts, kiss make-up kits etc. kiss gets away with this crap because their fans let them. That world is changing.
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Lucretious, 1 Sep 2009 @ 2:44pm

Gene Simmons is probably one of the biggest douchebags in the entertainment industry today. He is the number one reason why Ace Freeley and Peter Cris avoid so called "reunion" tours as much as possible. All one needs to do is listen to an interview of him. Even on shows like Opie and Anthony where they put up with some annoying people, Gene is particularly despised.

No doubt in my mind that he's the one who went to Boston instead due to the higher body count of the shows. To be honest I don't know how anyone could listen to that garbage. I grew up with them and hated them in the 70's, never mind now.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 1 Sep 2009 @ 2:51pm

Sigh
"Well, people voted, and the second largest vote getter was Manchester, New Hampshire. So what happened? The band ignored the vote and booked a show in Boston instead"

There are people that largely believe that true artists in music died at Woodstock.

Examples like this of the super-commercialization of music has me believing they're right. Woodstock was supposed to be a small, retreat-like festival that turned into an epic celebration because of the interest and passion of a great many musicians and fans.

Kiss would have asked where White Lake, NY was and played NYC instead.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2009 @ 3:03pm

A Question From Simmons' History
In 1987, in the movie "Wanted: Dead or Alive," Simmons played a terrorist who got his head blown off by a hand grenade.

So the question is: Was that faked or not?
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2009 @ 3:03pm

They suck anyway.
KISS sucked way back when, and now because of this, they really suck now. Next vote should have one last option "Take your instruments and shove them up your a**es!"
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2009 @ 3:06pm

New lyrics!
"I.... wanna rock and roll aaaalll nii-iiight... just not in Manchester... I... wanna rock..."
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Claus Rasmussen (profile), 1 Sep 2009 @ 3:07pm

are their fans still alive?
I would never have believed that people, who listens to Kiss (or heck, even know who they are) would be at any higher tech level than a phone or maybe...a fax ;)
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2009 @ 3:10pm

Boycott the Boston show flood the streets so no one can attend the show.
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B's Opinion Only (profile), 1 Sep 2009 @ 3:13pm

Manchester came in second because someone else came in first. Oshawa, Ontario got the most votes and won the tour date. Pretty simple.

Dear NH, coming in second is not winning.
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John, 1 Sep 2009 @ 3:25pm

See http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2009/08/25/oshawa-kiss-concert.html and http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5iYKFt6T8cOE-50U5Q8cxv8zE2TzQ

Similar thing in Canada, BUT the announcement of the performance in the winner's town was going to be announced later
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BRY, 1 Sep 2009 @ 3:37pm

Re:
I think it was the top ten get the tour dates. So second counts. And I might be wrong but Oshawa was ignored as well.
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Blatant Coward (profile), 1 Sep 2009 @ 3:55pm

RE: A Question From Simmons' History
In Wanted Dead or Alive it was faked. In Runaway it was real.
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Herman, 1 Sep 2009 @ 3:59pm

Perhaps they dont have an arena capable of holding more than a few hundred people in Manchester. Its probably a small in the middle of nowhere town
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Another AC, 1 Sep 2009 @ 4:06pm

Well seeing as they want to hold it at the "Verizon Wireless Arena" in Manchester, I'd assume it's a large enough venue. It seats about 10,000 for concerts.
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nasch (profile), 1 Sep 2009 @ 4:08pm

Re:
Or perhaps you could find the real information rather than making stuff up.

http://www.newhampshire.com/venues/nh-verizon-arena.aspx
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RRTinIA (profile), 1 Sep 2009 @ 4:31pm

yea they suck
I live in Dubuque Iowa and we also fell within the parameters of having KISS come here, but of course they are not. I'm not even sure they are coming to Iowa at all. Not so much of a KISS fan anymore.
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enicko (profile), 1 Sep 2009 @ 4:58pm

Or....
Did someone else connected too, but not part of the Kiss command chain over promise 3months back?

Was there some electronic evidence that the voting was tainted with some spammified Manchester technique to beef up their tongue demanding count?

Perhaps an unfortunate circumstance with booking a location in Manchester (not enough geneology enthusiastic groupies for Gene, red m&m's for Paul, etc) that prevented the show from happening.

Most importantly, has the band and or soda sponsor of late posted an acknowledgment of the over site?

I couldn't believe that a radio show would get their facts wrong, or that raving fans would have overlooked some clearly stated 5pt font on the bottom of a website about second place or anything.

Of course, they could be bringing the show to the Boston area in part because of the regional support of NH.

Ahhh what a mystery! If only there was an official website or something to slacktivate on...
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PRMan, 1 Sep 2009 @ 5:17pm

People...
People that admittedly worship the Father of Lies lie. Wow, I didn't see that coming....
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Rajio, 1 Sep 2009 @ 5:33pm

Americentric
Why is this story not about Oshawa?
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Marcus Carab (profile), 1 Sep 2009 @ 5:39pm

Re:
Gene Simmons claimed it was a surprise, that they "had something planned for Oshawa" -- but this makes me wonder if I can take him at his word on that. In any case, they are doing a concert there.
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John, 1 Sep 2009 @ 8:47pm

Re: Re:
Might be more of bad implementation than bad intentions
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Another AC, 2 Sep 2009 @ 5:14am

Boston over Manchester
This was about the fans routing the tour based on votes, not how many seats the venue had. Boston clearly has more seats but that defeats the purpose.

KISS has played the Manchester Verizon wireless arena before so it is not too small.

You could vote as many times as you wanted and this was heavily promoted by a large area radio station that broadcasts on a couple frequecies and hits multiple states in NE, they are now feeling like they we kicked in the ass really hard for promoting this so heavily, scoring really well in the voting and being blown off.

I do not care for KISS at all, but I just think it sucks for the fans that have poured money freely into that marketing machine.
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DS, 2 Sep 2009 @ 7:03am

It's KISS.

What do you expect?
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Sep 2009 @ 4:11pm

Re:
To be honest I don't know how anyone could listen to that garbage. I grew up with them and hated them in the 70's, never mind now.

Myself as well. I remember when I first saw them: I thought they were actually some kind of joke band (kind of like Spinal Tap). But no, people actually bought their stuff. I think it must have been the same people who bought all those pet rocks too.
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Azrael (profile), 2 Sep 2009 @ 11:03pm

Re: Morons
Oh, but it's definitely not an idiot. He's just another greedy, shrewd jew, ready to milk every moron he can get in his greedy paws by every means possible. If it implies making shitty music instead of working hard, better.
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