Downloadable music cards give Lied Center different vibe
Center is giving away 50,000 iTunes cards this season to attract more interest in performers.
By Deepa Sampat
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
Lawrence residents will have the opportunity to hear eight Lied Center performers before they hit the stage this year.
The center is giving away 50,000 iTunes cards, each good for 20 free downloads, featuring artists performing at the center during the 2008-2009 season. Tim Van Leer, executive director of the Lied Center, said he hoped that the cards would attract more people to the center.
Artists featured on the iTunes card:
Alexander String Quartet
Boston Brass
Ensemble Galilei
Interpreti Veneziani
Laurie Anderson
Philip Glass
Soweto Gospel Choir
Turtle Island String Quartet
“We want to introduce artists that people may or may not be familiar with, but once they hear the music we hope they’re intrigued enough to consider coming to the show,” Van Leer said.
Some iTunes cards have already been given out to Lied Center donors, ticket buyers and students who are attending music camps at the University. The cards also will be available at businesses around the area, the Lied Center ticket office and locations around campus.
“It is intended to be a mass appeal campaign,” Van Leer said. “It’s not just for students but for faculty, staff and the community.”
Van Leer said the idea came from a similar project launched by Stanford University. After gaining permission from the artists, the Lied Center worked with Apple to produce the cards. The process took about three months and cost the center about $5,000.
The center will wrap up its season in April 2009 with the Turtle Island String Quartet, one of the groups featured on the card. Marisa Bregman, publications manager at the Lied Center, said the show, entitled “Tree of Life — Origins and Evolutions,” took two years to finish.
David Balakrishnan, the founder of the quartet, said he was involved with the iTunes card project at Stanford and was excited when the Lied Center asked him to be included on the card.
“We’re always happy to be chosen for these kinds of approaches,” said Balakrishnan, a two-time Grammy Award winner. “It means people value us enough to want us to be a symbol of their university.”
Balakrishnan said that utilizing new technologies was an easy way to introduce people to the quartet’s modern sound.
“I’m old school,” he said. “I remember how hard it was to make a record. Now anybody can.”
He said that with these technologies, it was easy to steal music online, but this program benefited the artist and the listener.
“You actually end up really, really wanting to be stolen,” he said. “That’s what shows people’s interest in you. Programs like these show how modern technology can be used to help everyone.”
— Edited by Jesse Temple
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