Mile-High Club: Worcester Firm Clears Aerosmith Fans For Takeoff
Boston Herald
May 17, 2005
Aerosmith has something cool for its biggest fans.
A fan club that works.
That's the promise of Aero Force One, the official Aerosmith fan club (www.aeroforceone.com). Worcester-based Paid Inc. Celebrity Services has taken over the operation of the club to guarantee members get coveted seats to Aerosmith concerts instead of excuses.
This improved fan club model sounds so good that even a famous but defunct Boston band has teamed with Paid: the Cars.
"The fan club industry was weak on fulfillment, customer service and technology," says Greg Rotman, Paid's CEO. "Fans weren't getting tickets. The last thing a band wants to do is upset its biggest fans."
Aerosmith fans aren't the only ones who have griped about spending $30 or more to join a fan club and not getting access to choice tickets. Consider U2's recent disaster. Fans paid $40 to the band's Propaganda fan club at www.u2.com for presale ticket privileges for the Vertigo tour (which arrives in Boston for three shows next week at the TD Banknorth Garden).
Some fans received nosebleed seats. They were the lucky ones. Most got zilch. So many complained that U2's drummer Larry Mullen issued an apology and promised angry U2ies seats for the fall leg of the Vertigo tour or a refund of the $40 fee.
Paid intends to make sure a similar situation won't occur when Aerosmith tours this fall.
"Most bands' fans clubs only start up when there's a tour," Rotman says. "But when you announce 30 tour dates and your Web site gets hit by 30,000 people in three hours, the system crashes.
We already have the software," he says. "Very expensive software. We host for thousands of eBay sellers and 50 sports sites. When Aerosmith tours next we're going to make sure the fans are taken care of."
That means more than just ticket access.
"We're great at adding value," Rotman says. "There will be tons of interactive events and contests. There will be live chats with band members and message boards for a real community feel. If we design a new Aerosmith pin, we put up five designs and ask 'Which one do you like?' Steven Tyler now wears a necklace with a design chosen by fans. You can see it online at the Aerosmith store."
And May 25-27, Aero Force One will bring fans from around the country to Boston for a three-day "Behind the Aerosmith Door" tour. For $1,195 they'll get to visit Long View Farms recording studio and the Zildjian cymbal factory, meet with Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer, dine at Tyler and Joe Perry's Mount Blue restaurant and more.
Paid's other music clients to date include Darryl "DMC" McDaniels of Run-DMC, who's launching a comeback, and the Cars, who aren't.
Or are they? Why else start a fan club?
"The band has made a decision that it would like that fans have a place to come together," says Cars' manager Frank Cimler. "The Web site will have historic pictorial and video material that the world has never seen. It will be a very special place to go to."
Cimler says all four of the surviving Cars as well as the estate of the group's late singer/bassist Ben Orr support the creation of the band's first official fan club and Web site. As for a new tour or new album, he declines comment.
But Rotman hints that the Cars might be revving up again.
"From our point of view," he says, "we really are looking to work with bands that are going to be releasing albums and touring."
You don't need to join a fan club to draw your own conclusion.
May 17, 2005
Aerosmith has something cool for its biggest fans.
A fan club that works.
That's the promise of Aero Force One, the official Aerosmith fan club (www.aeroforceone.com). Worcester-based Paid Inc. Celebrity Services has taken over the operation of the club to guarantee members get coveted seats to Aerosmith concerts instead of excuses.
This improved fan club model sounds so good that even a famous but defunct Boston band has teamed with Paid: the Cars.
"The fan club industry was weak on fulfillment, customer service and technology," says Greg Rotman, Paid's CEO. "Fans weren't getting tickets. The last thing a band wants to do is upset its biggest fans."
Aerosmith fans aren't the only ones who have griped about spending $30 or more to join a fan club and not getting access to choice tickets. Consider U2's recent disaster. Fans paid $40 to the band's Propaganda fan club at www.u2.com for presale ticket privileges for the Vertigo tour (which arrives in Boston for three shows next week at the TD Banknorth Garden).
Some fans received nosebleed seats. They were the lucky ones. Most got zilch. So many complained that U2's drummer Larry Mullen issued an apology and promised angry U2ies seats for the fall leg of the Vertigo tour or a refund of the $40 fee.
Paid intends to make sure a similar situation won't occur when Aerosmith tours this fall.
"Most bands' fans clubs only start up when there's a tour," Rotman says. "But when you announce 30 tour dates and your Web site gets hit by 30,000 people in three hours, the system crashes.
We already have the software," he says. "Very expensive software. We host for thousands of eBay sellers and 50 sports sites. When Aerosmith tours next we're going to make sure the fans are taken care of."
That means more than just ticket access.
"We're great at adding value," Rotman says. "There will be tons of interactive events and contests. There will be live chats with band members and message boards for a real community feel. If we design a new Aerosmith pin, we put up five designs and ask 'Which one do you like?' Steven Tyler now wears a necklace with a design chosen by fans. You can see it online at the Aerosmith store."
And May 25-27, Aero Force One will bring fans from around the country to Boston for a three-day "Behind the Aerosmith Door" tour. For $1,195 they'll get to visit Long View Farms recording studio and the Zildjian cymbal factory, meet with Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer, dine at Tyler and Joe Perry's Mount Blue restaurant and more.
Paid's other music clients to date include Darryl "DMC" McDaniels of Run-DMC, who's launching a comeback, and the Cars, who aren't.
Or are they? Why else start a fan club?
"The band has made a decision that it would like that fans have a place to come together," says Cars' manager Frank Cimler. "The Web site will have historic pictorial and video material that the world has never seen. It will be a very special place to go to."
Cimler says all four of the surviving Cars as well as the estate of the group's late singer/bassist Ben Orr support the creation of the band's first official fan club and Web site. As for a new tour or new album, he declines comment.
But Rotman hints that the Cars might be revving up again.
"From our point of view," he says, "we really are looking to work with bands that are going to be releasing albums and touring."
You don't need to join a fan club to draw your own conclusion.
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