20th Annual event goes digital with LiveXLive
LiveXLive Media, a global platform for livestream and on-demand audio, video and podcast content in music, comedy, and pop culture, has announced that it has partnered with global publisher Modern Drummer to pay tribute to Neil Peart and drumming talent worldwide during the Modern Drummer Festival 2020, the 20th annual edition of the festival. The Pay-Per-View event will take place on September 12th, produced and distributed by LiveXLive. Tickets go on sale on August 26th with packages starting at just $14.99. VIP and Special-Offer Bundles will include merchandise, tickets, subscription to LiveXLive and Modern Drummer.
Featuring a tribute to the late and great drummer Neil Peart, who passed away in January, the line up for Modern Drummer Festival 2020 includes Cindy Blackman-Santana, Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters), Thomas Lang, Alex Gonzalez (Manå), Jim Riley (Rascal Flatts), Danny Seraphine, Dom Famularo, Carmine Appice, Keith Carlock, Todd Sucherman (Styx), Kenny Aronoff, Gregg Bissonette (Ringo Starr), Ray Luzier (Korn) and Kristina Schiano, with many more to be announced soon. The festival will also feature special appearances by Carl Palmer, Eric Singer (Kiss), Mike Portnoy, Eric Leiderman (Seth Meyers Late Show), Les DeMerle, Brian Tichy, Jason Bittner, Don Lombardi, Charlie Benante (Anthrax), Jonathan Moffett, Wyatt Stav and 66 Samus. Collectively, performers and guests reach over 150 million fans on social media. Modern Drummer reaches hundreds of thousands of subscribers and a digital reach to millions of drummers.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, School of Rock, DW & Drum Channel are on board as festival partners to provide exclusive content, giveaways and special guests.
“Modern Drummer turns 45 next year and through more than 40 of them, we formed a close and unique collaboration with the one and only, Neil Peart. Neil even gave away his iconic candy apple red kit to a Modern Drummer reader in the 80’s via mail-in letters chosen personally by Peart himself! It was without question that as Modern Drummer celebrates our twentieth festival, we are honoring Neil with a fitting tribute from some of his closest friends as well as world-class drummers that he inspired. The Modern Drummer Festival is a celebration of drums, drumming and drummers worldwide. This year will be the first year that everyone can attend as our capacity just went into the Hemispheres!” states David Frangioni, CEO and Publisher of Modern Drummer Publications.
“As Modern Drummer celebrates its twentieth year, the world lost a great talent this January when Neil Peart passed on, adding to the list of heartbreaking events in 2020,” shares Jackie Stone, Chief Marketing Officer of LiveXLive. “We get to support Modern Drummer Festival 2020 in not only celebrating Neil, but celebrating drumming talent worldwide and paying homage to these artists with our global village filled with fellow music-lovers.”
Modern Drummer, founded by drummer Ron Spagnardi, who innovated how drums and the whole of drumming is celebrated, published its debut issue in January of 1977. In 1983, Spagnardi launched the Modern Drummer Book Division, and in 1987 the first Modern Drummer Festival debuted. “The world’s most read drum magazine” is now owned by CEO/Publisher David Frangioni with hundreds of thousands of subscribers and a digital reach to millions of drummers.
LiveXLive has sold tens of thousands of pay-per-view tickets in over 96 countries at an average ticket price of $27 and with overall ticket sales totaling $850,000. LiveXLive’s recent PPV event with K-Pop sensation Monsta X sold out VIP tickets in under two minutes, and the equivalent of a sold out show at Staples Center. LiveXLive’s PPV initiative was created as a revenue-share model to support artists during a time when concerts and touring are at a standstill. LiveXLive’s PPV platform allows artists to go direct-to-consumer and perform full-length concerts and shows with unique behind the scenes footage, docu-reality-style coverage coupled with premium tiered pricing with tickets that include VIP experiences, exclusive merchandise, digital meet-and-greets, and other event-exclusive perks. Future scheduled PPV events include top artists such as Pitbull, Nelly, Jeremih and many more.
LiveXLive has become a go-to platform for live streaming events that combine music with pop culture of podcasting, sports, arts, fashion, culinary and comedy. So far in calendar year 2020, LiveXLive content has been viewed over 81 million times. From emerging to established artists, LiveXLive has streamed a variety of artists and celebrities in 2020 alone: Kygo, Jimmy Buffett, OneRepublic, Zac Brown, Sofi Tukker, Darius Rucker, Graham Parker, John Hiatt, John Butler, Michael Franti, Nahko, Trevor Hall, FINK, Mike Love, Rising Appalachia, Krishna Das, Big Gigantic, Hot Chelle Rae, Lauren Jauregui, Billy Joel, Bon Jovi, Chris Rock, Idina Menzel, Jennifer Lopez, Sullivan King, Quix, Nitti Gritti, Dr. Fresch, Champagne Drip, and Pegboard Nerds.
