Advertisement

Music for the Masses

Share

The inaugural iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas last September marked the launch of the new iHeartRadio digital music service in sensational style and to incredible effect. Featuring A-list performers from Lady Gaga and Jay-Z to Coldplay and Carrie Underwood, it was the biggest live concert festival in radio history and helped iHeartRadio — a free digital music service that offers instant access to more than 1,000 of the nation’s most popular radio stations, plus user-created Custom Stations — attract 10 million registered users in just eight months (faster than all other popular entertainment and communication platforms, including Facebook and Twitter).

On Sept. 21 and 22 iHeartRadio Music Festival will return to MGM Grand Garden Arena with an extraordinary lineup of talent, including Taylor Swift, Aerosmith, Rihanna, Usher, Bon Jovi, Lil Wayne, Green Day, Swedish House Mafia, No Doubt, Brad Paisley, Pitbull, deadmau5, Miranda Lambert, Enrique Iglesias, Linkin Park, Jason Aldean, P!nk, Mary J. Blige, Calvin Harris and Shakira, with more artists to be announced in the weeks prior to the event.

“The iHeartRadio Music Festival is a unique celebration of music — it’s the biggest names in the industry coming together for an impressive weekend of live entertainment,” said media powerhouse Ryan Seacrest, who will once again be one of the event’s hosts. “The momentum, energy and music experience around the inaugural iHeartRadio Music Festival was incredible, and I’m excited to be a part of [it].”

Advertisement

iHeartRadio, which is owned by Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, is available as a free application across multiple platforms including on the Web, mobile devices, tablets, television and gaming devices. Its staggering nationwide popularity (iHeartRadio’s Facebook page added more than 4 million fans in less than a year after the announcement of last year’s festival) makes Sin City and the 16,800-capacity MGM Grand Garden Arena the obvious home for the festival.

“Las Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world, so it only made sense for the city to embrace a major festival such as iHeart,” said Richard Sturm, president of entertainment and sports for MGM Resorts International. “It allowed us to also showcase not only the entertainment opportunities, but our dining, retail and of course gaming services.”

Tickets for last year’s iHeartRadio Music Festival sold out in just 10 minutes, and Sturm reports than all 10 MGM Resorts properties in Las Vegas were receiving ticket requests for the 2012 event even before its performer lineup was announced.

“For the first time, fans from across the country will get to see today’s megastars like Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Usher on the same stage as legends like Aerosmith, Mary J. Blige and Bon Jovi,” said Tom Poleman, president of Clear Channel national programming and executive producer of the iHeartRadio Music Festival. “It’s the concert lineup of the year for both fans and artists.”

—Paul Rogers, Custom Publishing Writer

Advertisement