Would You Care for a CD to Go With Those Tickets?

Quietly, without the fanfare that can attract the scrutiny of potential competitors, TicketMaster has entered the CD, cassette and home-video business through a venture called Entertainment To Go. The ticket agency’s partner in the operation is A*Vision Entertainment, a video and television subsidiary of Atlantic Records, which is part of the Gargantuan Time Warner conglomerate. Since early fall, ETG has been pushing products over TicketMaster’s familiar 278-TIXS number.

Basically, ETG offers a telecommunications twist on the point-of-purchase marketing concept, the idea being to sell “entertainment merchandise” to people calling about concerts or other events. After taking an order for an upcoming Neil Diamond show, for example, the agent might offer the caller a chance to buy Diamond’s latest release, a greatest-hits compilation or a video.

Despite the link with Atlantic-subsidiary A*Vision, ETG has been dealing with all the major record labels, theoretically enabling it to sell merchandise by everyone from Hammer to Springsteen to Pavarotti. And to reach even further into the home, ETG established an 800 number customers can call to receive a catalogue. The first one was published in time for Christmas.

Fred Rosen, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of TicketMaster, says the company’s latest diversification is a logical extension of the agency’s existing service.

“Accessibility and convenience are the buzzwords of the ‘90s,” he said in a recent phone interview from his Los Angeles office. “When people buy tickets to a concert, if they want to buy a video or an album by that artist, we just want to make that available to them. It’s no more complicated than that. Obviously, we’re just looking for ways to be more user-friendly.”

You can count Russ Solomon, founder and president of Tower Records, among those who are not moved by such altruism.

“Let’s just say it’s a disconcerting development,” Solomon said Monday in a phone call from Tower’s headquarters in Sacramento. “I think when people call to order tickets, that’s just what they want. They’re already spending $30 or $40 (on tickets), so I would be surprised if many of them want to buy CDs over the phone, too.”

Solomon stopped short of suggesting that ETG puts TicketMaster in unfair competition with Tower or any other record store chains that double as TicketMaster outlets. But he said that, when he first saw an advertisement for ETG in TicketMaster’s regular flyer some months ago, he petitioned the agency to discontinue the ad, and it complied.

“I don’t know how much product (ETG is) actually moving, but I would guess that it’s not too much,” Solomon said. “I don’t like it, but, to be honest, I’m not terribly worried about it.”

Rosen cast a more benign light on the issue.

“We do business with a lot of retailers, and we see ourselves finding a different niche,” he said. “It’s all about choice.”

That niche is easy enough to pinpoint. The fact that ETG charges list price for its merchandise (which can be anywhere from a dollar to several dollars more than retail or sales prices) and that it offers delivery in two or three weeks are indications that the company is trying to tap the potentially large market of people who don’t go to record stores. While no one at TicketMaster would disclose actual sales figures or regional breakdowns, an ETG source claimed that business in February was up 60% over January. And America’s Finest City was contributing to that growth.

“San Diego is a terrific market for us,” Rosen said.

ETG’s purposefully low profile makes it difficult to gauge the operation’s direct impact on retail sales, even by calling retailers themselves. In fact, ETG is so low-profile that the manager of the Tower Records across the street from the San Diego Sports Arena, the largest local concert venue serviced by TicketMaster, was surprised to hear that the agency is now selling CDs, audiocassettes and videocassettes along with concert tickets.

REPLAY: Jefferson Starship played with great intensity before a sparse crowd in the first of two scheduled shows Thursday night at Rumours in Pacific Beach. Leader Paul Kantner was in top form, bassist Jack Casady rumbled with authority (and even spoke into the mike!), and Papa John Creach hammed it up in his inimitable fashion.

However, the evening’s thunder was stolen by vocalist Darby Gould, whom Kantner recruited from the band World Entertainment War. At 22, Gould looks and sounds enough like a young Grace Slick to raise eyebrows, and her vocal interplay with Kantner was pure deja vu.

Because of both low ticket sales and Kantner’s tired voice, Thursday’s second show was canceled. But, happily, San Diego lived up to its weekend reputation by packing the club (which occupies the Diego’s space) for two shows Friday.

GRACE NOTES: The band Bordertown will celebrate the release of its terrific, long-awaited CD, “All Wet,” by performing at a reception for its San Diego fans from 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday at the Grant Grill (U.S. Grant Hotel, 232-3121). The band’s North County fans are invited to a similar soiree at the Full Moon Saloon in Encinitas (436-7397) from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday. Admission to either reception is free.

Also Sunday, singer-songwriter Deborah Liv Johnson will make a rare appearance with a full band at her “Record Release Concert.” The 7:30 p.m. performance is at the Women’s Club of San Diego (2557 3rd Ave.). Backing Johnson will be many of the musicians who performed on her wonderful “The Cowboys of Baja Have Stolen My Heart” CD, including Peter Sprague, Wayne Riker, Paco Shipp, Kevin Hennessy, Duncan Moore, Peggy Watson, Eduardo Garcia and Nano Arenas. Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at door. Call 563-8045.

BOOKINGS: (Tickets for the following concerts will be sold at all TicketMaster outlets unless otherwise specified.) The Bay Area band Rabbit Choir is touring in support of its current release, “High Fidelity Hare Cuts.” They’ll play Winston’s (222-3802) tonight and Cafe Chabalaba (234-BEAN) on Thursday. . . . Lizzy Borden, Jet Black, Copperhead and Den of Thieves are at the Spirit on Sunday. Tickets are $10 at TicketMaster and at the club (276-3993). . . . Tickets are on sale for L.A. Guns’ April 24 show at SDSU’s Montezuma Hall. . . .

Tickets ($12) are on sale for “Q Jam VI,” set for April 24 at the Starlight Bowl. Acts include PM Dawn, Angelica, Ce Ce Peniston, Shanice, Hi-C, Tracie Spencer, Cause and Effect, Black Sheep, Tony Terry, Lighter Shade of Brown, Kym Simms and guest emcees Color Me Badd. . . . Singer Nana Mouskouri will perform at Symphony Hall on May 6 ($27.50, on sale now).

CRITIC’S CHOICE: ODDBALL AND ECLECTIC, THE CONNELLS ARE A DELIGHT

The Connells mix connect-the-dots melodies, modal-drone chord progressions and Celtic and Gothic overtones into an oddly bright sound that defies hyphenation. Whether playing its own tunes or doing oddball covers (from Gordon Lightfoot to ELO), the band is a delight. It plays Sound FX on Friday with Big Car and Eldergardens opening the 9:30 p.m. show. Tickets are $7.91. (The 91 is in honor of 91-X, which is welcoming the Connells to town.) Call 560-8022.