​I'm going to open this post with a disclaimer: I get a lot of tickets to concerts for free. But I also know that the hotter the ticket, the tighter the guest list, and if I don't want to get shut out (or if I want to attend with a friend) of a particular concert, buying tickets is in my best interest. The second-most-annoying thing about the ticket-purchasing process in 2012, though—after the instasellouts enabled by the Internet, that is—is the "presale," the nefarious password-protected bit of sanctioned line-jumping that winds up making me feel bad about not being "in the know" or not credit-score-worthy enough to get preferential treatment. So kudos to John Mayer, who has announced that his upcoming tour (which will not hit New York City, but which will stop in West Point on April 19) will have paperless ticketing at any venue that can accommodate it and won't have presales. I probably will not take advantage of these policies, but man do I hope that others out there take his lead, because the "presale" development that has overtaken way too many shows is just a great big fun-sucking fun-sucker, not to mention that the manner in which certain sponsored presales reinforce class stratification in ticket buying is pretty disheartening. (Note, too, that he's selling tickets to his shows via Ticketmaster, so it's not like he's completely operating against standard procedure here.) The statement accompanying his tour announcement below.

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Lady Gaga.

​Today the radio behemoth Clear Channel announced a festival celebrating the relaunch of its online service iHeartRadio, which currently allows listeners to tune into the chain's terrestrial-radio outlets from all over the country (as well as about 150 digital-only stations) and which will eventually allow listeners to personalize their stations, a la Pandora. The two-day iHeart Radio Music Festival, which will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on September 23 and 24, has a star-studded bill and prices that are surprisingly decent for the amount of talent on display (single-day tickets start at $45 a pop before service charges). But what does the lineup say about the current status of each format in Clear Channel's arsenal—pop, hip-hop/R&B, country, adult contemporary, and rock? A brief analysis after the jump.

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​Yesterday, it was announced that Jay-Z would be joining U2 on the band's five-date tour of Australia come November. It makes sense: in addition to commingling at the top of the Forbes 2010 Music Earners List, Jay-Z and U2 have performed together before--more than once, in fact. (Never forget the Brandenburg Gate atrocity of 2009.) Bono, for his part, has long since found his way into rap's highest circles; consider, if you dare, this photo of him dripping sweat all over Swizz Beatz. But it's Jay's penchant for collaborating with rock's most excruciating artists that's the depressingly familiar piece of news here. Think this is the first time Jay's lent his impeccable brand to rockers who have no business borrowing it? From Linkin Park to Chris Martin to Lenny Kravitz to "the Grizzly Bear" and beyond, Jay's been making debatable rock-related decisions like this one for what seems like forever now. You doubt it? Doubt no more:

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Not sure what it says about our level of expectation here that we were actually disappointed by the rendition, but there you go. Those who enjoy John Mayer making jokes about how much he hates getting sand in his stilettos may feel differently. Next time, maybe try "Teenage Dream" instead? [@KatyPerry]

​The lady-lonely John Mayer, the man with the audacity to tell the New York Times, on the record, "I should be fucking more girls," has America's #1 record this week. His Battle Studies, which somehow avoids including any of the myriad things that actually make John Mayer interesting, sold a very respectable 286,000 copies, beating out the even more anodyne Norah Jones by a mile--her The Fall debuted at #3, good for 180,000, which buys a lot of windows down in Cobble Hill. And where exactly is our buddy 50 Cent, who has so enlivened everyone's last couple weeks with album-promotional hysteria?

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