March 13, 2009

Michael Jackson Sells 750,000 Tickets In Hours

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Singer Michael Jackson has sold out all 750,000 tickets to his run of 50 shows at London’s O2 Arena in just hours today, reports Billboard, at an average rate of about 11 per second. Ticketmaster UK called it the “busiest demand for tickets” they have ever experienced. The 50 shows will supposedly take place in July, August, and September of this year, as well as January and February of 2010. The publicity has pushed sales of Jackson’s albums up as well, with sales of Thriller up 80% at stores in the UK and Ireland. The lesson I take from this is that if I act all crazy and allegedly abusive and transparently arrogant and dishonest and mess up my face a whole bunch, I could sell more tickets to my DJ gigs. Although, come to think of it, maybe having something as stupendous as “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” on the resume might help, as well. Video for that after the jump.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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