Until now, if you’ve wanted to know what happened at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, you had to go. Typically, VH1 ran a heavily edited broadcast the weekend after the event, which showed some of the performances but missed completely the spirit and pleasure of being at the event. No more. On March 12, the night of the event, AOL will stream the event live, without commercial interruptions. The ceremonies also will appear live on VH1 Classic and MHD (MTV’s hi-def channel), apparently with commercials. On-demand viewings will be available the following day, and the traditional edited version will appear, as usual, the following weekend. The inductees this year are Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, R.E.M., The Ronettes, Patti Smith, and Van Halen.
MTVN got plenty of bad notices for its Live 8 TV coverage; maybe this time it will pass on making its VJs and promotions more important than what happens onstage. And if Live 8 is any indication, AOL’s streaming should go smoothly. Too smoothly, probably, because Van Halen fans won’t get the Sammy Hagar-fighting-with-David Lee Roth spectacle we were all hoping for. As Yahoo reports, the Van Halen reunion tour is on the rocks and the band will be represented by Velvet Revolver. Music fans will hope this year’s ceremony is successful enough for AOL to continue this practice. And, if so, there are about 20 years’ worth of induction ceremonies that should be made available in full online.
Related
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--Live 8 on Demand: More Than 25 Million Plays in First Week