AIDEN Wins Virgin Mobile's 'Book The Band' To Nab Coveted Slot At Virgin Festival By Virgin Mobile

Few up-and-coming music acts could
imagine joining a concert line-up boasting such legendary names as The
Police, The Smashing Pumpkins and Beastie Boys. But for Seattle-based Goth
punk rock band, AIDEN, that dream is about to become reality.
AIDEN nabbed the most viewer and text votes in Virgin Mobile's "Book
the Band," an online and on-air production by MTV2, Kyocera Wireless and
Virgin Mobile USA. These five musicians beat out four other buzz-worthy
groups for an opening spot on Day Two of Virgin Festival By Virgin Mobile.
Taking place over two days (August 4 & 5) at Baltimore's historic
Pimlico Race Course(R), Virgin Festival By Virgin Mobile features a roster
of over 40 bands and deejays across two stages and a dance tent, as well as
countless other entertainment and attractions. AIDEN will kick off its set
at 12 noon on Sunday, August 5, as that day's opener.
"To say we're excited to play Virgin Festival By Virgin Mobile is an
understatement, given the caliber of such acts as The Police, Smashing
Pumpkins and Wu-Tang Clan who are performing," says "wiL" of AIDEN. "This
is a once in a lifetime opportunity to bring our music to a huge number of
people at a terrific new venue, and proceed to kick some a--."
AIDEN captured 419,387 of the over one million votes placed online and
via text over seven weeks between June 15 and July 20 to take the top spot.
Los Angeles-based alternative rock band Say Anything came in second with
405,570 votes. Fullerton, California's Cold War Kids, New Orleans' Mute
Math, and Las Vegas' The Higher took third, fourth and final places
respectively.
"Music is at the core of everything we do at MTV2 and Virgin Mobile
shares our passion for finding new ways to explore and showcase music with
our audience," said John Shea, executive vice president, Integrated
Marketing and Brand Partnerships, MTV Networks Music & Logo Group. "Our
partnership with Virgin Mobile around the Book the Band contest is the
perfect example of an innovative way to give our viewers the power to
choose which buzzworthy new band deserves to make it to the main stage and
take their career to the next level."
In its second year of partnership around the Virgin Festival By Virgin
Mobile, MTV2 dramatically grew the program by using its music expertise to
identify five cutting-edge, on-the-verge bands, and by leveraging its
exceptional production capabilities to craft glossy, compelling "Book The
Band" profiles of each act. Starting on June 15th, the vignettes received
heavy rotation on MTV2 until voting ended. A sixth vignette announcing the
winning band to the MTV2 community began running this week and will air up
until the launch of Virgin Festival on August 4.
"As a company with such deep roots in music, we're always looking for
exciting ways to bring new talent to our customers and other dedicated
music fans," says Bob Stohrer, vice president, Brand and Integrated
Marketing, Virgin Mobile USA. "It's great to offer AIDEN the chance to join
such a premier roster of musical artists to show what they can do."
For more information about AIDEN, visit the Book The Band section of
the Virgin Festival website - http://www.virginfestival.com/booktheband.
Tickets for Virgin Festival By Virgin Mobile are still available and going
quickly. Single day tickets are available at $97.50 for general admission
and $250 for single day VIP. Two-day passes are available at $175 for
General Admission and $450 for VIP. Tickets are available through
Ticketmaster (http://www.ticketmaster.com or 1-800-551-SEAT). For more
information, please go to http://www.virginfestival.com/2007.
About Virgin Mobile USA, LLC:
The nation's leading wireless youth network, Virgin Mobile USA provides
more than 4.8 million customers with control, flexibility and choice in
wireless service, rich data content and innovative products without annual
contracts. Voice pricing plans range from monthly options with unlimited
nights and weekends to by-the-minute offers, allowing consumers to adjust
how and what they pay according to their needs. Virgin Mobile's full slate
of smart, stylish and affordable handsets, including the popular
Switch_Back and Slice, are available at top retailers in more than 35,000
locations nationwide and online at http://www.virginmobileusa.com, with
Top-Up cards available at more than 130,000 locations.
Virgin Mobile USA's national coverage is powered by the Sprint National
Network and the company, which launched in 2002, is a joint venture between
Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Sprint Nextel. Virgin Mobile
provides some of the highest customer satisfaction levels in the industry
with its own customers reporting a 94% satisfaction rate. Virgin Mobile
contributes 5% of profits from downloadable content to The RE*Generation,
its pro-social initiative to help homeless teens, through donations to
charitable partners or funding of programs that support and raise awareness
for young people in need; and provides postage-paid return envelopes in
every new package for customers to recycle old phones.