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Pop & Hiss

Josh Groban online concert, Q&A on Dec. 2: For CD buyers only

By Randy Lewis
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Josh Groban is hosting an online performance and question-answer session focused on the songs from his new Rick Rubin-produced album “Illuminations” on Thursday, with an intriguing hitch. The only way to gain access to this virtual concert is to buy the physical CD.

On the surface it’s a bonus for CD buyers, but from another perspective, it’s a way to spur fans who primarily experience music online to get their hands on the tangible version.

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The CD includes a sticker with a code allowing purchasers to register online for the 5 p.m. Pacific time streaming performance, described in a press release issued Monday by Groban’s label as a “one-time only event” and “the first time an artist has offered consumers the opportunity to watch an intimate online performance of the songs on the album they have just bought.”

Groban fans who don’t want to wait, or spend the extra money if they’ve already purchased a download of the album, can catch him Tuesday, Nov. 30, on NBC-TV’s holiday special “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” airing at 8 p.m. Pacific time.

--Randy Lewis

Pop & Hiss
Randy Lewis

Randy Lewis covered pop music for the Los Angeles Times from 1981 to 2020, working in that time as a reporter, music critic and editor for the Calendar section. He has interviewed most of the members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He’s also written first-person accounts of performing the music of Shostakovich and Prokofiev on clarinet and singing Mozart’s Requiem with world-class professionals. In addition, he enjoys belting out “Wooly Bully” in dive bars with his band, the Rounders.

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