Ben Preiss
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Ozzfest, the pioneer of heavy metal rock fests, now faces competition from other tours, Korn’s Family Values to Linkin Park’s Projekt Revolution to scrappier tours like Sounds of the Underground. Ozzfest’s founder, Sharon Osbourne, had to do something drastic, why not give away the ticket for free, we’re not making money any way, she thought and being a savvy, well connected business women she talked to Michael Rapino, president of giant national concert promoters Live Nation. They found sponsors to come in and underwrite the running part, and found bands who just want the stage… to perform. The 428,000 free tickets were snapped up like bloody chum tossed at starving sharks the day they were made available.
 As the premier head-banging shed tour of the year, Ozzfest was growing a little long in the tooth (or in the fangs, as the case may be) as it prepared to embark on its 12th trip cross- country this summer. That is, until Sharon Osbourne, the fest's driving force and the renowned Iron Maiden of heavy metal, came up with the idea of giving the tickets away for free.
"I'm not trying to be the Mother Teresa of the music industry, because I like money more than anybody else," Ozzy's spouse recently told Scripps Howard News Service. "[But] these kids cannot afford to keep shelling out all this money, every year charging more and more. The brakes have to come on somewhere."
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