Hurricane Sandy Benefit to Be Most Widely Distributed Live Music Event Ever

our editor recommends

Kristen Stewart, Jessica Chastain to Add Style Sizzle to the 12-12-12 Sandy Fundraiser

LONDON - Nearly 2 billion people in more than 190 countries will get the chance to see the “12-12-12” benefit concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy, making it the most widely distributed live musical event ever, organizers said Monday.

STORY: The Rolling Stones, Kristen Stewart, Leonardo DiCaprio, Quentin Tarantino Added to Hurricane Sandy Benefit Concert

The broad global distribution on TV, radio and the Internet is similar to that of the Super Bowl, the Oscars and the Grammys, they said.

The concert, presented by Chase, will be available to all 114 million U.S. TV households and more than 400 million TV homes internationally in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. Online live streams will be available on YouTube, AOL, Yahoo, Hulu, and others, which on a combined basis reach more than 1.4 billion monthly unique users worldwide.

STORY: Kristen Stewart, Jessica Chastain to Add Style Sizzle to the 12-12-12 Sandy Fundraiser

Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, with its 239 million monthly listeners and more than 48 million monthly digital unique users, will air the concert live on its radio stations across the U.S. and video stream it on its digital radio service iHeartRadio.

The lineup for the concert includes the Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton, Dave Grohl, Billy Joel, Alicia Keys, Chris Martin, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Roger Waters, Eddie Vedder, Kanye West, The Who and Paul McCartney.

Latest celebrity presenters include Steve Buscemi, Jessica Chastain, Chelsea Clinton, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Billy Crystal, Leo DiCaprio, Jimmy Fallon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Karlie Kloss, Seth Meyers, Bobby Moynihan, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Susan Sarandon, Jon Stewart, Kristen Stewart, Quentin Tarantino,  and Brian Williams.

“We are proud to be able to say that this concert is already setting records by securing near total distribution around the world," event producers James Dolan, CEO of Cablevision Systems and chairman of Madison Square Garden, John Sykes, president of Clear Channel Entertainment Enterprises, and Harvey Weinstein said in a joint statement. "The massive distribution means that the concert will be available to almost anyone on the planet with a television, a radio, a smartphone, tablet, computer or Internet-connected device.”

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com
Twitter: @georgszalai