John Mayer In Concert: Four Sets From His Hot Summer Tour to Debut This Month Exclusively on iTunes

On August 9, John Mayer announced on his Web site, http://www.johnmayer.com/, that four concerts from his current tour will be available for download from the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) this month. Mayer wanted to document these shows for his fans while the music and the memories are still fresh. And wouldn't it be cool, he reasoned, if he could team up with Apple's groundbreaking iTMS in bringing these in-concert documents to the people? Mayer is delighted that his brainstorm is now a virtual reality.

On each New Music Tuesday between Aug. 10 and Aug. 31, iTunes will make a 10-song edited show available for downloading in a month-long exclusive window. The four sets, whose songs are being chosen by the artist himself, will be sold as albums only. The series bears the collective title As Is.

Mayer says he decided to call the live recordings As Is because "What you hear is what you get. The wrong notes are as wrong as the right ones are right. In the end, the way the songs make you feel is the only thing that matters."

"We're thrilled to be working with John to give iTunes users the opportunity to purchase and download some of his recent concerts," said Eddy Cue, Vice President of Applications at Apple. "This exclusive offering is a great example of the power of digital music and its ability to quickly bring unique and compelling content to hungry music fans worldwide."

Mayer has been a big fan of the iTunes Music Store since its launch in early 2003. "iTunes is the only outlet for an artist to keep music in a purely musical realm," the artist says. "No marketing plans, no journalistic scrutiny -- just a mainline from the stage and studio directly to the fans."

Following Apple's window of exclusivity, the As Is series will also be available on other digital song providers.

Since the release of his watershed debut album, Room for Squares, in 2001, Mayer has developed a reputation as one of the nation's most formidable live performers, mixing superlative musicianship with set-list surprises, disarming improvisational between-songs patter and the ability to make a direct connection with his audiences while exceeding their expectations. On the current tour, Mayer and his band have consistently reached new musical heights, and the reviewers have taken notice. "This precocious 26-year-old has his sights set higher, turning in a blistering, blues-based set and clearly transcending his adult-alternative performer status," raved the Cleveland Plain Dealer's John Benson. According to Mario Tarradell in the Dallas Morning News, "Folks who still don't take him seriously as a primo guitarist need to watch him on a platform. The guy can work a six-string into a frenzy." And the Denver Post's Ricardo Baca asserted that "the boy can play guitar better than most cats on the rock circuit -- indie or mainstream."

His fellow guitar players have taken notice of Mayer's prowess as well. Prior to the tour, Mayer joined Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Brian May, Otis Rush, Carlos Santana and other famed axe men for the Crossroads Guitar Festival in Dallas. Buddy Guy, who had earlier teamed with Mayer for a pair of dates at New York's Irving Plaza, said of the young artist, "Lord, this kid's another B.B. King! You just never get tired of hearing John play." (Guitar One magazine, April 2004).

Mayer's most recent album, Heavier Things, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 best-selling albums chart the week of its release in September 2003, is closing in on the double-platinum mark, while the RIAA is preparing to certify Room for Squares quadruple platinum.

Mayer received a Grammy award in 2003 in the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance category for his hit single, "Your Body Is a Wonderland."

   http://www.johnmayer.com/
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SOURCE: Columbia Records

CONTACT: Angelica Cob Baehler, Columbia Records, Vice President of
Media, +1-310-449-2508, Angelica_Cob@sonymusic.com

Web site: http://www.johnmayer.com/
http://www.local-83.com/
http://www.columbiarecords.com/