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Singer k-os in Toronto on April 13. His Canadian concert series starts April 30. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)Toronto hip-hop artist k-os plans to ask fans to pay what they want during his Canadian concert tour starting April 30.
Speaking to CBC's cultural affairs show Q on Friday, he said he is experimenting with the concept because "I needed to do something to get back to the roots of what I really love about music, which is its spontaneity."
While the pay-what-you-like concept for downloads is no longer new, concerts have been a secure money-maker for most artists. Rogers Wireless is underwriting 60 per cent of the k-os tour costs, according to a report in Billboard.
Radiohead kicked off a spate of pay-what-you-like downloading with their album In Rainbows in 2007. While not the first band to offer pay-what-you-like, it was among the most prominent.
K-os admits it's a risk to just trust fans will pay up, but says he hopes the free concerts will both draw new fans and give an edge to his performance.
"I can afford to be in a position where I have to play really well for people. That's true, that's my interest. I also can afford to wake up in the morning thinking that I could be in Halifax or Calgary and somebody who might never come to my show, if it's a sunny day, might go, 'Let's go check it out,'" he said.
"As an artist, those are the two things that inspired me to be in a position where people might judge what they pay on how good they think my show is.…That sensibility changes how I'll feel on show day."
Every show on the tour, with 10 dates in Canada between April 30 and May 16, will be free.
But fans can make a donation inside the venue or donate to a charity or buy a CD or concert T-shirt.
There will be places where they can donate to the David Suzuki Foundation and get a special version of his latest album called Yes! It's Yours.
K-os released Yes! It's Yours earlier this week, his first album with new label Universal Music Canada after three with EMI.
The Toronto artist said his manager Nettwerk Music Group chief executive Terry McBride suggested the pay-what-you-like idea.
And it's not new, he said — the Barenaked Ladies have previously offered pay-what-you-can tickets.
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