We’re super-psyched that one of our favorite musicians, multi-instrumentalist/singer-songwriter Erin McKeown is taking her support of the open itnernet on the road! One show in the Windy City (also known as Chicago) promises to be particularly exciting.

Erin is currently touring to  commemorate the10th anniversary of her debut, Distillation, and has chosen Chicago as the location for a live webcast from Lincoln Hall on October 20 at 9 p.m. EST. Get your virtual tickets right here.

As part of the Distillation 10th Anniversary Tour, Erin and her band will play two sets at this special show. Distillation, performed in its entirety, will be followed by an all-request set selected by the live webcast audience. Multidisciplinary design and video studio web.illish.us will accompany Erin for several days surrounding the show — and backstage the night of — in order to capture exclusive footage to be included in the archives at Erin’s website.

Cool, huh?

“I wanted to do something special for fans who aren’t able to attend one of the 15 stops on the Distillation Tour,” Erin says. “Looking back at the past 10 years, I realized that having a direct connection with my supporters is what’s kept everything going. A live concert webcast seemed like the perfect way to celebrate my fans and the open internet, because I wouldn’t be here without either.”

Erin is a champion of “net neutrality” — the principle that protects the open internet and lets independent artists compete on a level technological playing field with the biggest companies. “So much of what we do as musicians these days has to do with making direct connections with audiences,” Erin says. “The open internet lets me do that on my own terms and without interference from gatekeepers. In the current climate of media monoliths and invisible hands, I see webcasts from independent artists as radical tools for free expression.”

Net neutrality is the way the web was designed, but a small number of powerful Internet Service Providers (ISPs) want to charge content providers — like musicians, entrepreneurs and innovators — a higher fee for the faster delivery of their sites and services. Those who couldn’t afford to — or didn’t want to — pay this “toll” could get stuck in the slow lane of the information superhighway. This would have a devastating effect on artists like Erin, who depend on the open web to connect with fans and manage their careers on their own terms. Erin is a member Future of Music Coalition’s Rock the Net campaign, which also includes artists such as R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Kronos Quartet, OK Go, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Death Cab for Cutie and thousands more.

Erin sees her collaboration with web.illish.us as an offshoot of the global artistic community the open internet inspires. “I could have easily employed web.illish.us and funded the webcast myself,” Erin says. “Partnering with web.illish.us is not only a choice to support and develop with a company I believe in, it also affords us creative tools not limited by my budget. Net neutrality me is what lets do all of the above, while hopefully giving something special to my fans.” We like web.illish.us, too — in fact, we had them do the live webcast of the 10th Anniversary Future of Music Policy Summit. (Check out some of the archives here.)

There are several ways to be a part of Erin’s unique celebration:

Host a Webcast Screening
Want to share the webcast experience? If you organize a webcast party at your home or local pub, web.illish.us will be able to bring a live feed of you and your friends into the concert hall and broadcast stream. Please email hostawebcast [at] web [dot] illish [dot] us for more information.

Request a song
All online viewers will be able to request songs from Erin’s entire catalogue during the entire second set. (Available only to those who purchase access to one of the live webcast packages. The package must include a live webcast.)

Check out the live webcast packages with fan extras!

Help Erin create a video montage
Help Erin create a video montage to be shown during the live webcast! The final edit will also be posted on Erin’s website. Send along pictures of yourself and friends at Erin’s shows over the years, or even pictures of yourself with Erin. She’ll select her favorite ones and the winners will receive free prizes!

Post your pics at Erin’s Facebook page!

SuperTweet!
Erin is planning a SuperTweet during the show that will demonstrate the power of the web and it’s amazing connective potential. What’s a SuperTweet? It’s a hashtag message blasted out through Twitter by as many users as possible at a specific time. The goal is to have it become a “trending topic” and bring more attention to the event and issue. Erin will ask her both her live and webcast audiences to “retweet the message, and Future of Music Coalition will join in to activate its own constituency of musicians, managers, tech-heads and fans.

Here’s the message to go out during the show on Oct 20. (Save the Tweet!)

I #RocktheNet with @erinmckeown and @future_of_music because #netneutrality lets artists and fans connect!

If you’re on Twitter, we’d LOVE it if you RT’d this message at the select time on October 20th (TBA). Make sure to add @erinmckeown and @future_of_music to your Twitter and await our sign!