LOS ANGELES, (DJC)- Tower Records will present the Rhino Musical
Aptitude Test (RMAT 2000) on Wednesday May 17. Rhino’s annual music trivia
challenge, now in its fourth year, will be cosponsored by JVC, Real.com,
Spin magazine, and Yahoo Music. The
pop culture label’s ultimate music trivia test will begin at 6:30 p.m. local
time at Tower Records in Los Angeles (Sunset), Chicago (Clark Street),
Nashville (Opry Mills), Philadelphia (Avenue of the Arts), and Seattle
(Mercer
Street). The test will also take place live on Rhino’s Web site
http://www.rhino.com
at 9:00 p.m. EDT/6:00 p.m. PDT.
Additionally, RMAT 2000 debuts internationally, with live test locations at
one Tower Records store in London, Tokyo, Toronto, Dublin, and Buenos Aires.
Everyone is welcome to take the test via the Internet, but only test takers
in the United States will be eligible to win prizes over the Internet.
“It was always our intention to make the Rhino Musical Aptitude Test a
search for the ‘world’s’ biggest music geek,” says David Dorn, RMAT creator
and Rhino Vice President of Media Relations & New Media. “People are pretty
competitive by nature, and we’ve heard rumors that college campuses are
holding their own RMAT parties, where music geeks pool their musical
knowledge together to take the test online. That’s one way to do it, but
it’s not something we condone.”
Rickey Wright, Amazon.com music editor and the grand prize winner of last
year’s contest, says, “Given that I don’t plan to run for president, I now
know what will probably end up on my tombstone: my name and the proud title
of Geekus Musicus Maximus.”
Tower Records and Rhino have created an impressive RMAT 2000 prize package.
The person with the highest score at each U.S. test location (including the
Internet) will receive a JVC Home Theater system with DVD/CD player, 100
Rhino CDs, a $100 Tower Records gift certificate, a one-year subscription to
Spin magazine, and a backpack full of Yahoo! merchandise valued at more than
$300.
The contestant with the overall highest score will receive all of the above
prizes plus a 32″ JVC color TV and a place on Rhino’s new-release mailing
list for the rest of his/her life (or Rhino’s, whichever ends first), for a
total prize package valued at $50,000.
RMAT 2000 is an open book test that lasts exactly one hour. This year’s
version will consist of 305 cleverly written multiple-choice questions,
covering all genres of music except classical. On test day, each location
will be fully decorated to replicate a classroom setting, complete with
school desks, a teacher’s desk, and a chalkboard. The exams will be tightly
guarded
until test day, when they will be delivered to each test location by armored
truck.
