Justin Bieber Continues The Proud Tradition Of Golden Ticket Promotions
Posted 3/19/10 1:55 pm ET by Kyle Anderson in Music

Justin Bieber's new album My World 2.0 hits stores this Tuesday, March 23. It follows up his wildly successful debut My World, which featured an interesting concept. Enclosed in physical copies of My World were "golden tickets," which earned the finder the right to prizes like a private concert with Bieber and the opportunity to be in one of his music videos. So far, only one person has found one (a lucky fan in Arizona who will be getting a personalized Bieber show soon), and the golden ticket concept is back for My World 2.0.

This time around, he's really kicking it up a notch. The big winners who find golden tickets in copies of My World 2.0 will receive an all-expenses paid trip to the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas to hang with Bieber and attend a concert there. It's a pretty plush prize — though perhaps not the biggest golden ticket of all time. Check out six of the best promotions of all time.

HEALTH
For the release of their 2009 album Get Color, the California noise rock monsters went to extremes with the best "golden ticket" promotion of all time. They sent out 66 total tickets, with the grand prize being a trip to Los Angeles to hang out with the band and have your every whim attended to for three days. Other prizes included limited-edition merchandise, personal items from band members and — our favorite — a drunk arts and crafts session conducted over iChat.

Lamb of God
You would think this rugged metal band's only promotion should be "Buy our album ... or else!" But because you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, they dropped lottery tickets into the first 100,000 copies of their 2009 album Wrath. Winning tickets yielded VIP concert passes, instruments, guitar lessons, trips to see the band and "roadie for a day" experiences.

30 Seconds to Mars
Always thinking about the fans first, Jared Leto's band dropped tickets into copies of their album A Beautiful Lie that could be exchanged for backstage access to concerts.

Arctic Monkeys
In 2009, the British band rewarded two hardcore fans who picked up vinyl copies of their single "Crying Lightning" with tickets to Reading and Leeds, two of the U.K.'s biggest summer festivals.

Willy Wonka
Of course.

Metallica
Five people who picked up special copies of the band's documentary Some Kind of Monster scored trips to San Francisco to meet the band.

What "Golden Ticket" promotion is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!

Tags health, Justin Bieber, lamb of god, Metallica