Launch Radio Networks has issued the following report from Don Kaye

OZZFest co-founder Sharon Osbourne has said that skyrocketing artist fees led to the decision to make admission to this year's festival free, according to the San Jose Mercury News. She told the newspaper, "We needed to change something and we didn't want to change the format... We were putting offers to all these bands we wanted to tour with and they were coming back to us with exorbitant prices that would have meant we had to put the ticket prices up, which I won't do.'' She cited some acts, specifically 2006 co-headliners SYSTEM OF A DOWN, as requiring $300,000 or more for "an hour's work."

Despite decent-to-healthy attendance, OZZFest reportedly lost more than one million dollars last year. Osbourne said, "Last year nearly destroyed us, paying, paying, paying, and we just can't do it again.''

Osbourne said that sponsors will underwrite many of the show's costs, with Jagermeister and Monster Energy Drink already rumored to be onboard.

Perhaps most controversially, Osbourne said that bands will not be paid to perform. Instead, they will earn money from merchandise sales and other shows they book along the OZZFest route. A number of artists are skeptical about the arrangement, with BUCKCHERRY's Josh Todd telling us he doesn't see many acts going for it: "I doubt that's gonna work out. It's very expensive to tour. I don't think a bunch of bands are gonna be playing on a tour day in and day out and not getting paid. You wanna know what I would say if I was asked to do something like that? You know what my answer would be? No."

OZZFest will kick off on July 7th in Los Angeles, with the full schedule and lineup to be announced soon. OZZY OSBOURNE will headline all 25 dates.

Meanwhile, the OZZFest 2007 Fans page at MySpace was updated with a new posting that said fans should sign up at ozzfest.com for info on how to obtain free tickets first. It added that tickets will be available through that site or one of the show sponsors' sites. Tickets will be mailed to the recipients or can be printed out and brought to the show. All dates on the tour will be general admission and seating will be on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The posting added that venue concession prices will not be raised to make up for the free tickets, and that there will be a limit on how many tickets a person can order.