LINKIN PARK's MIKE SHINODA Prefers Giving U.S. Fans More Time With New Record

LINKIN PARK is about 10 days away from the start of its 2011 North American tour, the band's first here in support of its latest album, "A Thousand Suns". While the group has already played places like Europe, Israel and Australia since the album's arrival last September, vocalist Mike Shinoda told The Pulse Of Radio he thinks it's okay to give the U.S. a little more time with the new record. "Giving the U.S. a beat to really hear the record and give it a chance and listen to it and know some of the songs before we come out and play it live definitely seems, in theory, to work to our advantage," he said.

"A Thousand Suns" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart with sales of 240,000 copies in its first week, lower than the band's previous efforts.

LINKIN PARK frontman Chester Bennington told MTV News last October that the days of the band selling 10 million copies of an album, like its 2000 debut "Hybrid Theory", are long gone.

Bennington explained, "Trying to compare anything to 'Hybrid Theory' in terms of sales is an exercise in futility: It's not gonna happen. That's the reality of the situation. (Second album 'Meteora') did huge numbers the first week, it was like 800,000. 'Minutes To Midnight' was in the 600,000 mark, and this one's at the 240,000 mark; that's a sign of the times . . . people get their music in different ways now."

"Meteora" sold 810,000 copies in its first week of release, while 2007's "Minutes To Midnight" moved 623,000.

Thanks to downloading and file sharing, Bennington said, "There's probably 10 million people out there who have the record that we don't know about."

LINKIN PARK will offer every concertgoer who attends the tour a complimentary download of the live recording of the show they attend.

All fans have to do is send a text to a short code that will be displayed at each venue, and a link to the download will be emailed to them following the concert.

Bassist Dave "Phoenix" Farrell said in a statement, "The energy we get from our fans is what makes a great show. We wanted to show our appreciation by giving that experience back to them."

As usual on recent LINKIN PARK tours, one dollar from each ticket will go to Music For Relief, a charity founded by LINKIN PARK to provide relief to victims of natural disasters.

LINKIN PARK kicks off its North American tour on January 20 in Sunrise, Florida. Support acts will be THE PRODIGY, PENDULUM and DOES IT OFFEND YOU, YEAH?