mtvU Launches 'Best Music on Campus' Online Farm System to Discover Best Unsigned College Artists

mtvU Launches 'Best Music on Campus' Online Farm System to Discover Best Unsigned College Artists

New Music Destination Offers Deals with Epitaph, Drive-Thru and Definitive Jux Records, Chance to Perform on 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien,' Spots on mtvU Tours and Other Unrivaled Monthly Opportunities

Top Acts Connecting with the College Audience to be Showcased Each Week on mtvU, mtvU.com, BestMusicOnCampus.com and More

NEW YORK, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- mtvU, MTV's 24-hour college network, today announced the launch of "Best Music on Campus" (BMOC) -- a new online music destination (http://www.bestmusiconcampus.com/) offering unsigned college acts unparalleled weekly, monthly and yearly opportunities to launch their careers. The site enables college students to build profiles with songs, videos, pictures, blogs and more, and the best and most popular artists will be recognized with exposure on MTV, mtvU and mtvU.com programming; the chance to open on mtvU tours and for emerging and established artists; and a record deal roughly every month of the year. Announced separately today, mtvU will also offer an unprecedented "Artist of the Year" promotion, video and record deal to the best college act in the country. The winner will be unveiled and debut with a live performance on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien."

Specific monthly opportunities available to college artists registered for mtvU's BMOC include:

* EP, video, performance and promotion deal with Epitaph Records and mtvU
Winning artist gets an Epitaph EP record deal and exclusive video
premiere on mtvU and mtvU.com, in addition to an opening slot on a tour
date with a leading Epitaph recording artist and at mtvU Spring Break
07.
* Digital EP, video and promotion deal with Definitive Jux Records and
mtvU
Winning artist gets a Def Jux digital EP deal and exclusive video
premiere on mtvU and mtvU.com. Additionally, top Def Jux artist Mr. Lif
will serve as mentor and appear on winner's lead single and music video.
* EP and video deal with Drive-Thru Records
Winning artist will work with label execs at Drive-Thru to develop and
master an EP to be released on Drive-Thru Records, in addition to a
music video that will exclusively premiere on mtvU and mtvU.com.

College students nationwide are encouraged to submit their original music today on bestmusiconcampus.com to become eligible for these and other exclusive opportunities. Submission criteria and deadlines for all competitions are available on the site.

"We're excited to partner with Epitaph, Drive-Thru and Def Jux -- connecting the best of our wildly talented and eclectic audience with labels where they can flourish creatively and blow up," said Stephen Friedman, GM of mtvU. "We're building BMOC to be the ultimate online destination for college artists to launch their careers and new music fans to find their next favorite act."

Roughly every month, BMOC will host competitions where college students vote and help their favorite artists win deals with top labels such as Epitaph, Def Jux and Drive-Thru. The first monthly opportunity will be with Def Jux, to find the best dj, emcee, producer or band amongst the college ranks. College students interested in competing for this opportunity must be registered on bestmusiconcampus.com and opt in to the contest no later than December 14, 2006.

Each week, mtvU will also select a new BMOC "Artist of the Week," paying special attention to those acts which are the most viewed, streamed or highly rated by college students on bestmusiconcampus.com. Every "Artist of the Week" will be featured in promo spots that run on mtvU several times a week, prominently showcased on the BMOC website, and spotlighted on "The Freshmen," mtvU's weekly rundown of new music videos from artists bubbling up on the college scene, hosted by Kim Stolz. Each "Artist of the Week" will also be eligible to compete for the "Artist of the Year" prize. A field of the top 50 college acts in the country will be selected and vie for this coveted opportunity in late March 2007, with college student voting playing a key role in deciding which bands advance to the final round of five. The inaugural BMOC "Artist of the Year" will be announced on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" in May 2007.

The new "Best Music on Campus" online music hub follows on the overwhelming success of last year's BMOC contest, which saw more than 320 college acts submit original music. Over 4.1 million votes were cast by the college audience on mtvU.com, as Say No More of California State University, Northridge was picked winner and awarded a record deal with Drive-Thru Records. The band has been hard at work on their EP -- opening for The Early November along the way -- and expects to make their label debut in early 2007.

In 2005, the college audience cast 2.2 million votes in selecting All Envy Aside, of the University of Wisconsin -- Milwaukee, as the BMOC winner. The band was the recipient of a development deal with Universal Records and exclusively premiered its first video on mtvU.com, where the video ranked as one of the most streamed on the site for Spring 2006.

Eligible entrants in mtvU's "Best Music on Campus" must be 18 years old, a legal resident of the United States, and solo artists or at least one band member must be enrolled at an accredited college or university. At time of entry and during the course of the contest, entrants (and all participating band members) must be amateur artists (i.e., cannot have a record deal and/or distribution deal with a major U.S. record label). For complete details and rules on mtvU's "Best Music on Campus," please visit http://www.bestmusiconcampus.com/.

mtvU's "Best Music on Campus" will feature rotating monthly sponsors, the first of which is Sony Mylo.

About mtvU

Broadcasting to 750 colleges across the country, with a combined enrollment of over seven million, mtvU is the largest, most comprehensive television network just for college students. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, mtvU can be seen in the dining areas, fitness centers, student lounges and dorm rooms of campuses throughout the U.S. mtvU is dedicated to every aspect of college life, reaching students everywhere they are, through a three pronged approach -- on-air, online and on campus. mtvU focuses on content including music videos from emerging artists which can't be seen anywhere else, news, student life features, events and pro-social initiatives. mtvU is always on campus, with more than 300 events per year, including exclusive concerts, giveaways, shooting mtvU series and more. For more information about mtvU, and for a complete programming schedule, visit http://www.mtvu.com/.

mtvU.com makes mtvU the first MTV Networks channel distributed in its entirety via broadband, streaming 24/7 and on demand, featuring all of mtvU plus exclusive new music, original series and student-produced programming for college students and music fans everywhere.

mtvU also owns and operates Y2M, parent company of College Publisher -- the largest interactive network of online college newspapers in the US. The network comprises 500 campus publications that serve institutions including Brown University, the University of Illinois, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin and Duke University, with a combined enrollment of over five million students and a subscriber base of 2.1 million.

MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE:VIA)(NYSE:VIA.B), is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. MTV Networks, with more than 120 channels worldwide, owns and operates the following television programming services -- MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, VH1, mtvU, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN, VH1 CLASSIC, LOGO, MTVN INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 13 digital services, with all of these networks trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks connects with its audiences through its robust consumer products businesses and its more than 100 interactive properties worldwide, including online, broadband, wireless and interactive television services and also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.

Source: mtvU

CONTACT: Jason Rzepka of mtvU, +1-212-654-9198,
jason.rzepka@mtvstaff.com, or Hilary Villa of Epitaph Records,
+1-213-413-7353 x262, hilary@epitaph.com, or Kathryn Frazier of Definitive Jux
Records, +1-773-645-1035, kathryn@biz3.net, or David French of MTV/MTV2/mtvU,
+1-310-752-8110, david.french@mtvstaff.com, or Ana Bustilloz of Drive-Thru
Records, +1-818-883-9985 x108, ana@drivethrurecords.com

Web site: http://www.mtv.com/
http://www.mtvu.com/
http://www.bestmusiconcampus.com/

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