Billboard Announces Launch of the New Billboard.com

Billboard Announces Launch of the New Billboard.com

NEW SITE TO REVOLUTIONIZE THE WAY FANS EXPERIENCE MUSIC ONLINE

NEW YORK, N.Y., July 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Billboard (http://www.billboard.com/), the world's most trusted music brand, today unveiled the new Billboard.com - the ultimate music entertainment destination for fans around the world. Building on the success of the current site, the new site leverages Billboard's exclusive charts, unparalleled access to artists and credibility in the music world to offer consumers an engaging, interactive and extremely fun music experience.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090722/NY50048LOGO )

The new Billboard.com provides visitors with incredible music discovery opportunities through unprecedented access to historical and current Billboard charts across all genres of music, comprehensive artist information, exclusive music content and touring news, dynamic editorial features, unique chart-based products and social media integration. Fans can also play full songs simply and seamlessly, create playlists, listen to music uninterrupted while they browse, and purchase new music, easily and affordably, anywhere on the site. This new listening and purchasing experience on Billboard.com is made possible via a strategic alliance with Lala - the digital music website with a catalog of over 7 million songs available to play, buy, and share online.

"Billboard.com delivers a truly exciting and immersive experience for both passionate and casual music fans," said Howard Appelbaum, Publisher of Billboard. "The new site showcases the power of Billboard's unique assets, and further establishes Billboard's position as a leading, global consumer music brand."

The heart and soul of Billboard.com are the legendary Billboard charts that are brought to life on the new site. Visitors can now explore every genre of music, search historical charts dating back to the 1950s, post comments, find related news and artist information, and play and purchase songs all directly on the chart pages. In addition, for the first time ever, Billboard.com is unlocking the full Hot 100 and Billboard 200 charts for music consumers.

Billboard's exclusive music charts - the foundation of the Billboard brand - were also used to develop fun, consumer-friendly, chart-based products for the new site. "Soundtrack Of My Life" gives fans the opportunity to discover what songs were No. 1 during key moments in their lives such as the day they were born or the day they graduated from high school. These songs are then turned into a personalized soundtrack that can be shared with friends and family. "The Visualizer" provides visitors with a unique and visually stimulating way to view the chart trajectories of their favorite artists across all genres of music by song or by album as well as compare artists head-to-head in an innovative format. Lastly, "The Chart Game" challenges fans on their knowledge of the current music scene. This weekly fantasy game allows players to choose five artists and earn points based on their movement up or down the charts for a chance to win weekly and grand prizes.

In keeping with its reputation as the most credible source of music news and information, Billboard.com now offers fans the most comprehensive artist pages available on the web. The revamped pages open up the world of past and present musicians with new and archived articles, current and historical charts, bios, discographies, full song streams, vibrant images, photo galleries and video footage. Search engine optimization for this content is being performed by iCrossing - a global digital marketing agency.

Visitors can also receive the latest music news from Billboard's world-renowned editorial team via "The Feed" - a news feed prominently featured on the Billboard.com homepage, read Billboard editorial reviews and listen to new songs in the New Releases section of the site, and search for concerts in the Live section with "The Tour Finder" - a live music navigation tool powered by Jambase's live music and concert information. Once fans find the concert they are looking for, they can purchase tickets through Billboard.com's relationship with Ticketmaster.

Exclusive artist-related content including tracks from upcoming album releases, special giveaways, behind-the-scenes footage, live performance videos and one-on-one interviews, is another key component of the new Billboard.com. During the launch period the site will feature exclusive content from artists such as Jordin Sparks, Daughtry, Sugar Ray, 311, Asher Roth, Sean Kingston, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Ashley Tisdale and more. Billboard.com is also giving music fans the opportunity to win tickets to major concerts through TicketsForCharity.com - a company that donates a portion of ticket sales to worthy causes. Each week, one lucky visitor will win a pair of Brad Paisley, Tori Amos, James Taylor or Billy Joel/Elton John tickets, and a portion of the proceeds will go to a charity of their choice.

The new site, designed by Razorfish - the company responsible for such major sites as cnn.com, nytimes.com and xmradio.com, also now features social networking communities that enable Billboard.com members to create their own music experience. Members can customize their profile page with a vanity name, follow the activity of other Billboard.com members, rate content with "Love/Hate" functionality, post comments throughout the site, create a "Neighborhood Music Chart" - a playlist of all of the songs that their friends have either bookmarked or loved, share their Billboard.com activity with friends via Facebook Connect, and see the most popular song streams on an hourly basis through "The Buzz" - a module on the Billboard.com homepage. These social features that deeply engage users in the site experience are powered by the Crowd Factory social marketing platform.

Billboard.com's new, unique features, functionality and products are sponsored by well-known major consumer brands for launch. Sirius/XM Radio is the launch sponsor of "Soundtrack Of My Life," Sprint is the launch sponsor of "The Buzz," and AT&T is the sponsor of "Music On The Move" - a contest where ten qualified recruits armed with AT&T phones complete with the latest video recording technology from LiveCast, compete to deliver great live music moments to fans in real-time on Billboard.com.

About Billboard

Now in its 115th year, Billboard is the world's premier music brand consisting of business-to-business properties including Billboard Magazine, Billboard.biz and Billboard Events as well as a consumer platform - Billboard.com - the online destination of choice for millions of music fans. The Billboard brand is built on its exclusive charts and unrivaled reporting on the latest news, issues and trends across all genres of music. The brand is also extended through many strategic relationships with major companies including Reuters, SanDisk, Telemundo, Ticketmaster, Microsoft Zune, Napster, MTV, Google, Virgin Mobile, AT&T, ABC Radio, SonyBMG, Amazon, Lala, and sister companies Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. These relationships leverage Billboard's brand recognition, proprietary chart data and information resources to develop products, live events and print, television, radio, digital and mobile platforms for music consumers.

Contact:
Dan Klores Communications

Lee Rothchild
212.981.5124
Lee_rothchild@dkcnews.com

Eva Ross
212.981.5218
Eva_Ross@dkcnews.com

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090722/NY50048LOGO
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Billboard

CONTACT: Lee Rothchild, +1-212-981-5124, Lee_rothchild@dkcnews.com; or
Eva Ross, +1-212-981-5218, Eva_Ross@dkcnews.com, both of Dan Klores
Communications, for Billboard

Web Site: http://www.billboard.com/

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