Breaking Digital Marketing News

Bravo TV Teams with Foursquare on Location-based Game

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 1, 2010 - 11:40am.
New York - NBC Universal's Bravo TV network has partnered with location-based social network and reviews service Foursquare, with Bravo to offer Foursquare users game "badges" for visiting locations seen on Bravo's programs. Bravo will promote the Foursquare service and the 500 Bravo-specific locations in on-air segments, and plans to offer a sweepstakes and other awards to entice users to play the game on Foursquare.

Brand Affinity Technologies Acquires Beelya

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 1, 2010 - 8:13am.
Irvine, Calif. - Brand Affinity Technologies (BAT), a service that offers to help athletes and celebrities gain endorsement marketing deals, has acquired Beelya, a creator of authentic virtual sports collectibles.

SoundCloud, Hype Machine Team to Serve Music to Bloggers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 25, 2010 - 12:25pm.
London - SoundCloud, the provider of a music distribution platform for labels and artists, on Monday announced a partnership with music blog aggregator The Hype Machine. The deal will allow artists and labels to serve tracks directly to bloggers through SoundCloud, via embeddable SoundCloud players on their sites. The Hype Machine will detect these players across blogs that it aggregates, and allow tracks to be streamed on its own site. Artists and labels will then also be able to access data on the music, including number of plays and which blogs picked up their tracks. Initial partners include Domino Records and artists including Massive Attack.

INgrooves Adds E-books, Printed Media to Distribution Platform

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 25, 2010 - 8:04am.
San Francisco - Looking to capitalize on the nascent e-book market, digital music and video distribution firm INgrooves announced on Monday the launch of a new e-book and printed media division.

Hello Music Gets $4 Million for Web A&R Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 22, 2010 - 7:32am.
Cannes, France - Hello Music, a new Web-based talent discovery service for musical artists, announced on Friday that it has raised $4 million in funding from KVG Partners.

Sway Raises $1.2 Million for Shoutlet Social Media Platform

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 19, 2010 - 8:54am.
Madison, Wisc. - Sway, the developer of a social media content distribution and communications platform called Shoutlet, announced on Tuesday that it has closed a $2 million first round of venture capital financing.

Band Using Fan-Funded Site Slicethepie Signed to Atlantic

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 13, 2010 - 11:59am.
London - Scars on 45, a U.K. band that used fan-funded recordings site Slicethepie, has signed a multi-album deal Warner Music Group's (NYSE: WMG) Atlantic Records/Chop Shop Records, Billboard reported. Slicethepie lets bands post songs, which are then reviewed by users; if they like the songs, users can pledge money to the band, and in return receive various incentives as well as a potential monetary return on their investment for every 1,000 albums sold. Billboard notes that the band's signing by Atlantic "triggered a buyout clause and fan shareholders were bought out at a 50% premium to the then market price."

Will The New Google Phone Be An iPhone Killer?

Authored by Jay Baage on January 5, 2010 - 8:36am.

Facebook Campaign Nets Record U.K. Sales for 'Rage' Song

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 21, 2009 - 11:17am.
London - A grassroots Facebook campaign, aimed at toppling the dominance of "X Factor" and similar pop artists on the U.K. charts, has resulted in over 500,000 song download sales for Rage Against the Machine's 1992 expletive-laden track "Killing in the Name," according to reports. The figure marks a new British record for most download sales for a song in a single week. "We're very, very ecstatic and excited about the song reaching the number one spot and I just want to say we want to thank everyone for participating in this incredible, organic grassroots campaign," said Rage frontman Zach De La Rocha. "It's more about the spontaneous action taken by young people in the UK to topple this very sterile pop monopoly."

TheStreet.com Acquires Digital Marketing Firm Kikucall

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 21, 2009 - 7:49am.
New York - Financial news publisher TheStreet.com has acquired interactive marketing agency Kikucall, PaidContent reported, citing unnamed sources.

RapidShare Working with Warner Bros. on Paid Downloads

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 17, 2009 - 10:06am.
Los Angeles - RapidShare, the free file-hosting provider that has been targeted by copyright holders in Germany, has partnered with Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Warner Bros. to test a new site that offers movie trailers and will eventually sell paid movie downloads, NewTeeVee reported. RapidMovies, currently in beta, features several dozen trailers -- most from Warner Bros. -- and offers free downloads to RapidShare premium account holders. Warner Bros. did not respond to NewTeeVee's request for comment on the relationship.

Katalyst, HP Bring TV's "The Beautiful Life" to YouTube

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 17, 2009 - 8:38am.
Hollywood - Katalyst, the digital media production studio co-founded by actor Ashton Kutcher, announced on Thursday that it has partnered with sponsor HP (NYSE: HPQ) to make previously unaired episodes of the TV drama "The Beautiful Life" available on YouTube (NASD: GOOG).

Katalyst, HP Bring TV's "The Beautiful Life" to YouTube

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 17, 2009 - 8:38am.
Hollywood - Katalyst, the digital media production studio co-founded by actor Ashton Kutcher, announced on Thursday that it has partnered with sponsor HP (NYSE: HPQ) to make previously unaired episodes of the TV drama "The Beautiful Life" available on YouTube (NASD: GOOG).

EMI Acquires Music Merchandise Seller Loudclothing.com

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 16, 2009 - 9:58am.
London - Major record label EMI announced on Wednesday that it has acquired Loudclothing.com, an independent online music merchandise distributor, from Completely Independent Distribution.

Amazon.com Offers 100 MP3 Albums for $5 Each

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 15, 2009 - 3:08pm.
Seattle - Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) on Tuesday launched a promotion where it will offer 100 albums for sale at its Amazon MP3 store for $5 each. The titles, hand-selected by editors, include current hits like Lady Gaga's "The Fame Monster," as well as indie fare such as "The Supreme Genius of King Khan and the Shrines" and The Hold Steady's "Separation Sunday," and older classics like "Music From Big Pink" by The Band and "Hunky Dory" by David Bowie.

AlikeList Gets $5 Million for Local Business Reviews

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 15, 2009 - 8:38am.
Sunnyvale, Calif. - AlikeList, a new social site that features user-generated local business reviews, announced on Tuesday that it ahs raised $5 million in first round funding from Syncom Venture Partners.

James Cameron's Avatar - A Transmedia 3D Adventure?

Authored by Jay Baage on December 12, 2009 - 3:33pm.
Avatar premiered in London over the weekend and will hit theaters here in the US on December 18th. I saw a 3D preview on a Panasonic 103 inch screen at DMW's and Variety's Future of Film Summit last week, it was impressive, but didn't blow me away. The latest trailer (embedded below) gives a better idea of what the film is about. 3D adds another dimension to the experience, but the story is still the most important aspect of the movie.

Guvera Signs EMI, IODA to Ad-Supported Download Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 9, 2009 - 11:39am.
New York - Guvera, an Australia-based, advertiser-supported music search and download service expected to launch in the U.S. in February, announced on Wednesday that it has signed licensing deals with major label EMI Music and independent digital music distributor IODA.

Microsoft Sponsors Song Download Promo on ReverbNation

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 8, 2009 - 1:06pm.
New York - ReverbNation, an online music marketing platform for artists, labels and venues, on Tuesday announced the launch of a free song download promotion sponsored by Microsoft (NASD: MSFT). "Playlist 7" will see 50 songs from emerging artists on ReverbNation offered as free downloads each week. The songs downloaded most frequently will be showcased in the Playlist 7 player, while the artists will receive a cash prize.