[JPL] NEW "NPR MUSIC" MULTIMEDIA SITE LAUNCHES TODAY

[Al Karia]

Folks....more info on NPR multimedia sites...  Gene Abkarian


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> *NEW "NPR MUSIC" MULTIMEDIA SITE LAUNCHES TODAY*
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> * *
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> *NPR and NPR Member Stations Introduce *
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> *Premier Online Destination for Music Discovery*
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> * *
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> *Site Offers Concert and Studio Performances, Interviews, *
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> *News, Reviews, Blogs, Podcasts and Artist Index*
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> * *
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> *Launch Includes Exclusive New NPR.org Media Player with Playlist
> Capacity***
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> * *
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> November 5, 2007; Washington, DC – From rock to jazz…classical to
> urban…folk to world…NPR and NPR Member public radio stations, on-air and
> online, have been leaders in music discovery and arbiters of musical
> tastes and artists. Today, NPR and 12 NPR Member stations recognized for
> music programming are launching *NPR Music*, a new, free, comprehensive
> multimedia music discovery Web site. Featuring on-air and online content
> aggregated from NPR and the participating stations as well as
> original-to-*NPR Music* materials such as interviews, reviews, blogs and
> live performances, www.NPR.org/music <http://www.npr.org/music> permits
> users to explore, experience and enjoy all the music genres that are
> found on public radio.
>
> *NPR Music* is a collaboration between NPR and KEXP and KPLU Seattle;
> KUT Austin; WBGO Newark; WDUQ Pittsburgh; WFUV and WNYC New York; WGBH
> Boston; WGUC Cincinnati; WKSU/Folk Alley Kent, Ohio; WXPN Philadelphia;
> and American Public Media/Minnesota Public Radio. All partners will
> provide content including live concerts, studio sessions, features and
> reviews. *NPR Music* also links to the live broadcast music streams of
> all participating stations. Additional stations and producers will join
> in the coming months.
>
> Specific sections of the site are dedicated to rock/pop/folk, classical,
> jazz/blues, world and urban music. In each genre, program and subject
> area, users can explore NPR's and the stations' renowned music
> journalism; intimate interviews and studio sessions with artists and
> bands; NPR's and stations' popular national and regional web concerts;
> reviews and news; original blogs from critics, experts and artists; and
> podcasts. The site culls from NPR's and the stations' extensive music
> archives to present thousands of features; at launch, the site's Artist
> Index alone, an A to Z artist directory, offers content about more than
> 2000 performers. More than 200 new features will be added from NPR and
> the stations monthly, joining thousands of hours of archived concert,
> story, review and interview pieces.
>
> *NPR Music* also offers original video and audio features. Along with
> the Artist Index, some of the new elements are:
>
> "Project Song" – a video feature challenging songwriters to write and
> record an original song in two days at the NPR studios. The first
> participant is songwriter Stephin Merritt, to be followed by indie band
> Georgie James
>
> "Studio Sessions" – in-studio video performances recorded at NPR and
> Member stations
>
> "Discover Songs" – audio stories about, and recommendations for,
> individual songs
>
> "Music Lists" – five-song listening sets curated by musicians and public
> radio music personalities
>
> The site also features two new blogs. The "All Songs Considered" blog,
> written by the weekly music show's producers Bob Boilen and Robin
> Hilton, goes behind the scenes. "Monitor Mix" offers music picks and
> industry news from writer and musician Carrie Brownstein, formerly of
> the band Sleater-Kinney.
>
> Coinciding with the launch of *NPR Music* is a media player exclusive to
> NPR, available across www.NPR.org <http://www.npr.org/> The player
> allows users to create a playlist for video and audio (dating from 2004
> to present) on the site and makes dynamic recommendations for related
> content depending on a user's selections. The playlist also offers links
> to NPR's 24-hour stream and the NPR News Summary.
>
> "Since its inception, public radio has played a vital public service
> role in bringing all genres of music – and non-mainstream artists – to
> its listeners. The new *NPR Music* evolves the high-quality music
> journalism, performance and presentation that have been the longtime
> trademark of NPR, our 12 launch partners and public radio overall," said
> Maria Thomas, Senior Vice President, NPR Digital Media. "With this site,
> we can serve millions of music fans through a content-rich single
> destination that not only unifies the breadth of music programming
> produced by influential public radio producers around the country, but
> also acts as a launchpad for original audio, video and expert opinion.
>
> "NPR and a strong network of public radio music stations have engaged in
> a variety of collaborative content projects over the past year that were
> well-received by listeners and served as the foundation for a larger
> shared effort. The new *NPR Music* service is the latest expression of
> that partnership and we're delighted to be associated with these 12
> station leaders."
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> The *NPR Music* service enables partner stations and other NPR Member
> stations to incorporate a variety of modular content offerings,
> including RSS feeds and Javascript modules, into their own Web sites.
>
> *-NPR-*
>
> *NPR Media Relations: *Anna Christopher 202.513.2304 /
> achristopher at npr.org <mailto:achristopher at npr.org>
>
>
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