901am

New Media News Every Morning

Simon & Schuster and TurnHere unveil online video initiative

By

turnhere.jpgSimon & Schuster, Inc. and TurnHere, Inc., inked an agreement to launch a book-centric internet video channel to promote Simon & Schuster authors and their new releases. The companies will produce videos with in-depth information on featured books and authors as well as sneak previews of upcoming titles. The channel, called Bookvideos.tv, will launch in early June, will be hosted at a major online video site and will be cross promoted and linked
to numerous sites across the web. The videos will also be available at SimonSays.com.

“Readers have long hungered for greater contact and more information about authors,” said Sue Fleming, Vice President, Online and Consumer
Marketing for the Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group. “Now readers will have a way to view and share compelling content about our authors, available on a 24/7 basis. Bookvideos.tv will allow readers to easily use the internet to replicate, for the digital age, the critical and time tested word of mouth excitement that comes from talking about a good read. Working with Turn Here to tap this huge potential audience is an exciting new way of marketing for us, and we expect to find legions of new readers while at the same time giving a new experience to dedicated fans of our authors.”

Originally posted on May 9, 2007 @ 5:55 am

Mixercast launches user-generated media network

By

MixercastMixerCast announced that it has signed licensing deals with known content providers to allow its users to legally combine professionally-produced videos, music and images with their own content and hyper-syndicate the rich media mashups on the Internet. Instead of broadcasting pre-packaged channels of content through a traditional media network model, MixerCast makes it easy for consumers to create, distribute and remix content from a variety of sources by using a rich set of editing and publishing tools, ad-infused and product- placement-ready templates, and open access to a large library of studio content. Users can monetize their creative work by proactively adding advertising into their MixerCast content packages as they virally spread across the web, which are then tracked by a robust set of built-in measurement systems.

“With the debut of MixerCast, people now have an easy way to fuse their own content with legal studio content and create custom Web channels, movies, music videos, photo galleries or personal RSS feeds. It’s like having your own personal broadcast station with access to high-quality licensed content so you can create context and a much richer experience,” said Jennifer Cooper, MixerCast CEO, who recently left Yahoo! to co-found and lead the company. “Our vision is to drive the next big wave of syndicated content and advertising on the Web. It’s no longer about simply serving up ads based on search keywords. With MixerCast, highly-engaged users mix, monetize and network their interactive productions. Users can also include licensed, branded content when they share or post their Mixercasts via email, their favorite sites or blogs.”

Originally posted on May 8, 2007 @ 2:56 pm

ReverbNation.com to begin paying musicians

By

reverbnation.jpgReverbNation.com announced that artists will receive 50% of the revenues generated by the advertising displayed on artist profile pages. The new program, dubbed “Fair Share”, is scheduled to launch July of 2007.

“Artists are searching for new ways to earn money in this rapidly changing business,” said Jed Carlson, Chief Marketing Officer. “The relationships artists have with their fans are valuable beyond simply selling songs or tickets. They just need ways to tap into the Band Equitytm they have built up with those fans. Sharing in ad revenue with sites like ours is one of those ways. ”

At the end of each month, half of the advertising revenue from ads across all artist profile pages will be put into a pool. That pool of money is divided among the artists participating in the Fair Share program based upon the proportion of site activity each artist generated for the month. Site activity includes things such as page view activity, song play activity, and fan activity. To qualify, artists must hold the copyrights (or permission from the rightful copyright owners) to all the content displayed on their profile pages.

Originally posted on May 10, 2007 @ 6:44 am

Planetwide Media, Lulu.com inks partnership with Comic Book Creator

By

cbclogoblank.jpgPlanetwide Media, a pioneer in interactive personalized media software and Lulu.com, an online marketplace where anyone can print and publish their user-generated content announced a strategic partnership and agreement enabling Comic Book Creator users to create and publish their personalized comic books, storybooks or yearbooks in a professional-looking physical book format using Lulu.com’s direct digital printing technology. Users will soon be able to log onto HyperComics.com to utilize the Planetwide Media’s Comic Book Creator software and then print and publish their authentic-looking comic book creations to Lulu.com.

“We are excited about this partnership with Planetwide Media,” said Rob Katz, Vice President of Sales and Business Development for Lulu.com. “Now, comic book creators can have their own personalized comic book printed and published using Lulu’s print-on-demand technology.”

“Have you ever dreamed of creating and publishing your own comic book? Stop dreaming and start creating,” said Kevin Donovan, President of Planetwide Media. “We couldn’t be happier with the strategic relationship with Lulu.com for being able to provide our customers-creators with Lulu’s direct digital printing technology. Comic book fans and creators will soon be able to publish their professional-grade comic books through Lulu.com.”

Originally posted on May 8, 2007 @ 11:45 am

Filed Under: Web

eBay wants StumbleUpon; Yahoo’s auction site stumbles

By

eBay is reportedly in talks to acquire StumbleUpon, a start-up that lets web users discover sites that may match their interests. The price? $75 million?

Meanwhile, Yahoo Inc. told its users that its North American web auction site will be retiring. A message posted on Yahoo’s auction site said that the service will not accept new lists starting June 3 this year. The last day to bid or buy goods and services will be on June 16. Yes, this year.

Originally posted on May 9, 2007 @ 4:26 pm