R. Kelly, Alicia Keys, Usher are among the artists lined up to perform on billboardlive.com, a new internet concert series, launched Thursday (Oct. 29). The series will air live online on Thursdays, each from a different city, and will be streamed in high definition.
The venture is a partnership between Our World Live (OWL) and Billboard. Music industry veteran Ron Weisner, OWL CEO Michael Williams and television producer Tzvi Small will executive produce the series.
Billboardlive.com provides fans with five-camera angles, and users have the ability for to view the concert from five different angles of their choosing. In addition to the larger, full-screen view, fans will see four smaller screens at the bottom of their computer. They can replace the main image at any time with any of those views for a different experience with just the click of their mouse. Additionally, each show will highlight a specific Billboard chart of the week and users can Twitter and send live messages to their Facebook friends directly from the concert 5 camera player.
“The focus is all about musicianship. Most shows give artists three minutes to do their latest hit; billboardlive.com gives artists an opportunity to show what they do best without any restrictions. There’s a lot more than their current hit that people want to see,” said Weisner.
While Billboardlive.com will feature the music’s biggest names, it will also highlight developing artists sometimes performing with the headliner or in their own sets.
“Top-notch artists doing live concerts in this extraordinary innovative way is a fantastic opportunity for music fans,” says Billboard publisher Howard Appelbaum. “It feeds into what our larger strategy is: bringing great unique content and letting people behind the velvet rope of the music industry.”
In addition to the live concert, billboardlive.com will be including other exclusive elements, including rehearsal and behind-the-scenes footage, as well as interviews with the featured performer.
Users can access the series visiting billboardlive.com and downloading Microsoft Silverlight and the OWL video player at no charge.
Stay tuned….
Source: Billboard.com
