2006

In agreeing to acquire YouTube for $1.65 billion on Monday, Google is making a big bet that it can harness its considerable advertising expertise to turn YouTube’s vast collection of video content into a media gold mine.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt went further, saying that the deal marked “the next step in the revolution of the Internet.”

Top executives at both Google and YouTube likewise offered few details on what types of advertising they plan to jointly develop. In response to a question about whether YouTube will adopt pre-roll ads, the company’s founder and CEO Chad Hurley said they “will explore a lot of options,” without giving specifics.

In its deal with CBS, Hurley also pointed out that YouTube is introducing a new automated system for protecting intellectual property rights. It will allow media partners to identify and remove copyright-infringing material from the site. The system is also intended to assure marketers that their ads won’t be linked to pirated or otherwise inappropriate content.

See MediaPost for more details

Modest Mouse will play a host of live dates in Los Angeles, New York and London next month. The bad news? The band’s highly anticipated new Epic album, “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank,” has been bumped from its previously announced Dec. 19 release date to early next year.

A pre-sale is underway via the band’s Web site for four shows in Los Angeles, five more in New York and a one-off gig in London. These dates, which also include a previously announced Nov. 11 appearance at the Bang! Festival in Miami, will be Modest Mouse’s first with former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, who is now a full-time member of the band.

Marr also appears on “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank,” which is the follow-up to 2004’s breakthrough “Good News for People Who Love Bad News.”

Here are Modest Mouse’s tour dates:

Nov. 5: Los Angeles (Avalon)
Nov. 6: Los Angeles (Wiltern Theatre)

Nov. 7, 9: Anaheim, Calif. (The Grove)
Nov. 11: Miami (Bang! Festival)
Nov. 13: New York (Nokia Theatre)
Nov. 14-15: New York (Webster Hall)
Nov. 17-18: New York (Bowery Ballroom)
Nov. 21: London (Koko)

Source billboard.com.

After a lengthy auction stretching over two days, a federal bankruptcy judge on Friday approved the sale of California-based Tower Records to Great American Group, which plans to liquidate the music retailer.
After almost 30 hours of what attorneys described as “robust” and “vigorous” bidding, Great American won with a bid of $134.3 million, beating Trans World Entertainment, which had hoped to continue operating at least some Tower stores, by a single bid increment of $500,000.
Peter Gurfein, an attorney representing Tower Records, said the company will be sold for an aggregate of $150 million, including the sale of various leases and properties.
Gurfein said Great American plans to begin the liquidation process and going out of business sales on Saturday, which eventually will result in the elimination of the jobs of some 3,000 Tower employees.
“This is not an easy decision,” said bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon, who nevertheless noted that the Tower debtors and other parties had agreed the bidding process was conducted fairly and in good faith, resulting in a substantial premium for the debtors over Great American’s stalking horse bid of about $90 million.

For full story see pollstar

Legendary live performers Widespread Panic have announced the release of Earth to Atlanta November 14, 2006 on Sanctuary/ Widespread Records. The two DVD set was filmed at the kick off of this year’s Widespread Panic tour, set at the historical Fox Theatre in Atlanta. In a groundbreaking move, Widespread Panic simulcast the concert live to 115 Regal/Edwards/United Artists cinemas nationwide. For the first time ever, over 60,000 ticket holding fans across the country were given the ability to experience the evening live with Panic without actually having to travel to Atlanta.

A companion piece to Widespread Panic’s critically acclaimed 2006 CD release Earth to America, the set offers a unique visual counterpart to the recent studio album. Known for their prodigious live shows, the DVD’s were filmed in stunning High Definition/ 5.1 surround sound in order to capture every nuance of the Widespread Panic live performance. Overall the collection features 26 songs, including classic live versions of “Tall Boy,” “Travelin’ Man,” “Pigeons,” “Time Zones” and “Second Skin.”

In support of Badly Drawn Boy

Snoe.down ’07, the all ages, weekend winter music festival hosted by indie-jam rockers moe., returns to beautiful Lake Placid, N.Y., March 23-25, 2007. Snoe.down kicks off the week-long Adirondack Almost Springfest celebration, which will take place at all the 1980 Olympic venues in Lake Placid, N.Y., including the Olympic Center, home of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics, and at nearby Whiteface.

Friday and Saturday nights will feature moe. at the Olympic Center’s 1980 Rink Herb Brooks Arena. Additional bands will perform with moe. as well as at other venues throughout the weekend, including afternoons in the base lodge at Whiteface.

Fans will be able to take advantage of a myriad of Lake Placid winter activities. During the concerts fans will even have the option of ice skating while listening to the show! Other area activities include: Public bobsled and luge rocket rides (weather permitting), outdoor public speed skating (weather permitting), gondola rides to the top of Whiteface, toboggan rides and dog sled rides on Mirror Lake, ice climbing and winter mountaineering, tubing on Saranac Lake, visiting the Olympic ski jump towers and touring the 1932 & 1980 Winter Olympic Museum.

Performers for Snoe.down ’07 will be announced over the coming months.

For more detailed and continually updated Snoe.down information, please visit moe.org or greatnortheast.com . For detailed area information please visit whitefacelakeplacid.com