Programming will play exclusively on Clear Channel Radio station Web sites and will be promoted online and on-air.
The program will feature hundreds of songs, available on-demand, from a range of genres including CHR/Top 40, rock, AC/soft rock, country and urban. Each quarter, 16 Featured Artists will have an artist-produced "home video", five streaming tracks and a link to the artist Web site. Fifty GarageBand.com artists will also have five streaming tracks, a photo, a bio and a link to the GarageBand.com site to provide more information. Additional signed artists will have a single streaming track, photo, bio and a Web-site link.
Featured Artists are selected based on discussions with record labels focusing on new talent. Labels bringing talent to the program already include Atlantic, Capitol, Columbia, Def Jam, Lava, Manhattan, RMG, Rounder, Sony/BMG, Virgin, Warner Bros. and Wind-Up. The partnership with GarageBand.com offers the Clear Channel Radio audience a additional access to unsigned artists.
"The Internet has emerged as an important way for music fans to discover new music and NEW! is a tremendous opportunity for both newly signed and unsigned artists to reach millions of music fans," said Evan Harrison, executive vice president of Clear Channel Radio and head of the company's Online Music & Radio unit.
The program expands Clear Channel Radio's support for new and emerging artists. Currently, new music is programmed on-air at the local level, by local program directors. Many stations now air shows devoted to new music, such as New York station Q104's "Out of the Box with Jonathan Clarke." The company had also previously created an online repository so that producers, agents and managers could hear the music of unsigned acts.
More details are available at www.clearchannelmusic.com/new.
Clear Channel Radio operates approximately 1,200 radio stations and its related websites attract nearly 10 million unique visitors per month.
- From a Clear Channel Radio Press Release
(The author wishes to disclose in a separate position he is an employee of Clear Channel.)
