NME Announces Partnership with MySpace for First Ever NME Awards U.S.

March 26, 2008, London -- NME – the longest-running and most famous music weekly in the world – today announced an exclusive partnership with the world’s leading social network, MySpace (myspace.com), to stream the first ever NME Awards US live from Los Angeles next month. In addition to streaming the awards, MySpace will also be presenting the Best Band of the Year award.

The hugely successful NME Awards UK – renowned as the most important and prestigious event for British fans of cutting-edge music – will be held in the US for the first time in Los Angeles at Goldenvoice’s historic El Rey Theatre on April 23, two days before the Coachella Music and Arts Festival begins.

MySpace will exclusively stream the invitation-only star-studded event, covering not only the Awards themselves but a string of unique live performances from a host of established and breakthrough artists.

"NME has been a leader in discovering and promoting new music for decades – their awards show has always been a legendary line-up of who’s who in music." says Josh Brooks, MySpace VP of Marketing and Content. "MySpace's partnership with NME is a reflection of our commitment to empowering up-and-coming artists to living legends with a vehicle to be heard. The MySpace webcast ensures that everyone around the world – not just the lucky few in the audience – will be talking about the show the next day."

Eleven categories have been opened for voting at the world’s fastest music news service nme.com and it is announced today more categories will be added including American Alternative/Indie Album of the Year (sponsored by ew.com, the award-winning online extension of Entertainment Weekly); Best New American Alternative/Indie Band, (sponsored by Yahoo! Music the global internet service provider) and Best Video (sponsored by leading broadband entertainment provider heavy.com).

Four other categories announced today and open for voting include Best American Alternative/Indie Live Act, Best New American Alternative/Indie Live Act, Best Film and Best TV Show.

EW.com managing editor Jay Woodruff says: “We are thrilled to sponsor Best Album of the Year and delighted to help welcome the NME Awards to America.”

Yahoo! Music managing editor Lyndsey Parker says: “Finally, after years of enviously reading all about the NME Awards festivities occurring way on the other side of the pond, Stateside indie fans are getting in on the fun! Yahoo! is thrilled to be part of this great moment in Anglo-American relations.”

Heavy.com VP, entertainment, Jimmy Jellinek says: “Heavy.com is thrilled to be an inaugural partner of the NME Awards US. For the world’s leading music magazine to team with the world largest men’s video site (15 million uniques a month) is a match made in rock n' roll heaven.

Winners will be voted for by NME.COM’s US audience across key categories, while others, including the famous Godlike Genius Award, will be chosen by NME’s editorial team.

The event, in association with Goldenvoice – part of leading sports and entertainment presenters AEG Worldwide – will be covered comprehensively on NME.COM. With 1.8 Million unique users, NME.COM is one of the world’s biggest music websites, and the fastest growing audience for its news and reviews is in the US.

The NME Awards Tour, which features Kate Nash, and is produced by Art Show Touring- a national touring division of Goldenvoice, kicks off in Atlanta on April 15, sweeps across US cities, ending in San Francisco on May 13. It also includes two Canadian dates – Toronto on April 28, and Vancouver on May 8.

NME publishing director Paul Cheal says: “The arrival of the awards in the US not only allows us to build on our amazing heritage, but also to bring our biggest live event to a US audience that is using NME.COM in ever greater numbers. It’s great news to have such powerful supporters to work with.”

The shortlist for all categories will be unveiled on April 7, online at nme.com.

About NME:
Published weekly since 1952, NME is the longest-running and most respected music magazine in the world, always providing its readers with the most exciting, incisive and authoritative coverage of the very best in contemporary music.

About NME.COM:
NME.COM has earned worldwide respect for its rock music news and features, which are updated around the clock. Launched in 1996, NME.COM is famous for its groundbreaking music news, breadth of reviews and in-depth features. The IPC Ignite website scooped the Best Music Magazine award for the second year in a row at the BT Digital Music Awards in October 2007, which remain the UK's only awards that are completely dedicated to digital music.

About the NME Awards:
Dating back to 1953 (a year after the launch of NME), the NME Awards is the most important annual event for British fans of cutting-edge music. Over the years, NME Awards events have hosted memorable performances from some of the biggest names in rock ‘n’ roll history, including: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Noel Gallagher of Oasis, New Order, Ian Brown and Primal Scream.

About Goldenvoice and AEG Worldwide:
Goldenvoice produces hundreds of concerts and festivals each year all over the US including Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Stagecoach, and the new All Points West Festival in NY. AEG Worldwide is one of the leading sports and entertainment presenters in the world. It owns or operates some of the world’s best arenas and theatres, numerous sports franchises including the Los Angeles Kings (NHL), The David Beckham Academy, and a collection of companies dedicated to producing, promoting and presenting world-class live entertainment.

About MySpace:
MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular culture, and making a positive impact on the world. By integrating web profiles, blogs, instant messaging, e-mail, music streaming, music videos, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups, college communities, and member forums, MySpace has created a connected community. As the first ranked web domain in terms of page views (*), MySpace is the most widely-used and highly regarded site of its kind and is committed to providing the highest quality member experience. MySpace will continue to innovate with new features that allow its members to express their creativity and share their lives, both online and off. MySpace’s international network includes localized community sites in the United States, France, Germany, Australia, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, Austria, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Japan, Sweden, Latin America, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Brazil and the United Kingdom. Fox Interactive Media is a division of News Corp.

Source: Time Warner

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