MSN, Control Room Ready Jay-Z Performance Broadcast

Jay-Z may have shunned iTunes on this latest release, American Gangster, but the rapper is embracing other platforms. Apple refuses to offer album-only downloads, a stance that caused Jay-Z to pull his content from the iTunes Store. But live performance streams are less permanent and more promotional in nature, and that allowed MSN and Control Room to broker an upcoming broadcast.

On Tuesday, the duo will stream a Jay-Z show from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, the first date on a short, six-city tour. Diddy, Li'l Wayne, and Rock Boyz are also on the bill. "Control Room's mission is to bring artists of this caliber and exclusive live performances, like this one, to a worldwide audience," explained Aaron Grosky, president of Control Room. The performance is part of a larger, multi-year partnership between Control Room and MSN, a pact that first surfaced late last year. American Gangster was the best-selling album last week, though digital sales were predictably small.

The broadcast starts at 2 o'clock pm EST at music.msn.com/jayz.

Link to Digital Media News

Live Earth Internet streaming sets record: MSN

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Reuters) - The Live Earth global pop concerts on Saturday broke a record for an online entertainment show by generating more than 9 million Internet streams, Microsoft Corp. Web portal MSN said.

As the last two of the nine Live Earth concerts got underway, MSN product manager Karin Muskopf said the number of streams had surpassed the previous record held by 2005's Live 8 global concerts to fight poverty.

"We have exceeded any other online entertainment event," Muskopf said. "It's really exciting to see the enthusiasm for the concert."

An Internet stream is when a person watches on a computer. People can stream an event more than once -- by switching it on and off -- so 9 million streams does not necessarily mean 9 million people watching, MSN said.

Live 8 was the first major multi-venue event successfully streamed live with Time Warner Inc.'s AOL portal on the Web. AOL said 5 million people had logged on to the event on the day of those shows, but it did not say how many Internet streams of the event there had been.

MSN said it would not be able to immediately determine the number of people who logged on to Live Earth.

Control Room, producer of Live Earth and Live 8, said it found that the on-demand streams in the days after the Live 8 had the most impact, especially after clips were passed around by e-mail.

Live 8 was streamed by users more than 100 million times in the six weeks following the shows.

Live Earth is predicted to be three times bigger with organizers expecting more than 80 percent of the viewership will be on-demand in the days after the event.

Link to Reuters Article

Live Earth On MSN: Over 10 Million Streams, And Growing

AS OF MID-AFTERNOON Saturday, MSN reported more than 10 million video streams for the Live Earth concerts at www.liveearth.msn.com, which it said constituted "the most simultaneous viewers of any online concert ever." "We expect to see an even greater number of streams after the concerts are over as people return to watch their favorite performances or enjoy them for the first time if they missed the concerts live," said Joanne Bradford, corporate vice president and chief media officer, MSN..

Link to Promo Article