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MySpace announces second annual ‘Rock for Darfur’ concert

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darfur.pngMySpace announced the second annual “Rock for Darfur,” a one-day philanthropic concert event created by MySpace to generate awareness and raise funds for the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Sudan.

On Saturday, Nov. 10, 37 pre-scheduled concerts will take place across four continents and showcase bands that share the common goal of promoting peace in the African region. Fans can show their support for the cause by attending one of the local concerts taking place world wide. MySpace has arranged for a portion of proceeds from each concert to be donated to Oxfam America, an international relief and development organization, and to the Save Darfur Coalition, an alliance of more than 180 faith-based, advocacy and human rights organizations, united together to help the people of Darfur.

Originally posted on October 30, 2007 @ 3:22 pm

MySpace signs music merchandise deal with Zazzle

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new media newsMySpace, the world’s most popular social network, announced today a music merchandise deal with Zazzle, the only on-demand retail platform to offer billions of retail quality, one-of a kind products shipped within 24 hours.

The distribution partnership will empower the more than 6 million musicians and bands on MySpace to sell unlimited music merchandise to the MySpace community instantly. It also underscores MySpace’s commitment to offer tools and services to the music industry that benefit artists and consumers alike.

With this new partnership, musicians and bands on MySpace will be able to create products and sell merchandise by putting the Zazzle Merch Booth widget on their MySpace profile.

This widget will also enable placement of the artist’s merchandise in a Zazzle gallery, their own websites, fan sites, blogs and more. MySpace users can also use Zazzle to create their own custom items for their favorite musicians and bands.

Musicians and bands on MySpace will be able to sell their merchandise direct from their own online Zazzle Merch Booth, and have it produced and shipped from Zazzle in one day. No upfront costs, fees or contracts are involved.

Originally posted on October 30, 2007 @ 3:34 am

MySpace launches “Roommates” web series

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MySpace announced the launch of an original scripted web series, Roommates, in collaboration with Iron Sink Media and sponsored by the 2008 Ford Focus. The first of 45 episodes goes live today on MySpaceTV with new episodes debuting each weekday at 1:00 pm PT/ 4:00 pm ET through December 21. Roommates is the company’s first co-development project and the first original web series created specifically for MySpaceTV.

Roommates is an original scripted web series that follows a group of eight former college roommates after graduation. The four main characters – Peyton, Violet, Heather, and Sigourney – move to Los Angeles where they are invited to participate in a “reality show” by living in a house wired with cameras and computers to document their every move. The series is a combination of raw and voyeuristic segments, confessionals, and college flashback footage, and allows old friends and romances of the main characters to address viewers interactively via video blogs.

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Originally posted on October 22, 2007 @ 7:20 am

Barack Obama next to participate in MySpace and MTV Presidential Dialogue Series

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obama1.pngMySpace and MTV announced that U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) will be the next participant in their Presidential Dialogue series. The Dialogue with Sen. Obama will take place October 29 at 1:30 pm ET/10:30 am PT on the campus of Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA and will be streamed live on MySpace, MTV’s ChooseOrLose.com and MTV Mobile, and exclusively premiere on air on MTV at 7 pm ET/PT that night. MTV News Correspondents Gideon Yago and Sway Calloway, as well as WashingtonPost.com political reporter Chris Cillizza, will serve as moderators. Industry-leading pollsters John McLaughlin and Geoffrey Garin will return to oversee the real-time polling data and questions submitted via MySpaceIM and Think.MTV.com.

The inaugural MySpace/MTV Presidential Dialogue, with former Senator John Edwards, reached a wide audience on-air, online and on mobile phones. Held last September 27, the event was broadcast live on MySpace and ChooseorLose.com, and since its online premiere, has been streamed approximately 350,000 times. The on-air broadcast (7-8 pm ET) was the top program for viewers aged 18-24 across all of cable for the time period, and was seen by a total of nearly two million viewers overall. Nearly 2,300 questions were submitted for Senator Edwards by online viewers during the course of the one hour Dialogue. Adding to its historical significance, the Dialogue with John Edwards was the first-ever Presidential forum to be broadcast live on mobile phones, via MTV Mobile.

The MySpace and MTV Dialogue series is the first in history to allow a national at home audience the opportunity to respond to candidate’s answers instantaneously – with that feedback piped back into the discussion and used to shape its direction – as well as the ability to pose questions in real-time, via MySpaceIM and ChooseOrLose.com. Throughout the event, online viewers can immediately register their approval or disapproval of a candidate’s responses via a revolutionary online polling tool, powered by Flektor (www.flektor.com), as they watch the Dialogue live. Instant results are displayed on the screen and viewers can compare their opinions to those of the entire community through a “popular vote” function. Poll results are available online live during each event and archived for future viewing.

Originally posted on October 18, 2007 @ 11:05 pm

MySpace, Skype announce partnership for a voice-connected community

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skype.pngMySpace and Skype announced a partnership to empower the MySpace community with voice communications. With more than 110 million monthly active MySpace users and 220 million Skype registered users around the world, this partnership connects two of the most popular communications platforms on the Internet to create the world’s largest online, voice-connected community.

The announcement unveils MySpaceIM with Skype, a new product that integrates MySpace’s popular IM client with Skype’s free, high-quality voice-calling capability. The partnership will also enable users to link their MySpace profiles and photos or avatars to their accounts on Skype. Both products will be available to users starting in November.

Financial terms of the MySpace and Skype deal were not disclosed.

Originally posted on October 17, 2007 @ 10:58 am