Capitol Records and Radiohead Create First Instant Message ``Buddy'' in Music History.Entertainment Editors NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--April 25, 2001 Record Label Partners With ActiveBuddy Inc. to Market Music and Interact With Fans Through Instant Messaging Exchanging text messages in real time between two or more people logged into a particular instant messaging (IM) service. Instant messaging is more interactive than e-mail because messages are sent immediately, whereas e-mail messages can be queued up in a mail server for seconds or ActiveBuddy Inc., the messaging industry's foremost provider of interactive agent technology, and Capitol Records Capitol Records is a major United States-based record label, owned by EMI, located in Hollywood, California. Its headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine. today announced an agreement to build branded interactive agents. Capitol Records will deploy the technology to promote its artists and new album releases beginning with a Radiohead-branded interactive agent. Capitol Records plans to launch the Radiohead agent as part of its global marketing campaign for "Amnesiac am·ne·si·ac n. One who is afflicted with amnesia. amnesiac (amnē´zēak), n a person affected by amnesia. ," the Grammy Award-winning band's fifth album, due for release on June 5. Through ActiveBuddy's technology, Radiohead will be the first band to provide exclusive Radiohead content directly to its fans through instant messaging. The Radiohead agent will be the most thorough and comprehensive source online and offline for accessing exclusive information and services related to the band and to the album. "The Radiohead custom buddy is a fun, new and compelling way to deliver exclusive Radiohead music and information to their fans," said Robin Bechtel, head of New Media for Capitol Records. "By doing it through instant messaging, which is already an incredibly popular way to communicate, fans can get information about their favorite band as easily as chatting with friends." In direct contrast to the band's notorious press shyness, Radiohead has long been one of the most proactive musical entities on the Web, especially in terms of fan outreach. Prior to the release of last year's platinum-plus Grammy-winning "KID A," band site Radiohead.com would feature spontaneous recording and tour diary entries, and even the occasional unannounced streaming audiovisual performances of new material. With the creation of the Radiohead interactive agent, the band once again takes advantage of technology to enhance and expand its relationship with its fans. The Radiohead agent will reside on a user's Instant Messenger AOL's instant messaging service. See AIM and instant messaging. buddy contact list. The agent will be able to recognize and respond to natural language questions and requests for information about the band and "Amnesiac." Tour dates, song lists, artists' bios, album credits, purchasing information, contact information, current Web-site information and other album-related material will be available. Capitol Records has also enlisted Radiohead's fans to determine what other content should be included. Additionally, the service will provide other entertainment-related content areas, such as music news and horoscopes. "Capitol Records is the first to benefit from using ActiveBuddy's custom-built interactive agent technology to market one of their artists through instant messaging," said Peter Levitan, chief executive officer of ActiveBuddy. "The Radiohead interactive agent is a great early example of how companies like Capitol Records can leverage IM to extend their relationships with their customers into the fastest-growing segment of the Internet." About ActiveBuddy ActiveBuddy develops and markets interactive agents that deliver a wide range of personalized per·son·al·ize tr.v. per·son·al·ized, per·son·al·iz·ing, per·son·al·iz·es 1. To take (a general remark or characterization) in a personal manner. 2. To attribute human or personal qualities to; personify. content and applications via PC-based instant messaging and wireless messaging platforms. ActiveBuddy(TM) interactive agent technology is designed for use by instant messaging networks, advertisers, the enterprise, and content and service providers across all platforms that support instant messaging. Founded in March 2000, ActiveBuddy is based in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of and Sunnyvale, Calif. Principal investors are Wit SoundView Ventures (Nasdaq:WITC WITC Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College ) and Reuters (Nasdaq:RTRSY). About Capitol Records New Media Capitol Records New Media, founded in 1993, creates and implements online marketing strategies, Web sites and enhanced CDs and DVDs for its artists. Early pioneers in Internet marketing See Internet advertising. , in 1994 Capitol Records New Media created the first Web-site destination called Megadeth Arizona, which won numerous awards and was the first Web site to garner major media attention. The department also broke new ground by developing the Web's first digital postcard See e-card. See also PC Postage. and first real-time chat room. The Capitol Records label site -- Hollywood and Vine -- was nominated "best music site" by Yahoo! Internet Life Yahoo! Internet Life was a monthly magazine published by Ziff-Davis, which licensed the name from Yahoo!, a well known search engine website. It was created and launched by Barry Golson, the former executive editor of Playboy and TV guide. and was called "one of the best music-related Web sites to be found" by the Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times Morning daily newspaper. Established in 1881, it was purchased and incorporated in 1884 by Harrison Gray Otis (1837–1917) under The Times-Mirror Co. (the hyphen was later dropped from the name). . Hollywood and Vine received more public recognition when it became the first major recording label to enter into the world of e-commerce by offering the sale of the first digital single for Capitol artist Duran Duran Duran Duran are an English pop group notable for a long series of popular singles and vivid music videos. They were the most commercially successful of the New Romantic bands and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States. . The department's innovative, worldwide campaign for Radiohead's "KID A" was credited with "helping the band scale new heights" by Inside.com. |
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