New NPR music/jazz site

[ghost of miles]

Now up...

NPR jazz page

November 5, 2007; Washington, DC – From rock to jazz…classical to

urban…folk to world…NPR and NPR Member public radio stations,

on-air and

online, have been leaders in music discovery and arbiters of musical

tastes and artists. Today, NPR and 12 NPR Member stations recognized

for

music programming are launching *NPR Music*, a new, free, comprehensive

multimedia music discovery Web site. Featuring on-air and online

content

aggregated from NPR and the participating stations as well as

original-to-*NPR Music* materials such as interviews, reviews, blogs

and

live performances, www.NPR.org/music <http://www.npr.org/music> permits

users to explore, experience and enjoy all the music genres that are

found on public radio.

*NPR Music* is a collaboration between NPR and KEXP and KPLU Seattle;

KUT Austin; WBGO Newark; WDUQ Pittsburgh; WFUV and WNYC New York; WGBH

Boston; WGUC Cincinnati; WKSU/Folk Alley Kent, Ohio; WXPN Philadelphia;

and American Public Media/Minnesota Public Radio. All partners will

provide content including live concerts, studio sessions, features and

reviews. *NPR Music* also links to the live broadcast music streams of

all participating stations. Additional stations and producers will join

in the coming months.

Specific sections of the site are dedicated to rock/pop/folk,

classical, jazz/blues, world and urban music. In each genre, program and subject

area, users can explore NPR’s and the stations’ renowned music

journalism; intimate interviews and studio sessions with artists and

bands; NPR’s and stations’ popular national and regional web

concerts;

reviews and news; original blogs from critics, experts and artists; and

podcasts. The site culls from NPR’s and the stations’ extensive

music

archives to present thousands of features; at launch, the site’s

Artist

Index alone, an A to Z artist directory, offers content about more than

2000 performers. More than 200 new features will be added from NPR and

the stations monthly, joining thousands of hours of archived concert,

story, review and interview pieces.

*NPR Music* also offers original video and audio features. Along with

the Artist Index, some of the new elements are:

“Project Song” – a video feature challenging songwriters to write

and record an original song in two days at the NPR studios. The first

participant is songwriter Stephin Merritt, to be followed by indie band

Georgie James.

“Studio Sessions” – in-studio video performances recorded at NPR

and Member stations

“Discover Songs” – audio stories about, and recommendations for,

individual songs

“Music Lists” – five-song listening sets curated by musicians and

public

radio music personalities

The site also features two new blogs. The “All Songs Considered”

blog,

written by the weekly music show’s producers Bob Boilen and Robin

Hilton, goes behind the scenes. “Monitor Mix” offers music picks

and

industry news from writer and musician Carrie Brownstein, formerly of

the band Sleater-Kinney.

Coinciding with the launch of *NPR Music* is a media player exclusive

to

NPR, available across www.NPR.org <http://www.npr.org/> The player

allows users to create a playlist for video and audio (dating from 2004

to present) on the site and makes dynamic recommendations for related

content depending on a user’s selections. The playlist also offers

links

to NPR’s 24-hour stream and the NPR News Summary.

“Since its inception, public radio has played a vital public service

role in bringing all genres of music – and non-mainstream artists –

to

its listeners. The new *NPR Music* evolves the high-quality music

journalism, performance and presentation that have been the longtime

trademark of NPR, our 12 launch partners and public radio overall,”

said

Maria Thomas, Senior Vice President, NPR Digital Media. “With this

site,

we can serve millions of music fans through a content-rich single

destination that not only unifies the breadth of music programming

produced by influential public radio producers around the country, but

also acts as a launchpad for original audio, video and expert opinion.

“NPR and a strong network of public radio music stations have engaged

in

a variety of collaborative content projects over the past year that

were

well-received by listeners and served as the foundation for a larger

shared effort. The new *NPR Music* service is the latest expression of

that partnership and we’re delighted to be associated with these 12

station leaders.”

The *NPR Music* service enables partner stations and other NPR Member

stations to incorporate a variety of modular content offerings, including RSS feeds and Javascript modules, into their own Web sites.

[robviti]

one more good reason to contribute to your local public radio station. please?