The Verve Music Group Launches New Web Site

The Verve Music Group Launches New Web Site

Label group unveils updated, interactive destination designed to build community

NEW YORK, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The Verve Music Group has announced its newly-launched web site, updated to include more interactivity, community building, and social networking among fans and listeners. The new site, http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/, is home to the Verve, Impulse!, Verve Forecast and GRP labels, and home to such artists as Brazilian Girls, John Coltrane, Jamie Cullum, Herbie Hancock, Diana Krall, Queen Latifah, Loreena McKennitt, Wayne Shorter and Susan Tedeschi.

Matt Fitz-Henry, who oversees Digital Marketing for the label group, envisions the new site as a destination where music fans can interact both with the vast catalog and with one another. The new site offers users the ability to create personalized pages where they can blog, upload images, and create playlists chosen from the Verve Music Group archives. Fans will be welcomed to an online community of like-minded music fans -- "not just an informational destination about the latest Verve Music Group releases," said Fitz-Henry. Visitors will also be able to add friends, rate records and comment about news posted to the site.

Some new sections added to the website include a dedicated mobile area where fans can purchase direct-to-phone mobile tones from the rapidly-growing catalog that already includes more than 800 master tones and full tracks from artists ranging from Nina Simone to Elvis Costello to Brazilian Girls and the Verve Remixed series. "This area is becoming more and more prevalent all the time," said Fitz-Henry. Verve will also add mobile wallpapers and themes in the future to expand its mobile offerings.

Another new function of the site is the ability to push content through RSS (Really Simple Syndication). "We want to make it as easy and accessible for fans to get information about their favorite Verve Music Group artists," Fitz-Henry said. For example, a Diana Krall aficionado can, in addition to registering for regular mailings or email alerts, now add Krall's RSS feed to their MyYahoo, Google or Feedburner account to receive news about Krall's recordings, news, and activities in real time as they're added to the site.

The site also features a new section called Charts. The section, which compiles rankings in real time, allows visitors to see what content on the site is most popular.

Over the next six weeks, Verve will continue to add content and features to the site, including a new on-line store from which fans can purchase both physical recordings as well as downloads. The site will also provide exclusive content such as video clips, podcasts, and a weekly blog from each of the Verve Music Group's label imprints.

The new website was developed by the Washington-based design and software company Microgroove (http://www.microgroove.com/).

The Verve Music Group

UMG owns the world's largest jazz recording company, The Verve Music Group, including the premier jazz label Verve, which focuses on traditional jazz; adult music label Verve Forecast; contemporary jazz label GRP; and Impulse!, which focuses on reissues of its famed catalog. Its unparalleled roster of current and catalog artists include Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Brazilian Girls, Michael Brecker, John Coltrane, Jamie Cullum, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Haden, Herbie Hancock, Billie Holiday, Diana Krall, Queen Latifah, Ledisi, Loreena McKennitt, Wayne Shorter, Nina Simone, Susan Tedeschi, and Lizz Wright.

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Source: The Verve Music Group

CONTACT: Regina Joskow of The Verve Music Group, +1-212-331-2053,
regina.joskow@umusic.com

Web site: http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment