FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GRAMMY WEBCAST AT GRAMMY.COM BRINGS A WORLDWIDE
AUDIENCE BACKSTAGE AT THE 40TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS
FOR 5 DAYS
Yahoo!, Ericsson, HP, Westwood
One, and N2K Join The
Recording Academy to Create the Largest Music Webcast Ever,
Culminating With Feb. 21-25 Live Coverage From Radio City
Music Hall
Feb 6, 1998 -- Santa Monica, CA -- The
4th GRAMMY Webcast,
expected to be the largest music webcast ever, was announced
today
by Michael Greene, President/CEO of The Recording Academy. With
The
Recording Academy creating and managing the production, The
GRAMMY Webcast includes several premier technology companies as
marketing and production partners, guaranteeing both a large
audience
and top-quality content. Grammy.com
will be promoted throughout the
Yahoo! network. Ericsson,
Hewlett-Packard Company, Westwood One,
and N2K round out the partnerships by providing key pieces of the
technology and resources.
"The GRAMMY Webcast has become the ultimate combination of
popular
music and innovative technology, allowing millions of people around
the
world to get a unique and exclusive view on the GRAMMYs,"
commented
Greene. "People from over 100 countries joined us on the internet
last
year, and this year is already shaping up to be a significantly
larger web
event."
Starting with an awareness campaign on grammy.com coinciding
with
the announcement of the GRAMMY Nominations last week, the GRAMMY
Webcast gains momentum in the mid-February time frame when
GRAMMY interest is the highest. On February 20, the live webcast
begins, coinciding with the first rehearsals from Radio City
Music
Hall. While the rehearsals are occurring, the Internet audience is
treated
to an exclusive interactive experience including:
Finally, on February 25, the day of the 40th GRAMMY Awards,
the
internet audience is expected to be at its peak with millions of
people
anticipating the awards presentation. During a 6-hour period, 92
awards
are given (the majority of them not seen on television) and
recording
artists are led backstage for post-award interviews. The Internet
audience gets to interact with the winners, ask questions, and get
a
completely unique point of view on the show.
Babyface, Hanson, Luciano Pavarotti, LeAnn Rimes, And Stevie
Wonder
are already confirmed as performers for this year's GRAMMY
Awards,
with Sting, Chris Rock, and Vince Gill being included among the
presenters. The GRAMMY Awards Show will be held at Radio City
Music
Hall in New York on Wednesday, February 25th, and will be telecast
live
over the CBS network from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m. E.T., and be seen by
an
international viewing audience of over 1.5 billion in over 190
countries.
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