SEATTLE, WA. (Top40 Charts/ iLike) - iLike, the Web's leading social music service, and Keith Urban, the GRAMMY Award winning musician, songwriter and performer, today announced a multi-tiered, multi-month collaborative relationship. Keith Urban, whose Greatest Hits:18 Kids streets on November 20, will make an exclusive series of weekly videos, which will provide unique, behind-the-scenes access to Urban from the road. The videos will be made available to Urban's more than 300,000 fans on iLike, and syndicated across multiple websites including iLike's popular application on Facebook Platform, using iLike's Universal Artist Dashboard� and iCast� multi-media blogging tools. In return, iLike will promote Keith's tour dates on strategic locations throughout iLike.com and the iLike application on Facebook, as well as featuring Urban in a print advertising campaign.
'The Internet and services such as iLike are all about community and the ability to discover new artists, and music, through word of mouth,' said Urban. 'And the chance to share my music in order to expand that community is what it's all about; not to mention the relationship can be more immediate and direct with my audience.'
'We are delighted to be collaborating with Keith Urban, an artist with not just immense talent but also a passion for new technology,' said Ali Partovi, CEO of iLike. 'Our new Universal Artist Dashboard offers Keith a channel to reach the most fans with the least effort, with a syndicated presence on iLike, Facebook and beyond. We're delighted to collaborate with Keith Urban and our friends at Borman Entertainment to further our vision of giving every artist a channel to communicate directly with anybody who likes their music.'
The first in a series of exclusive Keith Urban videos will be shot and posted on Urban's iLike Artist Page (www.iLike.com/KeithUrban) on November 16 during an invitation-only fan and media event timed to correspond with Urban's Chicago tour date at Allstate Arena. A select group of iLike fans and members of Keith Urban's online community, Monkeyville, will be invited to attend Keith's Chicago concert as well as an intimate meet-and-greet in Keith's backstage lounge. The fans will film their experiences and post the resulting footage on Keith's online fan wall located on his iLike Artist Profile.
The Chicago event will be the first in an ongoing series of joint Keith Urban/iLike fan events timed to correspond with Urban's 2008 tour dates. Urban will also create a weekly series of intimate, raw videos in the coming months, which will be available exclusively on his iLike Artist Page (www.iLike.com/keithurban) and syndicated to users on Facebook and other iLike syndication channels following their preview for 24 hours on Urban's online members-only fan community, Monkeyville.
Exclusive Ticket Pre-Sale
To celebrate the launch of this on-going initiative, Keith Urban is offering a 30-day trial membership to his online community, Monkeyville, to fans who join Keith's iLike fanbase before December 16. By clicking 'iLike This Artist (Keith Urban),' these new trial members will be given the opportunity to purchase tickets to the 'Love, Pain & the whole crazy Carnival Ride Tour' before the general public. Members of Monkeyville also have exclusive access to behind-the-scenes photos, Keith's personal video blogs, Monkeyville message boards, members-only content, and more. To learn more or participate, visit: www.iLike.com/keithurban.
Post Once, Publish Everywhere
As the dominant music application on Facebook Platform, iLike's convenient Universal Artist Dashboard has already been broadly embraced by the music industry and over 150,000 artists. The Universal Artist Dashboard gives artists one automated control center from which to reach Facebook users as well as fans across many other sites, including iLike.com, Ask.com, desktop plug-ins for iTunes and Windows Media Player, and many more, including MySpace and Orkut, to come soon.
The leading artists who actively manage their presence on Facebook and beyond via iLike's Universal Artist Dashboard include hundreds of established, award-winning acts. In fact, every major artist in the world already has an active and highly-trafficked profile within the iLike application on Facebook, complete with songs, concert dates, news and fan communication tools.
Now just one year old, iLike is already one of the fastest growing music services in the world, with 15 million users worldwide and three million more being added monthly.
For more information about iLike Artist Services Platform, or to sign up as an artist, visit: www.iLike.com/forartists.
