Festival Preview LLC announces the launch of a music festival news, opinion and community website serving “involved” festival-goers, those that attend multiple festivals each year. Demand for the site is indicated by soaring attendance in recent years at North American festivals of every musical genre. “Hanging with your friends and favorite entertainers at live music events is more than a hobby–it’s a lifestyle,” says Festival Preview founder and publisher Dan Ruby. “A community service like Festival Preview is a prime example of how the Internet can enrich people’s lives and give them more of what they want. Covering all music genres under five major headings for roots, rock, R&B, jazz and classical, Festival Preview assists festival goers to find and book festival adventures, plus get news, opinion and music from the events they attend or wish they had.” Leading festivals such as Monterey Jazz, Telluride Bluegrass, Newport Folk, and Mostly Mozart are long-established traditions, but many of the best-attended events such as Bonnaroo and Coachella have sprung up in the last several years. The jam-band rock movement is responsible for much of the increase, but festivals across all genres including reggae, blues, folk, bluegrass, jazz and chamber music are thriving. “Festival Preview is the place to find the music you love,” says Tim O’Brien, the 2006 Grammy-award winner for Best Folk Album. “Whether you want a jam or a string quartet, Festival Preview gives you virtual front-row seats and back-stage access. Festival Preview is the first door into your musical world.” In addition to articles by its own writers and contributors, Festival Preview employs an RSS news aggregator to collect the latest news about music festivals from across the Internet. It links to articles from more than 50 content feeds representing the best bloggers and music journalists covering every genre of music. Festival Preview has begun recruiting “festival ambassadors” and contributing bloggers from its list of the top 100 festivals in North America. Festival Preview launches with affiliate programs in place with Apple iTunes and Amazon.com for music downloads, CDs, and DVDs. It is also partnered with FestivaLink, a producer of festival recordings that promises to legitimize commerce in recorded live music. Festival Preview plans soon to become a channel for sales of festival tickets, gear, travel services and more and also offers a comprehensive catalog of music festival films available on DVD. “For every dollar spent on festival admission, festival-goers produce three or four times as much economic impact. We expect to help accelerate and participate in that economic engine,” Ruby said. “Festival Preview does a phenomenal job capturing the energy of our event and communicating it before, during and after the festival,” says Patrice O’Neill, co-producer of Wintergrass, a leading roots music festival in Tacoma WA. “Coming from the perspective of the serious music fan, Festival Preview’s coverage delivers deep musical knowledge with a voice of credibility.” The upcoming Wintergrass Festival will be held February 22-25, 2007, featuring Tim O’Brien and a lineup of top performers in progressive bluegrass. Today, in response to initial demand for advertising opportunities, Festival Preview announces a charter advertising program. Special introductory rates for charter ad positions are in effect until April 30, 2007, when a regular rate card will apply. Contact Festival Preview for further advertising information. Dan Ruby’s career spans three decades as a journalist, editor and publisher in consumer and technical publishing, and he has successfully created and managed numerous print and online publications that link special interest communities.
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