PLEASANTON, CA--(Marketwire - Jun 2, 2011) - Milyoni, the leader in F-commerce, today announced it is powering the first live Social Theater concert experience in the U.S. via the Facebook platform this summer. The concert, presented in conjunction with Austin City Limits Live's Stageside Productions, will feature iconic jam band Widespread Panic playing ACL Live at The Moody Theater on June 14 and 15 at 7pm CDT. Music fans can view the event in High-Definition from the Widespread Panic and Austin City Limits Live Facebook pages for 50 Facebook Credits, with PayPal as a preferred payment option.
Social networking is more than just another way to interact with friends -- it's a media and entertainment hub. This event provides an enhanced viewing experience for fans beyond traditional concert live-streams with HD video and on-demand access after the live event. Music fans can comment, chat and share the live concert experience with friends and family across the nation from within the concert's Facebook page -- bringing a new level of social interaction online. (See related announcement: "06.02.11 - Stageside Productions and Milyoni to Produce Live-Streaming Pay-Per-View Concert Via Facebook Platform Featuring Widespread Panic at Austin City Limits Live.")
"We are thrilled to offer a first-of-its kind live concert experience over Facebook," said John Corpus, CEO of Milyoni. "Social networking is truly enhancing how people communicate and enjoy music, making the world more connected than ever. We're taking it a step further by using Facebook and turning it into a shared experience. This concert gives music fans a chance to enjoy a terrific live music show and interact with other fans online, as if they were there together."
Milyoni's Social Theater is hosted within its Conversational Commerce™ solution and is built on an integrated platform, working with technology leaders including PayPal, Symantec and Adobe, as well as Kulabyte and Heroku:
- PayPal and Facebook are working together to offer fans the secure, fast way to pay for virtual tickets using Credits without leaving the Facebook platform.
- Symantec Corp provides security through its VeriSign® Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificates, which encrypts the user's transaction information to ensure the safe purchase of virtual tickets. Fans can rest assure that their transactions are safe when they see the VeriSign Trust Seal, the most recognized trust mark on the Internet.
- Adobe® provides the live streaming video that resides within Milyoni's Social Theater. Adobe Flash® technology offers fans a high-quality live concert experience that delivers seamless video streaming with high-definition sound. Milyoni is an early adopter of Adobe's Customer Experience Management (CEM) platform which strives to increase customers' engagement by delivering a compelling digital experience.
- Kulabyte provides live and cloud-based HD video encoding, transcoding and streaming for the concert.
- Heroku is the cloud application platform powering Milyoni Social Theater. The platform enables developers to deploy and scale powerful apps to the cloud within minutes. Heroku takes full responsibility for the app's health, always ensuring a great fan experience.
"Austin City Limits Live is excited to be working with Milyoni to stretch the boundaries of live music and technology to turn what would have been an amazing local concert into a national event," said Freddy Fletcher, partner, Austin City Limits Live and founder, Stageside Productions. "Widespread Panic has always had a strong following, with their open policy for fans to tape and trade their own concert experiences. Through the Facebook platform and this concert, we look forward to showcasing the venue and exposing the band to an even wider audience."
Leveraging Milyoni's Conversational Commerce Platform, Social Theater provides a way to enhance the overall concert experience and bring added value for companies. With over 500 million users and growing, Facebook is the key commerce platform for artists and brands to monetize their fan base.
Social Theater provides:
Viewers:
- High fidelity with high definition quality
- On Demand Access to the event after the performance
- Payment options: Facebook Credits or PayPal
- Social Engagement: ability to interact with friends, family and other fans before, during, and after the concert
- Social Shopping: ability to buy concert-related merchandise
Artists and entertainment companies:
- Social Merchandising: way to effectively promote the event and related merchandise to its fan base
- Facebook Store: a full-feature catalog and shopping cart application within Facebook
- Social Statistics: provide metrics about the concert community, which can be leveraged for the success of future events
To RSVP or pre-purchase access to the Widespread Panic Live at ACL concerts, visit Widespread Panic or ACL Live on Facebook.
ABOUT MILYONI
Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Milyoni, Inc. is the leader in F-commerce. The company's Conversational Commerce™ platform gives companies an easy way to connect and engage with fans, enhance their brands, sell products, and monetize fan pages and branded storefronts on Facebook. Milyoni's Social Shopping and Social Theater products reach over 80 million fans from industry leading customers, including Warner Brothers, HBO, The NBA, The Miami HEAT, Oklahoma University and more. For more information, visit www.milyoni.com.
ABOUTAUSTIN CITY LIMITSLIVE AT THE MOODY THEATER
Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater is a state-of-the-art, 2,750-person capacity live music venue that will also serve as the new home of the KLRU-TV produced PBS program Austin City Limits, the longest running music series in American television history. The venue will host 75-100 concerts a year, in addition to the nights the Austin City Limits show will tape. ACL Live at The Moody Theater, nestled next to the W Austin Hotel & Residences™, is the premier destination in Austin for live performances as well as private events and only one of two dedicated live music venues in the country built to USGBC LEED rated standards. www.acl-live.com. Follow us on Twitter @Acl_live and on Facebook at ACL Live.
ABOUT WIDESPREAD PANIC
After 25 years, Widespread Panic continue to be one of the top touring acts in the country, playing to packed houses, headlining festivals and setting attendance records at major venues throughout the US. Widespread Panic has released 11 studio albums and 10 live albums, selling over 3 million copies. To commemorate Widespread Panic's 25th Anniversary, the State of Georgia's Senate & House of Representatives each passed resolutions on February 15, 2011 to honor the group for their music, service, charity and longevity. http://www.widespreadpanic.com/
ABOUT STAGESIDE PRODUCTIONS
Stageside Productions is the in-house production company for ACL Live at The Moody Theater. The venue is fully equipped with an HD Broadcast production studio and 5.1 surround sound audio. Stageside brings real music to the world through global live streaming and film capture. Our goal is to provide a state of the art, intimate concert experience for fans across the world. From our living room to yours.
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