JAMTV, Down Beat to Develop Jazz Website

Posted on January 12, 1999

JAMTV Corp. and Down Beat, a magazine for jazz, blues and other forms of roots and improvised music, have announced a joint venture to create Down Beat Jazz, a premier online destination for the jazz community. Down Beat Jazz will join the Rolling Stone Network, TheSource.com and Tunes.com as part of JAMTV's music hub strategy.

"Down Beat's pages have served as an oasis for the world's jazz community for 65 years," said Howard A. Tullman, chief executive officer of JAMTV. "The combination of the magazine's rich archives and our experience at creating dynamic, interactive music websites ensures that Down Beat Jazz will quickly become the online home for jazz lovers and musicians."

Under the terms of the exclusive, multi-year agreement, JAMTV will create, host and maintain Down Beat Jazz. Down Beat will provide original music news and columns, as well as archives of artist bios and photos, feature articles and record reviews from the magazine.

Down Beat Jazz will feature daily music news, background information on artists, concert/tour updates, and the opportunity to buy CDs, merchandise and concert tickets. The website will also give jazz fans and musicians the ability to directly interact with each other via chat rooms and message boards.

"JAMTV is the ideal media company to help us create the best place for jazz on the Internet," said Kevin Maher, Down Beat's publisher. "Their expertise in integrating an editorial brand with the power of the Web ensures that Down Beat Jazz won't be just an online version of the magazine. This year, as we celebrate our sixty-fifth anniversary as the pre-eminent jazz publication, we are making the next step in our editorial evolution by creating an interactive environment that brings musicians and jazz fans together -- a place that becomes the online voice of the jazz community."