OWL and Billboard Launch Landmark Concert Series

A free online live performance show that is a must-see event for music fans, has been long absent from the entertainment landscape. Launching October 29 and airing Thursdays live online from a different city, billboardlive.com will be the first live web concert series streamed in High Definition, allowing for a pristine viewing and listening experience.

Billboardlive.com utilizes OWL's state-of-the-art technology, powered by Microsoft Silverlight to provide fans with five-camera angles, where the viewer becomes the director for the ultimate interactive viewing experience. Instead of being confined to traditional static concert footage, fans will have the ability for the first time ever to view the concert from five different angles of their choosing. In addition to the larger, full-screen view, fans will see four smaller screens at the bottom of their computer. They can replace the main image at any time with any of those views for a different experience with just the click of their mouse. Each show will also highlight a specific Billboard chart of the week. At the same time they can Twitter and send live messages to their Facebook friends directly from the concert 5 camera player.

"The focus is all about musicianship. Most shows give artists three minutes to do their latest hit; billboardlive.com gives artists an opportunity to show what they do best without any restrictions. There's a lot more than their current hit that people want to see," says highly respected music industry veteran Ron Weisner, who is executive producer of billboardcom.live, along with OWL CEO Michael Williams and noted television producer Tzvi Small.

Through OWL's strategic alliances with Microsoft and the internationally divisions/distributors, billboardlive.com has a potential worldwide audience of millions of viewers per weekly episode.

"OWL has had a dream that some day technology would reunite live performances with their fans everywhere," Williams says. "Through OWL's hard work and determination, along with our alliance with Microsoft, HSP and Billboard, our long awaited dream will now become reality."

Additionally, billboardlive.com fills the giant void that currently exists in exposing new talent. While billboardlive.com will feature the biggest names, it will also highlight developing artists sometimes performing with the headliner or in their own sets. Billboardlive.com puts the act of musical discovery back into fans' hands.

Scheduled to perform on the series: R. Kelly, Alicia Keys, Usher and David Archuleta.

"Top-notch artists doing live concerts in this extraordinary innovative way is a fantastic opportunity for music fans," says Billboard publisher Howard Appelbaum. "It feeds into what our larger strategy is: bringing great unique content and letting people behind the velvet rope of the music industry."

In addition to the live concert, billboardlive.com will be including other exclusive elements, including rehearsal and behind-the-scenes footage, as well as interviews with the featured performer.

Fans can easily access the series by simply going to www.billboardlive.com and downloading Microsoft Silverlight and the OWL video player onto their computer at no charge.

Other alliances include Microsoft's MSN Music and Windows Media.com, which will push the series worldwide.

For OWL, bringing the future of entertainment to the music fans of today provides a means to enjoy their favorite artists in a whole new way. "Every number of years, there's a new technology that comes along and dictates how the content reaches people," Weisner says. "Billboardlive.com is the next giant step up."