BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Dec. 18, 2007 — Rihanna will have to wait until February to see if she takes home a Grammy, but Control Room and MSN today announced the R&B star has already beaten out her competition as the most-streamed performer on MSN Music in Concert in 2007. During the first week of the concert’s online broadcast, Rihanna’s live performance was streamed more than 1 million times and doubled streams for the following week, making it the most-streamed concert by any single artist on MSN Music in Concert for the year. The concert is available on MSN at http://music.msn.com/rihanna.
“We love working with artists like Rihanna because they can deliver an electrifying performance that ignites the audience creating an explosive live experience that resonates with fans watching online at home,” said Aaron Grosky, president of Control Room. “Control Room’s mission is to bring artists of this caliber and exclusive live performances to a worldwide audience.”
Best known for her No. 1 blockbuster single, “Umbrella” featuring Jay-Z, Rihanna had fans from across the globe accessing MSN Music in Concert to catch the star’s stadium performance from Montreal’s Bell Centre this Fall. In addition to “Umbrella,” Rihanna dazzled concertgoers and fans at home with hits “Pon de Replay,” “Unfaithful” and “Break it Off.”
“People are very enthusiastic about our Music in Concert series, and are particularly interested in mainstream artists like Rihanna,” said Reed Price, editor in chief, MSN Entertainment and Video. “Control Room’s excellent production values allow our online audience to experience the excitement of live performances by popular artists.”
In 2007, Control Room produced nearly 100 concerts exclusively online for MSN Music in Concert, including Jay-Z, Maroon 5, Avril Lavigne, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Pussycat Dolls, Fall Out Boy and many more. Music fans worldwide can experience the excitement of these live performances by accessing MSN Music in Concert at http://music.msn.com/inconcert.
About MSN Video
MSN Video is one of the largest free programmed video services on the Web, watched by more than 12 million unique users per month. In addition to streaming news, entertainment and sports video clips from more than 50 content partners including “The Today Show,” FOX Sports, MSNBC, Reveille, Control Room, CBS, News Corp. and Fox Entertainment Group, MSN Video presents a broad array of live events to online audiences worldwide. More than 50 top advertisers support MSN Video, which is available to consumers at no charge. MSN Video is available on the Web at http://msnvideo.com.
Overall, MSN attracts more than 465 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 42 markets and 21 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering Web services to consumers and online advertising opportunities to businesses worldwide. Most recently, MSN partnered with Control Room to stream Live Earth, the largest online entertainment event in history with over 62 million streams worldwide.
About Control Room
As the leading producer and distributor of world-class entertainment, Control Room’s live music programming showcases the world’s biggest artists from a variety of venues through multi-platform broadcasts via television, broadband and wireless platforms. Control Room has produced and distributed nearly 100 live music events delivering the highest quality productions in the industry with 8-10 camera shoots in Native HD (1080p) and using Dolby 5.1 to ensure the most compelling audience experience. In 2007, Control Room produced the largest entertainment event in history, Live Earth. On July 7, 2007, the 7-continent, 24-hour music extravaganza featured 150 of the world’s leading artists to raise awareness for the Climate Crisis with a message of solutions and personal responsibility.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.mspx.
