United Entertainment Media Integrates Music Player Network

Posted on April 6, 2001

United Entertainment Media (UEM) has integrated MusicPlayer.com, a music internet portal, into the Music Player Network (MPN). MusicPlayer.com joins core print properties such as Guitar Player, Keyboard, Bass Player, MC2, GIG, EQ, and their companion websites. These publications and websites will join new titles such as Rumble, an edgier alternative for younger guitarists and bass players, and Extreme Groove, a magazine, radio show, and website dedicated to professional DJs and remixers.

``The Internet has a unique role for musicians, but truly fulfills its maximum potential as part of a group of related properties,'' states UEM CEO Paul Gallo. ``While MusicPlayer.com will continue to retain its own voice, we want to develop the collaborative editorial and commercial possibilities implicit in a fully integrated network of offline and online properties.''

Allen Wald, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Music Player Network adds, ``MusicPlayer.com extends the long-standing editorial integrity of our magazine group beyond the pages of our magazines, providing broader reach and deeper penetration into all the markets we serve. We believe this provides a distinct selling advantage for all our advertisers and a richer experience for our readers.''

The MusicPlayer.com editorial team remains in place, and expands into additional areas. As MusicPlayer.com Online Publisher Jon Chappell notes, ``We are already doing this with great success. Guitar Channel editor Andy Ellis works with both Guitar Player and MusicPlayer.com; Russ Reign is the editor for Extreme Groove and is a contributor to the DJ Channel, while Creative Director Craig Anderton also writes columns for many of the magazines. These alliances reinforce all aspects of the network.''

Changes in the site will be few but significant. More emphasis will be placed on the popular Expert Forums (including such luminaries as Grammy-Award-winning engineer Roger Nichols), and the underlying technology will be changed to more easily accommodate audio and video media. Other features, such as the News Updates and Classifieds, will be retained.

United Entertainment Media, Inc. produces magazines, books, websites, and tradeshows for musicians and the professional audio, video, and installation industries. The Music Player Network includes MusicPlayer.com, Guitar Player, Bass Player, Keyboard, Gig, MC2, Extreme Groove, Rumble, MusicGearOnline, Backbeat Books, and The Music Yellow Pages. The Entertainment Technology Network includes EQ, Pro Sound News, Surround Professional, Systems Contractor News, Medialine, Residential Systems, Videography, Government Video, Digital TV (Television Broadcast), Digital Cinema, AutoMedia, Car Sound & Performance, Tuner Shop, Government Video Technology Expo, Studio Business, and Surround 2001. United Entertainment Media, Inc. is an operating division of United Business Media Intl a wholly owned subsidiary of United Business Media, plc.