JazzPlanet.tv Delivers Detroit Jazz Festival To Worldwide Audience
DETROIT (WWJ) - Building upon a successful launch in 2010 that brought the Detroit Jazz Festival to more than 700,000 fans worldwide, PlanetNetworks.tv said new technology will now allow anyone with a smart phone to access live feeds from the festival by using JazzPlanet.tv.
JazzPlanet.tv is an interactive web experience that streams live and taped performances, news flashes, interviews and behind-the-scenes commentary. Last year, fans in 157 countries visited the site.
"People without laptops had to watch the programming from their homes or offices. Now, with the ability to watch JazzPlanet.tv from a smart phone, we are truly bringing the sights and sounds of the Detroit Jazz Festival to a global, mobile audience. People can literally watch it anywhere now," Sheldon Nueman, founder of PlanetNetworks.tv, said in a release.
The mission of JazzPlanet.tv is to showcase Detroit as an important center for American music, to provide a unique platform for musicians to showcase to the world and to reacquaint the mainstream with jazz through social media.
In partnership with PlanetNetworks.tv, Livestream.com and Detroit Public Television, the JazzPlanet.tv stage at Hart Plaza will stream via the web what is cool about the Detroit Jazz Festival and the city, in real time.
JazzPlanet.tv adds several new features this year including "Planet Afterhours" where viewers can enjoy a "virtual hang" at the jam sessions with world-renowned musicians at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center and "Jazz Planet University," which focuses on jazz education.
In addition to streaming live performances and interviews from the festival, JazzPlanet.tv will present the first-ever live video stream of the infamous Downbeat Blindfold Test. The Blindfold Test challenges an artist to identify and discuss the music and musicians on selected recordings. Hosted by Dan Ouellette, it will feature 2011 Detroit Jazz Festival artist in residence Jeff "Tain" Watts in the hot seat.
"Viewers all over the world will experience the 'hipness' of the world's largest free jazz festival, how it blends urban chic and an informed and diverse audience with some of the best music on the planet," festival director Terri Pontremoli said in a release.
The 32nd Annual Detroit Jazz Festival will be held this Labor Day weekend September 2-5 in downtown Detroit. With the theme "We Bring You the World," this year's event will honor the global melting pot in jazz, showcasing cross-cultural influences and artists from Japan, South Africa, Cuba, Israel, Brazil and northern Europe, as well as from the United States. Visit detroitjazzfest.com for more details.
Visit jazzplanet.tv to connect live to the Detroit Jazz Festival.
