URGE on MTV

Whew.......... the URGE to write has re-EMERGED.... lol... corny I know.

If you rock with me frequently you know I am an impulsive writer. I ONLY write when I get the URGE to... other than that I don't really have much to share (as exhibited by my forced, non-informative entries), and I suck quite frankly (that $40,000 a yr education didn't help much I guess).

As my friends also may know on May 1st I moved from VH1 Production Management to MTV Networks Digital Media...URGE. Urge is a new Digital Music Service created by the folks over here at MTV Networks.

First and formost I am soooo lucky to be here right now.. (God is great : ). It is one blessing to get a new job in this market (NYC) and at this time in the industry (jobs are a lil scarce). On top of getting a job I have moved into an area that is new and emerging and I work for an AMAZING team of people!!!!!!!

URGE, MTV Networks Digital Music service launched on Wednesday May 17th, 2006. It is an amazing site powered by Windows Media 11 which has music, blogs, reviews, playlists, exclusives and other content from your favorite artists.

I was lucky because when I arrived at the office on Monday URGE was on my desktop waiting for me. I hesitantly clicked on the yellow and black icon and up popped an amazing site full of colors, pictures and OPTIONS.......so many options I didn't quite know what to do but I soon realized that I would just have to take it genre by genre, little by little to explore everything.

I am still exploring all my favorite artists....... digging up my old ones (remember SWV & Tony Toni Tone)..... and of course Old Skool & FUNK (George Clinton, Teena Marie, Debarge). Then there's still hip hop......... etc, etc, etc.

Now while doing my work and assisting some of the smartest, harworking, VP's & Directors here I can bump, twist, snap & shake to my favorite artists old & new. All I have to decide now is to keep listening at 2:00PM OR abort to listen to my girl Wendy Williams..........hahaha.


URGE Press:

D I G I T A L M U S I C N E W S
>online at digitalmusicnews.com

Daily Snapshot
Monday, May 15, 2006
Paul Resnikoff, Editor

MTV Readies Urge Music Store Launch This Week
After an almost interminable lead-up, MTV is finally preparing to deliver its Urge music store this week. The service, which debuts Wednesday, will come stuffed with content, playlists, radio stations, and exclusive programming. That includes dedicated artist profiles, features, and interviews, as well as music blogs. Throughout, the playlist stands supreme, and is threaded into almost every aspect of the offering. The store will be integrated within the upcoming, Windows Media Player 11, which will be available to XP users to correspond with the Urge unveiling.

Overall, MTV will position 2 million tracks across 18 genres, making its selection highly competitive with rivals like iTunes and Napster. Pricing will also be fairly standard. A-la-carte downloads, offered as protected WMAs, can be purchased for 99-cents each, while albums will often carry a
$9.95 tag. Interoperability could become a major issue for MTV, especially given the incompatibility of track downloads with the dominant iPod.
Meanwhile, Urge will also deliver an on-demand, subscription service for
$9.95 a month, and a portable subscription option for $14.95. Those models have received lukewarm reception so far, though MTV is expected to test the viability of the format with television tie-ins and volumes of cutting edge content.

Stay tuned for a complete, pre-launch review of Urge in tomorrow's Daily Snapshot.

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MTV to Launch Online Music Service (LAT)MTV Networks Inc., the cable network group that helped popularize music videos two decades ago, is entering the online music fray with Urge, a new service that makes its public beta debut Wednesday.

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This Morning's First Net News Breaking Headlines From All Access.com

MTV Joins Online Music Download Space With Debut Of "Urge"


MTV Joins Online Music Download Space With Debut Of "Urge"
Ready For Download
Beginning WEDNESDAY (5/17), MTV NETWORKS will enter the online music download world, competing against APPLE, REALNETWORKS, NAPSTER, and others, with the beta debut of "Urge". At launch, URGE will have more than 2 million tracks, which can be purchased individually at 99 cents or as full albums starting at around $9.95, which looks to be and identical structure to iTUNES. URGE will offer unlimited downloads at a monthly rate of $9.95, or $14.95 for the ability to transfer songs to any of more than 100 compatible portable music players. The service comes integrated into the newest version of MICROSOFT "Windows Media Player", which users can upgrade to at either the URGE or MICROSOFT sites. URGE will also feature streaming videos, with video downloads becoming available for purchase later this year. For more on this, just click here.

ã MTV Launches Online Music, Video Store
For years, MTV Networks Inc. sat on the sidelines while Apple Computer Inc., RealNetworks Inc. and others racked up sales of music downloads. Now the cable network group that helped popularize music videos two decades ago is entering the online music fray with URGE, a new service that makes its public beta debut on Wednesday. http://news.yahoo.com/