Here’s the full text of our press release announcing our partnership with Verizon, issued jointly this morning. (Download as PDF)

Next New Networks, Verizon Launch $99 Music Videos, the Web’s First Original Music Videos Network

Online Performances to Feature Emerging Musical Artists and Independent Filmmakers

New York – February 19, 2009 — Next New Networks and Verizon FiOS today announced the launch of a new online entertainment network, $99 Music Videos.

Verizon, the provider of the nation’s fastest broadband speeds through its FiOS Internet service, is joining forces with Next New Networks, the leading online television company, to showcase emerging bands and musical artists paired with talented filmmakers.

Today’s launch kicks off with an original video for La Strada, and upcoming guest talent includes Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard, Via Audio, Plushgun, The Depreciation Guild, Project Jenny, Project Jan, Lowry, Savoir Adore, and Frances. New videos will premiere every Thursday on the network’s website at 99dollarmusicvideos.com and distribution channels including YouTube, iTunes, and more.

$99 Music Videos gives musicians and filmmakers the opportunity to produce and broadcast high-quality original music videos for no more than $99. In addition to connecting great independent talent with new waves of potential fans, $99 Music Videos also appeals to a new generation of filmmakers by demonstrating innovative techniques to produce innovative music videos using limited resources.

The network was developed by pioneers in the music, television and online entertainment space including Fred Seibert, MTV’s original Creative Director, Felicia Williams, former Entertainment Content Manager at YouTube and Next New Networks’ Director of Creative Development, and the Series Creator and Executive Producer, Webby Award honored filmmaker Jack Ferry.

“$99 Music Videos stands for everything that’s exciting about web entertainment today in bringing together rising star bands, creative filmmaking, and a low-cost vibe to create original, fresh content,” said Fred Seibert, creative director and co-founder of Next New Networks. “I was there at the start of MTV and this has the same feeling all over again as we launch a popular new destination for music videos. Music videos are meant to be fun, fresh and authentic, and the $99 Music Videos format gives deserving artists the freedom to create while reaching out to new fans.”

Verizon has partnered with Next New Networks as the exclusive launch sponsor for the new network. Delivered on the nation’s most advanced fiber-optic network, Verizon’s FiOS Internet connection is the fastest available to U.S. consumers.

“$99 Music Videos network programs are a perfect match for FiOS Internet,” said John Wimsatt, senior vice president, Verizon marketing. “Our advanced fiber-optic network delivers the fastest broadband speeds and ultimate online music video experience straight to FiOS Internet customers’ homes. Verizon FiOS is all about letting people do more with their Internet connection, such as creating and enjoying high-quality video and making digital media part of their everyday lives.”

The Verizon campaign messaging, “$99 music videos are best experienced with Verizon FiOS Internet,” will boost viewer awareness around Verizon’s fiber-optic Internet service. The campaign will also include branded vignettes during each “making of” segment that offer a unique angle on the $99 creation process - the power of speed in the face of limited time.

In addition the campaign will include integrated branded sponsor elements within episodes detailing the making of each music video, as well as companion media placements and integrated sponsor graphics on the network website and distribution points such as the network’s YouTube channel. Next New Networks and Verizon will also work together in creative ways to promote the series through channels like Verizon’s Facebook fan page and communities on platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, MySpace and Flickr.

$99 Music Videos will feature different combinations of musicians and directors each week. Directors include Jack Ferry, Dan Meth, Ana Veselic, Kathleen Grace and Matthew Semel. The network will initially consist of two shows: a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the video, and the finished pieces themselves. Viewers will rate the videos as well as have the chance to submit their own $99 music videos, making the network a destination for bands and filmmakers to connect with each other and the independent music and film communities.

More information and links for the musicians and directors involved can be found at the network’s website: 99dollarmusicvideos.com.

About Next New Networks
Next New Networks is TV for the Internet. As the leading independent producer of online television networks Next New Networks creates, packages, brands, markets and syndicates some of the Web’s most popular regularly scheduled and episodic programming. Since its inception in March 2007, the company has launched sixteen networks, and its programming has been viewed more than 400 million times.

Hit programming from Next New Networks includes Channel Frederator (home of the popular series “Nite Fite”), Barely Political (the creators of Obama Girl), TMI Weekly (co-hosted by web celeb Julia Allison), daily auto news network Fast Lane Daily, DIY filmmaker network Indy Mogul, lifestyle network ThreadBanger, tech comedy network Barely Digital and your one-stop showcase of the cutest pets across the globe, Ultra Kawaii. The company, headquartered in New York, is privately owned, with investors including Spark Capital, Goldman Sachs and Velocity Interactive. For more information, please visit www.nextnewnetworks.com.

About Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America’s most reliable wireless network, serving more than 80 million customers nationwide. Verizon’s Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation’s most advanced fiber-optic network. A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of nearly 224,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of more than $97 billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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VERIZON’S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts, high-quality video and images, and other information are available at Verizon’s News Center on the World Wide Web at www.verizon.com/news. To receive news releases by e-mail, visit the News Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news releases.

Contacts:
LaunchSquad
Melissa Klein
415-625-8555
nnn@launchsquad.com

Verizon
Cliff Lee
518-396-1095
clifford.p.lee@verizon.com

I’m not sure everyone realizes how much the employees of Next New Networks risk their lives each day to bring the world the very best internet television programming. This video, shot today by our own Lee Rubenstein, shows some of the perils of working in Manhattan, where cranes loom omniously overhead.

We have a strong tradition here at Next New of celebrating co-worker’s birthdays with splendid cakes, rousing song, and bright beaming smiles. Perhaps the occasional bouquet, or gently packed bundle of chocolates, but the gift recieved by ThreadBanger’s own Rob Czar was most certainly our first … well … uh … just watch the video …

Yes, this is one birthday that I’m certain none of us will be able to cleanse our minds of for a good, long time.

Thanks to all the people who came out for last night’s Barely Digital / Next New Networks New Network Launch Party and made it a great success. It’s amazing what you can put together these days with a few well placed Twitter posts and a Facebook invite (and a little help and promotion from Social Media Week).

Rachel Sklar and Amber Lee Ettinger at Next New Networks’ Barely Digital launch party last night. Photo by Nick McGlynn.

A couple of great photographers were out, and here are a few shots from the night. Check out the full sets from Nick McGlynn and Jeff Donenfeld on Random Night Out, and Nick’s report on Guest of a Guest, for more.

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Making tech funny? Now that’s a reason to party. We’ve partnered up with Social Media Week to celebrate the launch of Barely Digital.

Come by and join just about everyone from Next New Networks to celebrate the launch of Barely Digital, our latest comedy network brought to you by the genius Barely Political team. Dance party starts at 7pm at M1:5 Lounge (On Walker between Broadway and Church, one block south of Canal St.)

For those attending or following along at home, we’ve set up a hash tag for twitter and flickr - #nnnparty
Or you can follow the events on Twitter - @barelydigital @nextnewnetworks

Hope to see you there!

-Michelle
@mdfsmash

After the horrendous snubs of “The Dark Knight” and “Gran Torino”, it’s pretty clear The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences doesn’t really care about the opinion of moviegoers.

But Indy Mogul’s Beyond The Trailer does!

That’s why BTT is having its own Oscar Vote. Head over to our website and vote for who YOU think deserves an Academy Award. If you think someone’s been overlooked, we also have a write-in section for each of the six main categories we’re covering: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director and Best Picture.

And yes, we even have swag! One voter will be randomly selected to win a brand new blu-ray player!

To help you cast your vote, over the next few weeks BTT’s Grace Randolph will be giving you a closer look at the nominees in each category. In fact the Best Picture profile just went up today:

And be sure to watch “Beyond The Trailer: The Audience Oscar Vote” on Sunday February 22nd for the results!

Today marked the, um, soft launch (apparently “beta” is dead) of Barely Digital, a new spinoff from the Barely Political team.

Here’s a bit from our press release (the full text of which is at the bottom of the post):

From the creative team behind Barely Political and the Obama Girl phenomenon, Barely Digital will showcase the same brand of satire, brought against the ripe target of the technology sector. Whether lampooning overexcited YouTube commenters or staging an intervention for a World of Warcraft addict, expect Barely Digital to cover gadgets, gaming, Obama’s BlackBerry, the elite digerati, Ask Jeeves and Web 4.0 like nobody’s business.

The network launched to coverage from The New York Times, where Brian Stelter credited Barely Political with helping “crystallize the view of [Barack Obama] as a pop culture figure” (awesome), NewTeeVee, who said, “these guys certainly do know how to rack up views on the web” (I love pulling selective quotes), Beet.tv, and AdRants, who warned us that “Justine Ezarik might have something to say about this.” (no way — we love iJustine!)

Creator Ben Relles will blog more here about all our plans for the network in the next day or two. In the meantime, please check out the first video, YouTube Comment Fight! — already the #1 Science & Technology video on YouTube today — and let us know what you think.

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Today in the office, we were riveted to multiple streams of coverage — NBC’s digital broadcast on the office HDTV (we don’t get cable) and many a laptop open to CNN/Facebook, Twitter, and our Tumblr dashboards (including the official inaugural tumblog). But now we’re all taking a cue from the new White House staff and are hard back at work.

Barely Political currently has the top two most viewed videos on YouTube today, as pictured above, with the great Obama + Obama Girl “Red States, Blue States” duet and its remix, though we fully expect to get bumped whenever Obama’s inaugural address appears on the site.

Amber had a great appearance on The O’Reilly Factor last night — these two should make it a weekly thing — they’re great together. Video embedded below.

The rest of us are hard at work on some upcoming network and show launches, but we’ll also have some videos from ThreadBanger in Washington later this week, and a whole lot more from the Barely Political team in D.C. Happy inauguration day, everyone.

I couldn’t afford to buy a ticket to Sundance.  So, I did the next best thing: Brought Sundance…to my apartment. This week we have a very special episode of The Best Short Films In The World featuring the filmmakers of the Sundance 2009 Film Festival.

In part 1 of our Sundance Film Festival 2009 Special, I sit down with Bryan Gaynor and Chadd Harbold of Last Pictures to discuss their Sundance-selected short film, “Asshole” starring Vice Magazine founder Gavin McInnes. I also interview Jessica Burstein, Robbie Norris, and Bartow Church of Dumb Bunny Productions in regards to their Sundance-selected short film, “Abbie Cancelled“. 

Check back later this week (January 22nd) to watch part 2 of our special! Featuring video FROM Sundance!

November has passed us by. It’s gone, never to return again. Most Novembers are perfectly normal … people go about their daily grinds, accomplishing the tasks before them, doing what needs to be done and then checking out.

Thanks to prodding of a few friends, however, this November was much more than the usual.

If you’re familiar with the “how-to” realm of online video, you’re probably aware of the silver-crested fox that is Bre Pettis. He created the wonderful Weekend Projects for Make Magazine, and has now moved onto some great stuff over at Etsy. I caught word from him of a new challenge, a new adventure, called “New In November,” the goal being to create a NEW video every weekday throughout the entire month.

Initially, I balked. EVERY WEEKDAY? Don’t these crazy fools know that I’m already making totally fun video already every day for work? How ridiculous to make MORE video when obviously my plate was already well-stocked with such things. I stuffed all that contradiction in the back of my mind and said yes. I would try this wild experiment.

Battling alongside me were Bill Cammack, Emmy award winning editor, and Clintus, a popular video blogger.

To keep things somewhat simple, I created rules for myself. The first rule being that from concept, to shooting, to final render, the video shouldn’t take longer than an hour. The second rule was that it should be fun. The third rule was … well, I guess I only had two rules.

It’s not like I need an excuse to make a video, but goshdarnit, having an excuse was fun! Shooting an interview with Justin from Muxtape (for WEPCtv) turned into a fun little watercooler skit with Rob from ThreadBanger. I profiled people at the office, I even burned the place down, in my final episode.

All in all, having that excuse, and the peer pressure of Bill, Bre, and Clintus lead to me creating a handful of fun clips that would have never existed otherwise, perhaps just to stew in my head and then flutter away without consequence.

For his month finale, Bill put together this great video showing some highlights from everyone. Enjoy, and maybe you’ll see round two next November!