Billboard and Eventful Announce a New Way to Top the Charts

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Eventful, the leader in discovering and promoting local events, and Billboard, the world’s premiere music brand, have joined forces to offer the ‘Eventful Hottest Demand’ and the ‘Eventful Weekly Most in Demand’ charts, ranking performers who are most in Demand for live performances. The new charts from Eventful will be published on Billboard.com and will be announced today at the Billboard Touring Conference taking place at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York.

“For decades, fans and industry insiders have viewed the Billboard charts as the authoritative source on the hottest acts in music”

The Hottest Chart, updated every 30 minutes, is based on Eventful’s unique Demand service, which enables fans to Demand their favorite performers to appear in their town. The rankings are based on a proprietary algorithm, which includes frequency, currency and total number of Demands. The Weekly Chart ranks performers by the number of Demands they receive from 12:00 a.m. Sunday through 11:59 p.m. the following Sunday. It includes the current week’s ranking, last week’s ranking, number of weeks on the chart and highest overall rank. The charts will give Billboard visitors unparalleled insight into the live music preferences of Eventful’s young, entertainment-savvy audience of nearly 8 million registered users.

“For decades, fans and industry insiders have viewed the Billboard charts as the authoritative source on the hottest acts in music,” said Jordan Glazier, CEO at Eventful. “These latest charts take full advantage of the information available through Eventful Demand, which gives fans a way to influence where their favorite performers tour and also acts as a guide to assist performers in scheduling their tours. This is a great opportunity for us to work with Billboard, one of the most trusted sources in music news, and bring the knowledge and passion of Eventful’s avid fans to a wider audience.”

“Eventful’s Demand charts aggregate the opinions of millions of live music fans around the world in a way no other source of information does,” said Silvio Pietroluongo, Director of Charts for Billboard. “We’re always looking for new ways to illustrate trends in the music industry, and we’re excited to offer Billboard.com visitors these unique rankings of the most popular live performers.”

Launched today, Eventful’s Demand charts can be found at: http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/hotweb/eventful.jsp.

Eventful Demand has transformed the way tours are routed by enabling artists to make informed decisions about where to perform, based upon where they are most in Demand by their fans. Over 50,000 musicians use Eventful Demand to empower their fans to shape their tours. Along with MySpace, YouTube and iTunes, Eventful has become essential to the new online marketing toolkit that has redefined the business model for artists and their management.

Last month Eventful and Billboard also announced “The Fans’ Choice Award,” in which fans could decide which artist put on the best concert tour of 2008. Fans used Eventful Demand to vote for their favorite tour among five top finalists. The winner will be announced later today at the Billboard Touring Conference and Awards.

About Eventful, Inc.

San Diego-based Eventful, Inc. provides the leading service for discovering, sharing, promoting and creating local events throughout the world. Eventful’s community of users enjoy the world’s largest selection of local events taking place in markets across the globe, from concerts and sports to singles events and political rallies. Eventful provides multi-platform services to its users via www.eventful.com, email programs, mobile applications and content distributed through widgets and apps. Eventful’s unique Demand service empowers consumers to influence where their favorite performers appear. Over 50,000 performers use Eventful Demand to connect with their fans and determine where to tour. Visit Eventful at http://www.eventful.com.

About Billboard

Now in its 114th year, Billboard is the world's premier weekly music publication and a diverse digital, events, brand, content and data licensing platform. Billboard publishes the most trusted charts and offers unrivaled reporting about the latest music, video, gaming, media, digital and mobile entertainment issues and trends. Billboard magazine is the flagship property for the brand, which also consists of Billboard.biz, Billboard.com, Billboard en Español, Billboard Chart Alert, Billboard Information Network (BIN), Billboard Directories, Billboard Books, and Billboard Licensing & Events. Billboard’s many strategic partners include Microsoft, Reuters, Sirius Satellite Radio, Telemundo, ABC Radio Networks, AT&T, Sandisk and Billboard sister companies Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. These partnerships leverage Billboard’s proprietary data, charts and information resources to develop broadcast entertainment, digital and mobile platforms and contextual commerce applications that expand Billboard’s franchise and consumer reach. Billboard is published by the Entertainment Group at Nielsen Business Media, a part of The Nielsen Company, a global information and media company.