The Latest News about Jammer Direct

Jammer Direct's BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:00:00 GMT

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

First off, we want to thank all of our members and viewers for helping Jammer Direct become one of the fastest growing internet social gateways in the world. We currently have over 226,000 registered members and last month over 4 million different people visited Jammer Direct and because of this we are being contacted by record labels, filmmakers, rising artists and advertisers to find out more about how they can partner with Jammer Direct as the site continues to evolve to become one of the top social networking websites for artist in all creative fields.
Now those opportunities can be met as Jammer Direct has partnered with an experienced marketing firm so that you, the Jammer, can take your “art”, be it music, filmmaking, painting, acting, to the next level.

Starting next week, and every Wednesday at noon, Jammer Direct will be presenting our own news & announcements (JamNouncements) video segment with our new Jammer spokesperson to keep you informed of all the great enhancements we have planned and implemented on the Jammer Direct website. Keeping with our mission statement, Jammer Direct will never have any large banner ads to interfere with the user experience.
Here's a short list of enhancements coming to Jammer Direct:

• More movies, films and music videos
• More interactive live events and concerts
• Merchant tools and a store to sell your songs and creations
• Jammer parties and check-ins at hotspots around the world
• Uploading your own videos for private/public view
• More audio streams separated by genres
• Access to movies and profiles on your iPhone, iPod, iPad, Blackberry and Android powered devices
• New templates and tools for creating and enhancing your profile

We have a new list of ways to reach us on our Contact page and we would love to hear from you. If you haven't registered to become a member or if you haven't completed your personal profile, we urge you to do so soon. Big things are coming to Jammer Direct and we want you to take advantage of everything we have to offer.
That's all for now and be sure to check out our video JamNouncements updated every Wednesday at noon. Thanks again for being part of Jammer Direct.

----- The Team at Jammer Direct

Jammer Direct Reviewed in KillerStartUps.com

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:01:00 GMT

Jammer Direct is featured on killerstartups.com. Here is an excerpt in their own words:
"Jammer Direct is a social site for artists. Period. It doesn’t matter the field of creativity or talent, this new resource makes room for everybody. Musicians, filmmakers, actors, visual artists, painters, dancers… all these can create an account on the site, and communicate directly with their punters, and also with their loved ones if they are touring any foreign territory in support of their latest work.

Also, the site is open to labels, agents, venues and vendors. The idea is to make things easier for everybody, and strengthen the creative scene around the world by giving artists a true spot for centralized interactions.

Signing up and creating your own personalized account is entirely free. And if you do it, you (like everybody else) will become eligible for the “Jammer of the Month” distinction. That is an honor that is bestowed on one user of the site each month, and the one who gets picked will have a true chance of gaining new fans and punters by being listed on the homepage for all to see and learn more about."

You can click here to read the article.

JammerStream Gadget Version 2.0 for Windows 7

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:42:00 GMT

JammerStreams 1 & 2 now have a new Windows 7 Gadget. The original from last year still works but this one is a much improved version. You can now switch between both streams as well as control the volume. This version is also updated by the site itself through feeds. What this means is that as we add more streams, they will automatically update in the new gadget. You can get the new JammerStream gadget by going to the JamExtras page on this site or by clicking here.

Jammer Direct now featured as search option in Bing video search

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:18:00 GMT

All Jammer Direct videos are now featured as a search option in Bing's video search. This is a privilege for JD as Bing recognises Jammer Direct as a major video resource on the internet based on traffic. As with all Bing video search results, you can mouse over the thumb of the video and get a preview. Thanks Bing! Google, YOU'RE NEXT!!!! Here is an example link on Bing based on a search for the term "jammer direct".

MSNBC takes Jammer Direct's Stance on Banner Advertising

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:52:00 GMT

Jammer Direct has vowed since it's inception in 2007 never to place banner ads on any page of jammerdirect.com while under current ownership for the exact reasons that MSNBC has just affirmed in their site redesign on June 28th. This is great news as more and more websites are concentrating more on content than lining the pockets of a few sales people selling a concept that DOES NOT WORK! Read the article from Media Week below:

MSNBC.com Puts on the Banner Ban
As part of major redesign, site won’t serve ad unit
June 27, 2010

-By Mike Shields

The banner isn’t dead, but MSNBC.com is doing its part to cut off the much-derided ad unit’s oxygen.

On Monday (June 28) the news site will roll out a sweeping redesign that encapsulates what publisher and general manager Charlie Tillinghast called “a major rethinking of what a news site is.” At the heart of that redesign is a philosophy that Web pages needn’t be text centric, and that Web ads should be large and not relegated to the periphery. “We don’t start with the premise that this is a newspaper online,” said Tillinghast. “In the past we’ve bolted on video and photos and commentary to text pages. Now all of those elements are equal.”

But even more radical is MSNBC.com’s decision to no longer serve banner ads, long the Web industry’s bread and butter. “The banner is dead on our site,” said Tillinghast. “They’ve become too commoditized,” particularly when they are served every time a user clicks to a new page, no matter how quickly they depart or whether they even see the whole page. But the new MSNBC.com is designed to be anti–page view to bring more content to the surface and require far less navigation by users.

“We looked at all the stuff we have,” said Ashley Wells, the site’s creative director. “Video, photos, comments, that stuff was all disparate. When you bring it all together on the page, you need to load things dynamically, it’s no longer about page views. But page views were always a proxy for ad impressions. So you have to figure something else out.”

Thus, Tillinghast said the site will only charge for ads that users actually see. And those ads—primarily premium oversized placements-—will be rotated to different slots on the new site, allowing for up to 30 different layouts to prevent user tune-out.

Ad industry execs—none of whom had seen the new site—embraced MSNBC’s new direction. “We need innovation in this space, so I’m thrilled,” said Lincoln Bjorkman, evp, executive creative director, Digitas. “If someone says they are going to stop running banners, the question is why? If people have told you by their activities or communications that they don’t like banners, that’s wonderful reason to stop doing that.”

Andrea Kerr Redniss, svp, managing director Optimedia, said that buyers, used to receiving tonnage impressions via banners, will have to adjust their thinking. But she called MSNBC’s approach ahead of its time.

“This is definitely where the industry is headed,” she said. “Hopefully a lot of other sites will follow suit.”

JamMedia and JammerFilm now in HD

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 07:02:00 GMT

JamMedia and Jammerfilm are now streaming in HD 720P using H.264 encoding. The videos are being re-encoded from the original master files as of this writing and should be completed by the end of the summer. As of 6/26/10 the video count is just over 1000 videos ranging from 5 minutes to 3 hours in length and showcases everything from Jammer Direct exclusive concerts to full length feature fims. As you may remember, Unsigned Live (Jammer Direct's live concert broadcasts from Piere's) were our first shows of any kind brought to you in HD. Now, in addition to our live broadcasts, we are now working to offer every video in 720P HD. A few examples of this can already be found by viewing Rip: A Remix Manifesto, Prey Alone,, Elephants Dream, and Home.

Jammer Direct featured on FindTheBest.com

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:47:00 GMT

Find a topic, compare your options, decide what's best for you. That's the motto of FindTheBest.com. Jammer Direct has been featured in FindTheBest.com in the Social Networking Section. You can check it out by going to this link: http://social-networking.findthebest.com/detail/88/Jammer-Direct. They've pulled all of the info from Alexa and other statistical websites including our member demographics. Really useful stuff! We highly recommend this site to get all the info you need on a variety of topics found on the web. They were extremely accurate with us!

You can also compare with other sites in the same category. Click here for a comparison between Jammer Direct & Reverbnation.

Below are our facts and demographics as researched by FindTheBest along with their information sources. This is to show how you can get this information on us or any other website you wish to view or even your own website for that matter!

Users
Number of Users: 100,000-250,000
Site Categories: Music
Available Languages:English

Registration
Minimum Age to Join: 18
Invitation Only: No
Additional Requirements: Valid E-mail Address

Profile
Profile Formatting:Partial customization of page layout, Standard text editing
Site Features:Photo Uploading, Private Message Sending, Public Message Posting, Video Uploading

Networking
Networking Features:Event/Activity Invites, File Sharing, Instant Messaging, Private Messages, Real-time updates from other users

Search
Search Options:Email Address, Gender, Interests, Keywords, Location, Name, Online Now
Site Features:Photo Uploading, Private Message Sending, Public Message Posting, Video Uploading

Key Demographics
People Per Month: 1,250,000
Female: 40%
Male: 60%
13-17 Years: 30%
18-34 Years: 40%
35+ Years: 30%
No College: 35%
College: 65%
Source: Quantcast.com

By Country
United States: 71.7%
Other: 28.9%
Source: Alexa.com

A Message to those listening to JammerStream on iPhone concerning AT&T's new data plans

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 23:53:00 GMT

Due to the fact that Jammer Direct has alot of listeners on JammerStream and JammerStream2 that come from mobile devices, particularly on the Android, Windows Mobile, and iPhone platforms, we must inform you of the effects this might have on those of you that use AT&T as a mobile service. This concern is particularly aimed at iPhone users who, according to our streaming statistics, average 57 minutes a day on JammerStream. Please take the following article into consideration when listening to ANY internet stream on an AT&T data phone.

From RadioSurvivor.com:
New AT&T data plans threaten to stunt the growth of mobile internet radio
June 6th, 2010 by Paul Riismandel in Internet radio, economics, mobile, mobile radio, satellite radio

Last week AT&T announced that new smartphone customers will no longer be eligible for the unlimited data plans that current customers enjoy. Instead, two somewhat less expensive plans will be available. For $15 new customers may download 200 MB of data per month, with a charge of $15 for every additional 200 GB over the limit. 2 GB per month will cost $25, plus another $10 for each 1 GB after that. Current data plan customers pay $30 for unlimited data. For its part AT&T says that either of these new plans provides enough data to satisfy 98% of their customers.

While it may be true that the vast majority of AT&T customers use less than 2 GB of data in a month, I would argue that’s because data-hungry mobile streaming media is just starting to take off. But the these new caps threaten to stunt that growth just as mobile internet radio is gaining steam.

The 200 MB of data offered by the least expensive plan covers only about 200 minutes of streaming stereo music at the common bitrate of 128kbps. And that’s without any other data usage for email, web browsing or anything else. Even listening to a lower-quality mono talk station at 32 kbps will only stretch listening to 800 minutes, or 13 hours.

The 2 GB plan will cover about 34 hours of stereo music and as much as 136 hours of low-bitrate mono talk. At first blush that seems like a fair amount of listening time, but how does it measure up against real-world radio listening? Someone whose commute lasts about an hour each way will easily listen to over 40 hours of radio in a month. If that commuter wants to use her iPhone or Blackberry to listen to Pandora, last.fm or another streaming music station she’ll be over her limit by the last week of the month.

Without access to hard statistics on how many hours the average mobile Pandora or last.fm user listens it’s hard to say for sure how many new AT&T customers are likely to be affected. However, I do think it’s fair to say that these limits will make many smartphone users cautious about how much time they’ll spend listening to internet radio on the go, especially in order to avoid overage fees.

Of course, AT&T is not the only wireless data carrier in the US. As long as you don’t have your heart set on an iPhone there are lots of other carriers to choose from who still offer unlimited data plans. But for how much longer? Computerworld quotes several analysts who predict that Verizon, the nation’s second largest carrier, will set caps in as soon as six months. While there may be some pricing competition on these plans, I’m guessing they’ll offer pretty similar amounts of data for prices that only vary by a few dollars a month.

With a cost between 75 cents and $4.50 and hour, listening to mobile internet radio on an AT&T smartphone starts to look pretty uncompetitive compared to traditional broadcast, which is free, or satellite radio which offers unlimited listening for $10 – $20 a month. While it may be inevitable that the days of unlimited data plans will come to an end, I hope that the metered pricing quickly becomes more reasonable, permitting a reasonable amount of streaming radio listening. If not, this vibrant new way of listening to radio might be stunted before it has a chance to blossom.

Jammer Direct invited to participate in Internet Week in New York City

Sat, 22 May 2010 08:04:00 GMT

Jammer Direct has been invited by the International Academy of Visual Arts to participate in this years Internet Week, held in New York City June 7-14. Internet Week is a week-long festival of events celebrating New York's thriving internet industry and community. The invitation was extended as a result of Jammer Direct being in the running for 3 Webby Awards this year as well as a Communicator Award. This is very flattering in that it is recognition that Jammer Direct is becoming a global entity.

About Internet Week:
Since 2008, Internet Week has taken place all over the city, thanks to our many partners hosting diverse events in different locations.The result is a critical mass of web-focused events that raises the profile of NYC's industry as a whole as well as the partners who participate.

Know Your Vote 2010 Begins July 5th

Sat, 22 May 2010 02:19:00 GMT

Know Your Vote 2010 officially kicks off on July 5th and will run up through November 4th. The 2008 Know Your Vote campaign went really well and, if you remember, we even got a few of the candidates on board and signing up as Jammers. This year we are going to make it a bit more interactive as this is a crucial step in the democratic process. A full press release will be out in a couple of weeks.