Today BUZZMEDIA (www.buzz-media.com), one of the fastest growing digital media companies, announced the acquisition of authentic, go-to punk rock sites Under The Gun Review, Alter The Press! and PropertyOfZack. These three sites will join forces with BUZZMEDIA’s AbsolutePunk (www.absolutepunk.net), the definitive source for punk rock news, and the also-acquired Punknews.org, and roll up under a new suite of online punk music properties titled AbsoluteVoices.

AbsolutePunk will serve as a central hub to the broader AbsoluteVoices publishing group, expanding its robust editorial offerings, while bringing a wider variety of perspectives and in-depth music coverage to its extensive reader base and fan community.

“AbsoluteVoices puts a spotlight on some of the most unique and up-and-coming voices in punk rock reporting and brings them to AbsolutePunk.net, which over the years has become the largest online gathering place for the punk rock fan community,” said Bill Jensen, BUZZMEDIA vice president and general manager of music. “Thirty years later, American youth still passionately identify with the intensity and forward-thinking music and style of punk.”

Each of the AbsoluteVoices properties brings a distinct point of view and reporting style to punk and alternative rock news coverage:

• Punknews.org, founded in 1998, is one of the pioneers in online music news and fan community-building around punk, ska, hardcore, emo, metal and indie genres;
• PropertyOfZack is the leading punk destination on Tumblr, and promotes the best known and breaking bands on the pop-punk spectrum through in-depth interviews, reviews and exclusive content;
• Alter The Press! is an online alternative music publication featuring exclusive video content including acoustic sessions and live recorded features; album and song streams;  and the latest news, interviews and reviews with today’s relevant artists;
• Under The Gun Review covers entertainment for today’s generation, expanding beyond alternative music to film and standup comedy.

“Through AbsoluteVoices, we’re bringing together four of the most exciting sites in the punk rock scene and helping them do what they do best: report on music in their own unique voices,” said Jason Tate, AbsolutePunk founder. “AbsolutePunk is the largest punk music destination on the Web, with an active community. These sites will now lend their distinct and authoritative voices to the conversation.”

“Punknews.org has always had a great relationship with BUZZMEDIA,” said Punknews.org founder and editor Aubin Paul. “They have worked hard to make sure we have everything we need to build great content and great communities while respecting and encouraging our independence. It couldn’t be a better fit.”

AbsolutePunk continues to be the leader in its category and, since 2000, has reported from the front lines of punk rock music discovery, being among the first to report about then-emerging acts including Blink 182, Yellowcard, Brand New, Something Corporate, Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance, Paramore, Fall Out Boy and Panic! at the Disco.

The acquisitions come on the heels of recent deals announced by BUZZMEDIA including the acquisition of SPIN Media. BUZZMEDIA’s existing suite of leading music properties establish them as the fourth largest digital publisher of original music content in the U.S. in terms of reach, alongside MTV, Yahoo! Music and AOL Music, according to comScore*.

*”Original Music Content” category as custom-defined by BUZZMEDIA. BUZZMEDIA defines an “original music content publisher” as a publisher within the comScore Entertainment-Music category who creates original digital content focused on music reporting and criticism. Ranking is based on May 2012 comScore data release.

About BUZZMEDIA
BUZZMEDIA is the leader in pop culture and millennial audience reach, reaching more than 30 million monthly unique visitors and one in four millennials in the U.S. every month. BUZZMEDIA publishes more than 40 authoritative brands whose voices define categories and culture, including SPIN, Celebuzz, Stereogum, Videogum, Buzznet, TheSuperficial, Idolator, PureVolume, Hype Machine, AbsolutePunk, What Would Tyler Durden Do?, SocialiteLife, Go Fug Yourself, Just Jared, Pink is the New Blog, Gorilla vs. Bear, RCRD LBL, TheFrisky, Concrete Loop, Brooklyn Vegan, Punknews and XLR8R. As measured by comScore, BUZZMEDIA is the largest digital publisher in entertainment news and the fourth largest digital publisher of original music content in the U.S. BUZZMEDIA uses its massive reach, deep audience engagement and understanding of the young adult audience to provide customized, innovative marketing and advertising solutions across its branded properties.

Media Contact:
Julie Nicholson, Weber Shandwick
(212) 445-8371
jnicholson@webershandwick.com

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — American Family Insurance is partnering with Alabama Shakes to present an exclusive “Dream Show” for music fans in Chicago on September 11, featuring a full headlining set from the band alongside two up-and-coming acts which were hand-picked by the band to share the bill. American Family (www.amfam.com) made the announcement today in association with BUZZMEDIA (www.buzz-media.com) and BrooklynVegan (www.brooklynvegan.com/chicago/).

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120710/NY37397LOGO )

American Family Insurance is offering fans the opportunity to experience the memorable evening. Starting today, music lovers 21 and over can RSVP for the free event by liking the American Family Insurance Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/amfam) to gain exclusive access to the triple-bill concert, taking place at Subterranean music venue in Wicker Park, Chicago.

“Dreams and the pursuit of dreams are an important part of all of our lives. American Family Insurance is dedicated to not only protecting dreams, but to inspiring people to pursue those dreams,” said Telisa Yancy, American Family Insurance’s advertising director. “Seeing a band at this level play for free in an intimate venue, that’s a dream for many music lovers. Alabama Shakes brings together music fans of all genres, and their selection of two of their favorite emerging bands furthers the dreams of other musicians who seek a similar level of achievement.”

Alabama Shakes was invited to personally select two breakout artists to share the stage: Doc Dailey and the Pollies both hail from the Shakes’ home state of Alabama and share a similar Americana sound.

“Doing what we love for a living is already a dream for us, but playing with friends and fellow musicians from Alabama is even better,” said Alabama Shakes front-woman Brittany Howard

The “Dream Show” is supported by BUZZMEDIA’s suite of leading music offerings including BrooklynVegan, Stereogum, and Idolator.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About the Alabama Shakes Dream Show powered by American Family Insurance
Only users who like American Family Insurance are eligible to enter. Space is limited. RSVP does not guarantee admission. This is a 21+ event. Twitter: #dreamshow

About American Family Insurance
Based in Madison, Wis., American Family Insurance offers auto insurance, homeowners insurance, life insurance, health insurance, business and farm/ranch insurance in 19 states. American Family Mutual Insurance Company is the nation’s third-largest mutual property/casualty insurance company. Web: www.amfam.com; Facebook: www.facebook.com/amfam; Twitter: www.twitter.com/amfam. YouTube: www.youtube.com/amfam.

About BUZZMEDIA
BUZZMEDIA is the leader in pop culture and millennial audience reach, with more than 120 million monthly unique visitors and one in four millennials in the U.S. every month. BUZZMEDIA publishes more than 40 authoritative brands whose voices define categories and culture, including SPIN, Celebuzz, Stereogum, Videogum, Buzznet, TheSuperficial, Idolator, PureVolume, Hype Machine, AbsolutePunk, What Would Tyler Durden Do?, SocialiteLife, Go Fug Yourself, Just Jared, Pink is the New Blog, Gorilla vs. Bear, RCRD LBL, TheFrisky!, Concrete Loop, Brooklyn Vegan and Punknews. As measured by comScore, BUZZMEDIA is the largest digital publisher in Entertainment News and the fourth largest digital publisher of original music content in the U.S. BUZZMEDIA uses its massive reach, deep audience engagement and understanding of the young adult audience to provide customized, innovative marketing and advertising solutions across its branded properties.

Media contact:
Julia Walker
(212) 231-7407
jwalker@buzz-media.com

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – BUZZMEDIA (www.buzz-media.com), one of the fastest growing digital media companies, today announced the hire of highly accomplished digital executive Stephen Hansen as president. In this role, Hansen will lead product and technology development, sales, marketing and management, and will report to BUZZMEDIA CEO Tyler Goldman.

“BUZZMEDIA is growing at a rapid rate and I can’t think of a better equipped person to join us at this time to help drive our business and bring essential operational expertise to the team,” said Goldman. “Credited with building some of the world’s leading organizations in finance, technology and entertainment, Steve is an exceptionally strategic thinker and perfectly positioned to steer BUZZMEDIA’s success as a premier next generation media company.”

Before joining BUZZMEDIA, Hansen served as president and chief operating officer of TrueCar, Inc., where he managed technology, product development, business intelligence, strategy and administration. He got his start at auditing firm KPMG where he ascended to partner before leaving to serve as a senior vice president at Universal Studios. Hansen joined GeoCities as COO in 1997 where he oversaw the online community through its IPO and subsequent $5 billion sale to Yahoo!. Joining BUZZMEDIA is the logical culmination of Hansen’s work to date, from Universal Studios to GeoCities to WePlay, the online community he founded in a joint venture between Creative Artists Agency and Major League Baseball to promote active, healthy lifestyles for kids through sports.

“BUZZMEDIA is delivering on the promises of a new media company that we have all envisioned since the early days of the Internet,” said Hansen. “The company supplies highly contextual media experiences that consumers and marketers demand across more than 40 top digital entertainment brands. While many have been talking about content, community, curation and culture, BUZZMEDIA is delivering 24/7 on this promise to more than 100 million consumers and I’m thrilled to be joining the team.”

Hansen joins several notable recent hires that support BUZZMEDIA’s continued growth, including Chief Information Officer Sunny Walia, previously vice president of engineering and operations at Demand Media; Senior Vice President of Integrated Marketing and Branded Entertainment Mike Praw, previously vice president at MediaLink; and Senior Vice President of International and Performance Sales Ross Cimino, previously head of performance sales and U.K. operations for Gorilla Nation.

About BUZZMEDIA

BUZZMEDIA is the leader in pop culture and millennial audience reach, reaching more than 30 million monthly unique visitors and one in four millennials in the U.S. every month. BUZZMEDIA publishes more than 40 authoritative brands whose voices define categories and culture, including SPIN, Celebuzz, Stereogum, Videogum, Buzznet, TheSuperficial, Idolator, PureVolume, Hype Machine, AbsolutePunk, What Would Tyler Durden Do?, SocialiteLife, Go Fug Yourself, Just Jared, Pink is the New Blog, Gorilla vs. Bear, RCRD LBL, TheFrisky, Concrete Loop, Brooklyn Vegan, Punknews and XLR8R. As measured by comScore, BUZZMEDIA is the largest digital publisher in entertainment news and the fourth largest digital publisher of original music content in the U.S. BUZZMEDIA uses its massive reach, deep audience engagement and understanding of the young adult audience to provide customized, innovative marketing and advertising solutions across its branded properties.

Media Contact:
Julie Nicholson, Weber Shandwick
(212) 445-8371
jnicholson@webershandwick.com

With its large portfolio of music and pop culture websites,Buzzmedia makes a natural home for its newest acquisition, except for one thing: It’s a print magazine. Specifically, it’s Spin, the 27-year-old title founded by Bob Guccione Jr., sold to Miller Publishing for $42 million in 1997, and then sold again, to the Hartle Media and the McEvoy Group, for $5 million, in 2006.

Now it’s changing hands again, becoming part of a family of blogs that includes Celebuzz, Idolator,Stereogum and The Frisky, among many others. Tyler Goldman, Buzzmedia’s CEO, won’t say what the purchase price is, but says, “This is the biggest acquisition we’ve done.”

Spin itself has withered somewhat since its heyday in the 1990s, when it was closely identified with the rise of alternative rock, but it still has a circulation of 350,000. Along the way, it’s also added a website with 1 million monthly uniques, a sophisticated iPad app and an events business.

Unlocking Spin.com’s potential is priority No. 1, says Goldman, whose sites now reach a combined total of 120 million unique visitors monthly. “There’s a lot of great content there that’s a little hard for the audience to get to,” he says. “We want to make it more accessible from a [user-interface] and product perspective.”

While Spin.com is “a little broader and more multi-genre” than the sites Buzzmedia already owns, it’s not a huge leap. The print magazine, on the other hand, marks a major new direction, one that few digital-only publishers would contemplate in 2012.

Goldman stops short of saying he’s committed to keeping Spin in print, suggesting that other options are at least on the table. “We believe print has a role,” he says. “We’re early on in defining what that role is relative to the other platforms.” -Forbes.com

BuzzMedia had more than 28 million monthly unique visitors across its 35-plus websites in April, good for 38^th on comScore’s list of top U.S. web properties. Its pop culture, music and celebrity brands, including Celebuzz!, GoFugYourself, Absolute Punk and The Superficial, attract a higher composition of 18-34-year-old visitors than Facebook, the company claims.

The six-year-old, venture-funded BuzzMedia has built its business through an “amplified” publishing strategy: deliver a high volume of original and curated content in digestible chunks, go heavy on photos, slide shows, video and audio, and search- and social-optimize to the max to draw in and engage with its target millennials – and the marketers who covet them. The company became profitable last year, CEO CEO Tyler Goldman said in a phone interview.

Goldman, a former sports attorney who’s developed a bit of a cult following on LinkedIn, defined the four key elements of BuzzMedia’s business.

1. Go after the big topics

Goldman believes the digital media audience mirrors traditional media – in other words, there’s a huge bell curve of interest around pop culture. Call this the anti-long tail approach to publishing, with sites dedicated to Kim Kardashian, celebrity news and gossip, indie music, and all things pop culture. BuzzMedia uses search and social to determine audience interests – and smothers those interests with content.

2. Focus on brands

Brands matter a lot for both audience and advertisers – and BuzzMedia aspires to have the top brands in each of the categories and sub-categories in which it plays. The company is growing its portfolio by both building and buying, as evidenced by last week’s acquisition of XLR8R, a site that covers electronic dance music and culture.

“If someone’s doing something well, we will look to acquire them,” Goldman said.

3. Program as deeply and contextually as possible

BuzzMedia has built a network of vertically organized properties, each with its own editorial teams, but with a centralized production system that provides content sharing across websites. “We invest heavily in original content against the topics we cover, but we get economies of scale by using that content across a large number of our properties,” said Goldman.

The key is a home-grown content management system that lets editors distribute contextually relevant content across multiple websites. Goldman said the company built its own because existing content management systems weren’t designed for the scale that BuzzMedia aspires to.

4. Create custom, non-linear solutions for advertisers

BuzzMedia’s emphasis on scalable, contextual publishing extends to its advertising programs. “We are building out ad solutions that fit well within the context of the editorial,” said Goldman. “We want to make ads meaningful within the sites to give marketers a much better chance of engaging our audience.”

Ad programs include custom advertorial and sponsorships that are integrated closely with editorial. A current program with Toyota provides an exclusive sponsorship on the “Fast Forward” section of The Hype Machine, an aggregation site covering music. A branded page includes custom playlists that echo key innovation themes around Toyata’s Prius brand.

“We want our advertisers to be able to speak to the audience in the way they’re used to being spoken to,” said Goldman. “Their messages should be a part of the natural conversation.”

Read more at eMediaVitals.com