Tribune Interactive Partners With TomPetty.com to Launch Online Hub

CHICAGO, June 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Tribune Interactive announced today that it is partnering with rock music icons Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers' official website TomPetty.com (http://www.TomPetty.com) to launch a first-of-its-kind web hub designed to give their fans access to unique content, music, concert tickets and merchandise in select markets across the country. Visitors to the site can also play an exclusive "Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers" trivia game with a chance to win two front-row seats to the band's Oct. 1 show at the Hollywood Bowl, including airfare and hotel accommodations in Los Angeles.

"Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and their team have always been extremely forward looking in their desire to improve the online experience of the band's most loyal fans," said Dell Furano, CEO of Live Nation Merchandise, which administers TomPetty.com on behalf of the band. "This new partnership with Tribune Company allows us to use their offline and online assets including newspaper and TV properties to extend the band's fan base and engage many more of the millions of people who over the years have bought Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers' albums, merchandise and attend their concerts."

"This gives fans another way to get the music, learn more about the band's new album and tour, and maybe even wind up in the front-row at the Hollywood Bowl," said Tony Dimitriades, the band's longtime manager.

The site launches today, just days after the kick-off of the "MOJO" concert tour of 40 cities in the United States and Canada. Access to the Tom Petty hub is available through the main navigation bar of Tribune's newspaper and TV station web sites (see attached list of URLs).

"In a world of disposable artists, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers define the artistic standard we want to partner with and the kind of music we want to support," said Lee Abrams, Tribune's Chief Innovation Officer. "As MTV has faded and FM-radio has become more and more musically limited, there's no clear promotional vehicle for musical artists of this stature—we think we can offer a new and different way for the greats of the music industry to connect with their fans."

The Tom Petty site will have a unique look and feel, designed to stand apart from Tribune's other web sites. The site will be a landing page for aggregated and unique content related to the band and the "MOJO" tour; it will also feature tracks from the "MOJO" CD (available June 15), music videos and in select markets, concert tickets and tour merchandise.

The site will also offer an online trivia game, in which questions about the band, its members, music and videos are interspersed with facts about the career and popularity of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. Those who play the game have the opportunity to win two front-row seats to the band's Oct. 1 concert at the world famous Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, including airfare and hotel accommodations.

"The ability to offer our consumers a new Tom Petty experience and to provide Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers with a new distribution channel is exciting," said Marc Chase, Tribune Interactive president. "I've been looking forward to the launch ever since we began developing the site—for me, the waiting is the hardest part."

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers new album, "MOJO", will be released by Reprise Records on June 15. It is the group's first studio album in eight years. Rolling Stone Magazine senior writer David Fricke wrote of the album that it is "one of Petty's best ever with The Heartbreakers." The 2010 MOJO Tour of North America started June 1 in Denver, Colorado with two sold out shows at Red Rocks Amphitheater. Every ticket purchased for any concert on the "MOJO" tour comes with a download of the new album. Ticket buyers will also receive eight live tracks recorded during the "MOJO" tour.

TRIBUNE is one of the country's leading multimedia companies, operating businesses in publishing, interactive and broadcasting. In publishing, Tribune's leading daily newspapers include the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, Sun Sentinel (South Florida), Orlando Sentinel, Hartford Courant, The Morning Call and Daily Press. The company's broadcasting group operates 23 television stations, WGN America on national cable and Chicago's WGN-AM. Popular news and information websites complement Tribune's print and broadcast properties and extend the company's nationwide audience. At Tribune we take what we do seriously and with a great deal of pride. We also value the creative spirit and nurture a corporate culture that doesn't take itself too seriously.

SOURCE Tribune Interactive