VIBE, MySpace and KickApps Search for The Next Great Rapper

Music Superstar Wyclef Jean to Choose Winner of ‘VIBE Verses 3’

NEW YORK, November 16, 2007 —VIBE Media Group launches VIBE Verses 3 today, an online, user-generated rap battle contest on the VIBE.com website.  The social media and viral video contest series is powered by KickApps’ hosted social media platform and will be promoted in collaboration with MySpace, the world’s most popular social network, to reach a broad audience of hip-hop and rap music fans. The contest is being held through the month of November at: http://www.vibeverses.com and www.myspace.com/hiphop. 

The VIBE Verses contest challenges aspiring rap artists to upload videos of themselves performing original lyrics over pre-selected music tracks. Finalists will be selected by votes from the VIBE Verses community and the winner will be chosen by acclaimed music artist Wyclef Jean. The winner will be given a full page ad in VIBE Magazine, and the opportunity to open for Wyclef at a live concert in Los Angeles on December 4th. MySpace will provide promotional support for the contest.

“VIBE Verses showcases undiscovered and emerging music talents,” said Steve Aaron, CEO, VIBE Media Group, “By teaming up with MySpace and KickApps, VIBE will provide aspiring rappers with exposure to a worldwide audience.  We’re also excited to be working with Wyclef Jean, who will choose the contest winner, in what should be the biggest and best VIBE Verses ever.” 

Today’s announcement follows on the success of VIBE Verses 1 and 2, which have collectively attracted more than 1 million unique visitors. Since the first contest debuted in May 2007, over 1000 videos have been uploaded, generating more than 2.5 million page views and over 700,000 audience votes cast.  So far, over 70,000 rappers and hip hop enthusiasts have created profiles in the VIBE Verses community.

“This is a perfect marriage for MySpace and VIBE on the Versus 3 rap battle contest,” said Josh Brooks, VP of Marketing and Content for MySpace. “VIBE is a pillar in hip-hop and this partnership will help solidify MySpace as the place online for established and developing hip-hop Artists. MySpace thrives on giving our 200,000,000 members the tools and opportunity to showcase artistic talent and the Verses 3 rap battle is a contest where our community can do just that.”

In the previous two contests, VIBE drove a great deal of participation by encouraging VIBE Verses community members to embed KickApps Widgets with their favorite videos into other social networks, such as MySpace. As a result, the VIBE Verses contest series represents a powerful example of how web publishers and marketers can partner with large social networking sites to spur growth, engagement, and profit within their own online communities.

“We’re very proud to have helped VIBE create a highly engaged community in the first two contests through the user-generated content powered by our platform,” said Alex Blum, CEO for KickApps. “Building successful online communities requires the right blend of context, technology, marketing, programming and management. The VIBE Verses campaign is yet another proof point of the potential impact social media can have for media and entertainment brands.  This collaboration with MySpace is a major step in how brands will begin integrating social media into their business models.”

About VIBE Media Group

The VIBE Media Group is a leading music/lifestyle media company that publishes the award-winning VIBE magazine, the preeminent brand in urban and music culture, which was founded by Quincy Jones in 1993. Additional VIBE Media Group properties include VIBE.com, a website that draws 1.4 MM unique visitors a month (Nielsen Netratings, May, 2007); Comcast’s VIBE Video-on-Demand channel; The VIBE Awards, and the wireless content service mVibe.

VIBE Media Group:
Carolyn Nurnberg/Rubenstein Communications
(212) 843-9316/ This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

About MySpace

MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular culture, and making a positive impact on the world. By integrating web profiles, blogs, instant messaging, e-mail, music streaming, music videos, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups, college communities, and member forums, MySpace has created a connected community. As the first ranked web domain in terms of page views(c), MySpace is the most widely-used and highly regarded site of its kind and is committed to providing the highest quality member experience. MySpace will continue to innovate with new features that allow its members to express their creativity and share their lives, both online and off. MySpace's international network includes 20 localized community sites in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Mexico, Australia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Denmark, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Austria, Japan and New Zealand. Fox Interactive Media is a division of News Corp. (NYSE:NWS).

*Among the top 2000 domains comScore Media Metrix, September 2007. For more information on comScore Networks, please go to http://www.comscore.com.

Roslynn Cobarrubias
(310) 969-7463 / This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

About KickApps

Selected by BusinessWeek readers as Best of the Web 2008, KickApps provides brands, enterprises and web publishers with solutions that enable social, interactive, dynamic, distributed and data-informed web experiences. KickApps solutions consist of a suite of hosted social and media applications and services that are used by some of the world’s largest websites and brands to grow & engage their online audiences and foster deeper relationships with customers. Clients include: Budget Travel, H&R Block, U2, CW Television, Guinness World Records, Special Olympics, HBO, Cinemax, Cox Television, the Phoenix Suns, the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers and thousands of other sites. For more information, visit www.kickapps.com and www.kickdeveloper.com.

KickApps Public Relations