SAN FRANCISCO (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) Microsoft, Federated Media and Superfly Productions teamed up at the recent Outside Lands in San Francisco to debut what they hope will become the latest trend in concert attendance – Internet living rooms.
Dubbed CrowdFire, the program provides festival-goers with an "experience room" set up in a tent and equipped with a colossal flat-panel monitor, streaming live from the main stage along with comfortable seating while providing fans with a space to check email, Facebook or MySpace pages, play video games or just chill.
Its not just a relaxation room though. Visitors are also enabled to upload digital photos, video and even audio from the festival to the CrowdFire website, where it is turned into a continuously-updating collage culled from event in what organizers hope will be a fusion of the social networking and festival scenes.
"It's basically just harvesting what everyone is already doing and creating a platform to allow them to do more with it," Federated chief executive John Battelle told the AFP.
The debut at Outland was something of a prototype but Federated Media has plans in works for similar efforts at festivals in Asia and Europe.
CrowdFire seemed to be a hit with the fans too.
"Sitting in that Microsoft living room was better than being at the show," festival attendee Keith McPhail told AFP "It was perfect; no one was blocking my view. The last 25 minutes of the (Tom) Petty set I sat on that couch, as comfortable as I could be." – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
