UPDATE: SOCO MUSIC EXPERIENCE - TEMPE, AZ - CANCELLED

August 12, 2008, LOUISVILLE, KY – Southern Comfort has announced that the SoCo Music Experience scheduled to take place on Saturday, October 18, 2008 at Phoenix Municipal Stadium has been cancelled due to an unexpected escalation in production costs. At this time, there are no plans to reschedule the event this year.

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Southern Comfort has announced that it is partnering with several music and lifestyle sites to bring the SoCo Music Experience to the web in the form of custom episodic content. Music fans will get a taste of the music festival experience from the fans perspective mixed with live performances and interviews with the artists in clips produced by Pitchfork.tv, Heavy.com, My Damn Channel, Complex.com and Death + Taxes.

Check out Heavy.com's first webisode, "Anticipation".

"The SoCo Music Experience is in its fourth year and we felt it was time to take a fresher approach as a spirits brand by extending the event to millions of music fans digitally but in a different way," said Campbell Brown, Vice President, Director Southern Comfort Americas. "We're packaging the overall festival experience with interviews from both fans and performers and delivering the content in SoCo's brand voice."

The SoCo Music Experience festival tour is going to six markets with each event showcasing five national performers with five top local acts on two stages all for the low price of free*. An outdoor venue is transformed into the complete festival experience - food and beverage vendors, poster and t-shirt shop, the local record shop, merch tent, cornhole games, photobooths and the SoCo & Lime Dome, among other areas. The festivals are open to be people 21 and over.

Digital Partnerships

Pitchfork.tv - Episodes will feature behind the scenes footage, band and fan interviews and live performances. Viewers will get to learn how the performers came together as a group, as well as how groups of friends experience music together.

Heavy.com - Episodes will feature behind-the-scenes footage, band and fan interviews and live performances. Each four-minute episode will explore themes associated with SoCo's brand positioning and the artists that embody them. The Heavy.com partnership has already launched with episodes including "Anticipation," "Energy," "Magnetism" and "Character" featuring the SoCo Music Experience in Atlanta.

My Damn Channel - Twelve weeks of episodes of "My Damn Channel Music Nights" will feature music bars and clubs in New York and Los Angeles and on the SoCo Music Experience festival tour this summer. Starting in July, original content will be produced for a customized, co-branded channel presented by Grace Helbig, host of My Damn Channel's "Daily Grace."

Complex.com - The fashion/lifestyle site is building a comprehensive guide to select SoCo Music Experience festivals, including an original "Best of" Web Series about the event and host cities, emerging artist bios and live recordings.

Death + Taxes - The music magazine will be creating custom content for their site featuring behind the scenes footage, band and fan interviews and live performances.

"These sites provide us the opportunity to bring a Southern Comfort experience produced in a way their viewers are accustomed to watching video on their sites," said Brown. "It's a partnership in the truest sense of the word."

In addition to these partnerships, festival pre-roll videos will appear on Hulu.com, Billboard, UGO.com, Crave Online, PasteMagazine.com, Virb.com and numerous other music-focused sites.

"Not only have we increased our investment around talent and the experience, we are making a strong digital play for Southern Comfort increasing our spend in this area to 25% of the total media budget versus 5% the previous year," said Brown. "Our overall digital spend is up 300% versus last year, which give us a real opportunity to engage our target consumers with a meaningful SoCo experience."

Having already been to Atlanta and Denver, the event hits four more cities this summer. This year's performers have included Against Me!, Gnarls Barkley, Ghostland Observatory and Blonde Redhead, while The Roots, French DJ duo Justice, The Black Keys, MGMT are among those scheduled to play upcoming festival dates.

The SoCo Music Experience festival tour will hit the following cities this summer:

August 23, 2008 - San Diego, Ace Parking Lot, Petco Park
Featuring Common, The Black Keys, Kinky, Saul Williams, Grand Ole Party
*Note: a donation of $5 for the San Diego Music Foundation is requested

September 6, 2008 - Madison, Willow Island at Alliant Energy Center
Featuring The Roots, The Black Keys, GZA, Benevento Russo Duo, Ha Ha Tonka

September 13, 2008 - Saratoga/Albany, New Venue TBA
Featuring Justice, MGMT, Lotus, The Whigs and other acts TBA

CANCELLEDOctober 18, 2008 - Phoenix/Tempe, Phoenix Municipal Stadium
Talent TBACANCELLED

In its fourth year, past acts at the SoCo Music Experience have included Flaming Lips, Cold War Kids, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Spank Rock, The Roots, Architecture in Helsinki, GIRL TALK, Sick Puppies, Cypress Hill, Z-Trip, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Rose Hill Drive, Galactic, Delta Spirit, among others.

With the SoCo Music Experience, Southern Comfort continues to back great live music experiences in 2008, including the Voodoo Experience, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Lollapalooza, Forecastle Festival and countless other live music events.

For more information and continued updates about the SoCo Music Experience, please visit (restrictions may apply):

Southern Comfort Music Experience