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Vinyl Future of TV Vast Media

An inside look at HBO's weekly web magazine for 'Vinyl'

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By Henner Herwig Jürgens, Managing Director

February 11, 2016 | 4 min read

Henner Herwig Jürgens is the Managing Director and Cofounder of VAST MEDIA, a media research and consulting company based in Berlin that provides international television industry leaders with qualitative competitive market analysis of digital entertainment and content marketing.

On Valentine's Day, HBO will premiere its drama series "Vinyl", which is executive produced by Martin Scorsese, music legend Mick Jagger and Terence Winter. "Vinyl" takes viewers back to 1970s New York and is told through the eyes of a struggling record label president who is trying to survive in the sex- and drug-addled music business of the era. About two weeks prior to the series' debut, on February 3rd, HBO released a preview issue of 'Vinyl Cuts', a weekly web magazine designed to take viewers back to the music, fashion and New York of 1973.

'Vinyl Cuts' will be the viewers' weekly guide to "Vinyl." The preview issue, titled 'The Decade That Changed Music Forever', introduces users to the upcoming series and '70s NYC through photo galleries, videos and, of course, music. Users navigate the web magazine by scrolling up and down.

The issue opens with a short foreword by Terence Winter, one of "Vinyl's" Executive Producers, and a preview trailer of the series.

The second page features a video of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, who is also an Executive Producer of the show, talking about '70s New York City. It also provides viewers with an early glimpse of the drama.

An interactive map of 1973 NYC lets viewers explore the musical hotspots of the city. Users can click on the pins on the map or the names on the list to learn more about the famous music locations of the era.

The web magazine also includes a playlist of mood-setting hits of 1973 from the show's music supervisor Randall Poster. Users can either play the individual tracks or click the link at the bottom to be redirected to the full Spotify playlist.

To let viewers learn more about how the series was made, the preview issue features a behind-the-scenes video in which the producers, cast and crew of "Vinyl" talk about how they recreated the '70s.

In addition, the issue includes photo galleries that let viewers browse through iconic 1970s NYC Photos and go behind-the-scenes of "Vinyl". Instead of scrolling, users can also directly jump to a specific section by selecting it from the index at the beginning of the issue.

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Vinyl Future of TV Vast Media

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