Everyone wishes they had seen Bruce Springsteen at The Main Point in Philadelphia or Elton John at the Troubadour in Los Angeles or Norah Jones at The Bitter End in New York City when they were just starting out. The fact is you have to be at the right place at the right time and if you live in a smaller market, you're probably out of luck. That's no longer true thanks to Blue Comet Cafe.



The Blue Comet Cafe(TM) is a virtual showcase club featuring on-the-verge recording artists videotaped performing live and presented in on demand video.

Our "Main Stage" artists already play the best traditional venues in the country, if not the world. We offer them a much larger audience and we offer music lovers a reliable place to go to find the best new music. New songs and interview segments are rotated regularly.

How large is that audience? Music sites get half a million visitors per minute worldwide. Young men are the most frequent online video viewers, but US Internet users of all ages are getting into the act.

That is the main finding of BurstMedia's "Online Insights" report, conducted in December 2007. BurstMedia found that more than seven out of 10 adult US Internet users surveyed had viewed online video content. A majority of all age segments had watched online videos, including more than half of respondents age 65 and older.

Young men were viewing most often. More than a third of the 18-to-24-year-old male online video viewers in the survey reported that they watched once a day or more.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project, which regularly publishes studies on usage trends, found in July 2007 that an impressive 57% of all online adults have watched or downloaded videos online (although in general, online video consumers are more likely to be men than women), with 19% doing so on a daily basis. Usage skews far higher among those with broadband Internet connections, as might be expected. Similarly, Pew found that younger adults, particularly those in the 18-to-29 age bracket, consume online video at a significantly higher rate, with 31% watching or downloading on a daily basis. In terms of content, news, comedy, music, educational content and animation/cartoons are the categories of choice,

Meanwhile, the Online Publishers Association (OPA), the trade organization for online content providers, released its "Frames of Reference" study on online video users in July 2007, finding that heavy online video viewers tend to be male, young and affluent (marketers take note). Internet users are spending nearly half their online time visiting content, a 37% increase in share of time from four years ago.

All of this online video consumption naturally lends itself to exposure to online video advertisements. In fact, the OPA found that 80% of online video viewers have seen online video ads, and that overall, 52% took some kind of action after seeing an ad. Actions included checking out the company Web site, searching for more information about the product featured in the advertisement, clicking the banner ad that accompanied the video, chatting up family and friends about the product and making a purchase. In other words, the OPA study would suggest that online video ads drive three primary types of actions ? searching for more information, spreading word-of-mouth (online or in person) and purchasing.

In March, we will introduce a social networking area where visitors, musicians, singer-songwriters, bands and fans will create their own profile pages, upload photos, bios and video clips. They will make friends, create groups and forums, and interact with like minded artists and fans worldwide.

We plan to periodically produce shoots where Blue Comet Cafe will videotape several artists for presentation on the Main Stage. The next shoot is tentatively planned for Los Angeles with Boston, Nashville, Austin and Toronto on the list of cities to visit.

How good is the talent? The best. The founders of Blue Comet Cafe both have long careers in the music industry and one, Larry Ahearn, has produced thousands of concerts and championed scores of emerging artists.

Starting at The Main Point in Bryn Mawr, PA., Larry booked, promoted and produced many of the now legendary shows that took place during its "golden years." Emerging artists appearing at the club during that period include: Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, Tom Waits, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, The Velvet Underground, John Denver, Jay Leno, Steve Martin and Billy Joel.

He moved into promoting at larger venues, first in Philadelphia and later at Avalon Attractions and PacifiConcerts in Los Angeles, producing hundreds of stadium and arena shows for every major touring act of the last 35 years. Now Larry is back to his first love, finding new talent.

The Cafe's other founder, Tom Crosthwaite, spend decades playing serious music. That led to a number of years spent producing and eventually to a stint running Intermedia Recording Studios in Boston with a clientele that included Aerosmith, The Cars, The J. Geils Band and Maurice Starr.

His success in Boston led him to Los Angeles and Magnolia Sound/The Enactron Truck whose clients included Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Quincy Jones and Diana Ross.

Together, they combine an eye for talent with the technology of the internet that make The Blue Comet Cafe the premier place to find new talent.