PRESS RELEASE Contact: Tom Lagomarsino

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Tom Lagomarsino
Executive V.P., PianoDisc
[email protected]
O: (916) 567-9999; M: (916) 803-2659
Contact: Jarrod Radnich
Mastermind Studios
[email protected]
O: (800) 570-2310; M: (760) 534-3195
RELEASE DATE: January 24, 2013
NEW VIDEO INNOVATION REACHES THROUGH YOUTUBE TO PERFORM ON YOUR PIANO
-PIANODISC BEGINS “GAME CHANGING” MUSIC INNOVATIONSACRAMENTO, CA – Imagine that Google’s YouTube delivered not just high-quality HD video to your home,
but the magnificent sound and excitement of a live, in person, acoustic piano performance from your favorite
artist on your piano as well. Now imagine that not only was your piano playing live, but the concert was being
played on hundreds of thousands of other pianos around the world at the same time – all from a YouTube video.
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With an innovative approach from California-based companies Mastermind Studios and PianoDisc, imagination is
no longer required. The proof is in their launch of a new exclusive YouTube channel that, quite literally, plays the
piano live at the viewer’s location when they watch one of the channel’s YouTube videos or live streaming
events. Whether it is a Mason & Hamlin, Steinway, Bösendorfer, Yamaha, Fazioli, Young Chang, Kawai,
Samick, Baldwin, Pearl River, George Steck, or virtually any other acoustic piano brand with a PianoDisc iQ
Intelligent Player System installed in it, a user is able to literally see and hear the artist perform on the user’s
piano, at the user’s location – all from simply playing a YouTube video. Tom Lagomarsino, Executive Vice
President for PianoDisc, is energized about the innovation’s significance. “This one’s a game changer -- most
certainly for the PianoDisc customer experience, not to mention that the implications for sales and marketing,
social media integration, and education are truly astounding.”
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Just as importantly, pianists will be able to record and upload their own performances to YouTube to share with
other PianoDisc owners as every nuance of their performance is captured and reproduced on the viewer’s piano;
and if the pianist performs live with other instrumentalists, vocalists, or an accompaniment, the entire
performance will be reproduced, in perfect synchronization and full HD video, purely from playing the YouTube
video. Part of the system’s beauty is its simplicity. To the end-user, this brings a level of ease and amount of
content that until now is unheard of; and to the musician, this brings a level of accessibility far beyond that
previously available to even the most affluent and popular performers. And not only is one family able to
experience a performance personally in the comfort of their own home, but thanks to YouTube’s incredible
technology and wide-spread infrastructure, millions of other people and pianos can share in the experience at the
same time without the restrictions of substantial bandwidth and teams of on-site IT engineers.
“We literally were silent when we got this to work the first time,” explains Jarrod Radnich, President of
Mastermind Studios. “We all looked at each other and, after that inevitable pause, whispered, ‘Oh, wow…wow’ –
and then tried it another hundred or so times just to be sure.” The new YouTube channel bringing this
astounding capability to fruition, PianoTube LIVE, debuts today around the globe. The channel features live
demo-length YouTube videos that play PianoDisc equipped pianos that are connected to the Internet, and it also
includes videos that show the technology at work – for those who do not yet have PianoDisc systems installed on
their acoustic pianos. See http://www.youtube.com/user/pianotubelive Because the built-in versatility of PianoDisc’s system allows for data compression and works across a multitude
of formats, the data to reproduce a performance on a PianoDisc system will survive YouTube’s compression
algorithms, unlike some other well-known player piano systems that require a lossless and therefore
uncompressed codec. Several other obstacles were solved to allow the inclusion of full audio accompaniments, in
perfect synchronization, without the piano system misinterpreting the data. Regardless of bandwidth, the audio,
video, and piano always remain synchronized, and when YouTube introduces multi-channel audio that too will
enhance the multi-media experience.
The creators expect this innovation to foster a new and exciting online community where pianists, educators, and
music aficionados easily share live performances and ideas, receive and give feedback to each other, and
generally explore their piano performances and compositions in a vibrant, highly interactive, and exceedingly
exciting manner. “YouTube’s popularity is unrivaled for a reason – people like to put themselves and their
performances out to the world, and with this innovation they can do that on a scale not before possible,” explains
Lagomarsino. Garnering much recent attention for using interactive distance learning tools with PianoDisc and
Zenph’s Internet MIDI to provide coaching, including that for Miss America 1st runner-up, Miss South Carolina,
Ali Rogers, Radnich believes that the innovation will broaden the distance education base. “Speaking with my
educator’s hat on, if I am going to provide constructive critique I need more information than a video provides.
This system allows me to see exactly how the musician is handling the dampers on the strings, timings, velocities,
and durations, and I can review the performance any time it is convenient for me to do so. I especially like the
fact that educational institutions and performance venues don’t have to purchase a particular brand of piano to
give their students the advantage of this new world-wide exposure and access to other musicians.”
Already a veteran of long-distance performances, the Hi-Desert Cultural Center in Joshua Tree, California, who
co-hosted the first-of-its-kind transcontinental live remote piano concert in 2010 with the Music Center at
Strathmore in Bethesda Maryland (with Radnich performing in California to the Strathmore audience in
Maryland), plans to utilize this methodology to make its classical concert series performances available to other
venues, music schools, and universities and hopes to establish a network of educational venues where
collaboration is the key.
Lagomarsino concludes, “This new tool will help to reintroduce the splendor of live piano performance into more
people’s lives.” And with Radnich they both agree that “the Golden Era of the piano … has just begun.”
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PianoDisc manufactures the world's best-selling piano player system and other retrofit systems. Established in 1988,
PianoDisc has over 600 dealers and distributors in 40 countries. PianoDisc is headquartered in Sacramento, CA, and has
offices in Germany and China. It is a sister company of Mason & Hamlin pianos one of America's oldest names in piano
making and a pioneer in piano design and manufacturing technology. Mason & Hamlin builds its high-end, handmade
pianos in its factory in the USA (Haverhill, Mass.) and its line of vertical and grand pianos is sold in countries around the
globe. See www.pianodisc.com and www.masonhamlin.com
Mastermind Studios is a high-end music content creator for listeners, musicians, educators, cinema, gaming, and theater;
creates musically-related educational materials and programs; and supports music and the arts. Through his compositions
and acclaimed virtuosic piano solo performances, Mastermind Studios President, Jarrod Radnich, took the top position on
YouTube for piano performance, has garnered more than 80 million unique views on YouTube, Youku, and Soku, and has
been credited with “making the piano cool again.” See www.jarrodradnich.com
Hi-Desert Cultural Center is a non-profit educational and cultural arts center. The mission of the Hi-Desert Cultural
Center is to operate a Cultural Center that provides venues, support facilities, funding, promotion, leadership, innovation,
education, and other resources for programs and productions whose focus is on the aesthetic arts – including dramatic,
musical, visual, and other forms of artistic expression. See www.hidesertculturalcenter.com
Photo Caption: An acoustic piano equipped with a PianoDisc iQ Intelligent Player System plays a virtuosic piano
performance by Jarrod Radnich live on the piano, with perfectly synchronized video and audio accompaniment, when a
YouTube® video on the innovative new PianoTube LIVE! channel on YouTube is played.