Taylor Swift to Introduce Video on Monday, February 13th at 7:54pm ET across MTV’s Channels in the US, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Australia, Asia and Africa and Sit for Exclusive Interview with MTV News on MTV.com; followed by Premieres on VH1 and CMT.
Viacom Music Group has partnered with Big Machine Records recording artist and 4-time Grammy® winner Taylor Swift for the simultaneous global premiere of her “Safe & Sound” music video featuring The Civil Wars – the first single from the highly anticipated film THE HUNGER GAMES – across its various TV and digital screens, including MTV, VH1 and CMT. The global partnership positions “Safe & Sound” to reach more than 600 million households around the world via MTV’s global network of more than 60 channels and over 300 digital media properties in 150+ territories. The video will debut on Monday, February 13th at 7:54pm EST on MTV during an MTV News special “MTV First: Taylor Swift,” and will also premiere simultaneously across MTV’s channels in Canada, Europe, Latin America, Australia, Asia and Africa.
The global event will air exclusively for fans across MTV’s channels and stream online in over 150 territories at TaylorSwift.MTV.com. In the US, “MTV First: Taylor Swift” will kick-off with Swift introducing the music video on-air before sitting for an exclusive 30-minute interview with MTV News’ Sway Calloway. Fans worldwide can begin submitting questions for Swift immediately via Twitter using the @MTVNews handle and hash-tags #AskTaylor and #MTVFirst.
CMT will premiere “Safe & Sound” at 8pm ET, the same time the music video will debut exclusively online at MTV.com, CMT.com, VH1.com and MTV’s International sites. The following morning VH1’s “Big Morning Buzz Live” will feature the video at 10 AM ET/PT telecast, as it goes into regular rotation across all video channels, including MTV, MTV Hits, mtvU, VH1, CMT and CMT Pure.
On the editorial front, Viacom Music Group’s various news organizations including MTV News, VH1 News, CMT News and NextMovie will provide fans with exclusive content, coverage and insight on the writing of the song, making of the music video and how the song fits thematically with THE HUNGER GAMES.
“We’re proud to be partnering with Taylor to introduce her new music video to our worldwide audience to every screen known to man or robot, while simultaneously providing multiple layers of editorial content and context,” said Van Toffler, President of Viacom Music & Logo Group. “This global premiere underscores our mission to connect artists and their fans through a content-first strategy.”
Produced by twelve-time Grammy® and Academy Award®-winning producer and songwriter T Bone Burnett, the companion album on which “Safe & Sound” will appear is set to feature all newly written and recorded songs, based on themes embodied in THE HUNGER GAMES, from some of music’s biggest and most acclaimed artists. The album will be released in advance of the film, which is in theaters everywhere March 23, 2012.
Big Machine Records recording artist Taylor Swift, a four-time Grammy® Award Winner, including the 2009 Grammy® for Album of the Year, collaborated with The Civil Wars and Burnett to write and perform the album’s lead single “Safe & Sound,” which was launched on iTunes on December 23rd. The song shot to the top ten on iTunes overall songs chart, and pop chart within twelve hours of its debut, and was the #1 song on iTunes the same day of its release. #Safeandsound became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter soon after Swift first tweeted the news of the single’s release. The single is available for purchase at: http://smarturl.it/taylorhungergames.
About THE HUNGER GAMES
Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the evil Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. A twisted punishment for a past uprising and an ongoing government intimidation tactic, The Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which “Tributes” must fight with one another until one survivor remains.
Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy. If she’s ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
THE HUNGER GAMES is directed by Gary Ross, and produced by Nina Jacobson’s Color Force in tandem with producer Jon Kilik. Suzanne Collins’ best-selling novel, the first in a trilogy published by Scholastic that has over 23.5 million copies in print in the United States alone, has developed a massive global following.
