(PR) GoAnimate.com, the online platform that enables everyone to create their own customizable animations, today announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Legacy Recordings (a Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division) to provide Willie Nelson fans the ability to create their own animated Willie adventures.This functionality is launched in tandem with today's release of Willie Nelson's album, Naked Willie, and enables users to include tracks from the new album – as well as Willie classics -- in their animations. GoAnimate.com also launched its new slideshow offering today, enabling users to upload their own photos into an automatically generated animated slideshow featuring cartoon Willie and his music.
Naked Willie, which is available at all physical and digital retail outlets today, is a 17-track collection of songs recorded by Willie Nelson between 1966-1970. In this collection, Willie and his longtime sidekick, harmonica player Mickey Raphael, set out to "un-produce" a series of tracks to retrieve the original sound and get back to their unmasked essence – to hear them naked. As a result, Naked Willie lays bare Willie's original vision of these songs for the first time. In honor of Willie achieving his creative vision, GoAnimate.com is now enabling everyone to express their own Willie-inspired creativity with Willie Nelson characters, scenes and music.
"Willie Nelson is one of the most prolific country artists of all times, and throughout his career he has remained extremely dedicated to his fans," said JJ Rosen, EVP Business Development, Commercial Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment. "NAKED WILLIE enables Willie's fans to experience his original vision for this collection of songs, and GoAnimate.com enables Willie's fans to celebrate that vision by pairing these songs with their own creative animations."
You Love Willie, But You Can't Draw – No Problem! Historically, the creation of animation required specific skills, limiting those who can express their creativity. GoAnimate.com's online application allows you to create animations without any drawing talent or the need for a technical understanding of advanced software programs. As a result, you can quickly and easily turn your love for Willie – with no need for drawing or technical ability – into your own customized Willie Nelson animations with just a few clicks.
With the GoAnimate platform, Willie Nelson fans will be able to animate several characters including Willie, Naked Willie, Super Willie, Mickey Raphael and a Talking Horse. With just a few clicks, these characters can be made to talk, sing, play the guitar or harmonica, dance, shoot pool, drink beer and much, much more. You can then pair these animations with your choice of classic or NAKED WILLIE songs, including:
* On the Road Again
* Always on My Mind
* Mama, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys
* I'm a Memory
* If You Could See What's Going Through My Mind
* The Local Memory
Once you've created your animation, GoAnimate's platform makes it simple to save and share your creations right from the site, including integration of both Gmail and Yahoo! Mail contacts, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Digg, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon and Reddit.
http://goanimate.com.
