Hard Rock offers access to historic memorabilia
The new Hard Rock memorabilia site is the first live website in the world to be powered by Microsoft Silverlight 2 with Deep Zoom. The technology enables music fans and web users to experience iconic music memorabilia in tremendous depth and quality, capturing a level of detail unseen at even the real-life artifact display. Users can magnify John Lennon's handwriting on the lyrics to "Imagine," the TV tuner knob that Bo Diddley re-purposed for his first hand-built guitar and the script from The Jonathan Winters Show -- where TV writers tried to censor the Lizard Kings' famous line in "Light my Fire" -- all from the ease of web access. The site also invites fans into the history behind each iconic piece, delivering the story of where wardrobe pieces were worn, instruments played or notes written in explicit detail. Users can view hundreds of pieces of legendary music paraphernalia sorted by featured artist name, genre, type, decade and location.
"Hard Rock is always looking for innovative ways to allow more fans to experience the rock 'n' roll history it represents," says Sean Dee, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Hard Rock International. "Hard Rock's memorabilia is extremely valuable and must be handled with extreme care, so we wanted to find a more practical way to bring the collection to a broader audience around the world. With Silverlight, we were able to build an application that allows us to make our collection accessible and highly interactive for millions of fans worldwide."
The Birth of Hard Rock Memorabilia
The birth of Hard Rock International's memorabilia collection is itself a part of music history. The collection began when Eric Clapton, a regular customer at the original Hard Rock Cafe London, asked the staff if he could hang his guitar on the wall to mark his favorite bar stool as "his spot." One week later a package from The Who's Pete Townshend arrived with a guitar and a note bearing the message, "Mine's as good as his! Love, Pete."
Since then, Hard Rock has procured more than 70,000 items, including guitars and other instruments, clothing and costumes, platinum and gold LPs, posters and album art and other rare artifacts displayed in Hard Rock Cafe, Hotel and Casino locations worldwide. The collection spans from Elvis Presley's 1976 Harley Davidson with custom blue and gold finish, a Jimi Hendrix Gibson Flying V guitar used on Rainbow Bridge, the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour Bus to Jim Morrison's famous brown leather pants worn at The Doors' 1968 show at the Hollywood Bowl and featured on the cover of the Absolutely Live album.
The Future of Hard Rock Memorabilia Site
Hundreds of memorabilia items are currently available on the interactive "shrine to rock 'n' roll" and will continue to grow and expand in content. The site will also introduce new features, such as text and photo commenting and the ability for visitors to create and share their own collections of items. The new virtual memorabilia collection will also allow users to share their favorite pieces of memorabilia or even their collections in a portable, interactive widget, powered by Microsoft Silverlight on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. This new technology will help Hard Rock to bring music history into the future. Users can access the site at memorabilia.hardrock.com or by logging on to hardrock.com and clicking "Memorabilia."
