AOL Inc.

276px AOL logo featuring Eraser canvas.
Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: AOL
Industry	Internet Telecommunication Media
Founded	1983 as Control Video Corporation 1991 as America Online, Vienna, Virginia (Tysons Corner), U.S.[1] 2006 as AOL
Headquarters	New York City, U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Tim Armstrong (Chairman and CEO)
Revenue	US$ 2.417 billion (2010)[2]
Operating income	US$ -983 million (2010)[2]
Net income	US$ -783 million (2010)[2]
Total assets	US$ 2.962 billion (2010)[2]
Total equity	US$ 2.287 billion (2010)[2]
Employees	5,860 (2010)[2]
Website	AOL.com AOL.com Corporate site AOL Blog AOL Corporate Communications on Twitter AOL on Twitter AOL on Facebook

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL, previously known as America Online, written as "AOL" and stylized as "Aol." but commonly pronounced as an initialism) is an American global Internet services and media company.^[3][4] AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York.^[5][6] Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services.^[7] AOL is headquartered in New York City, but has many offices throughout cities in North America, such as Atlanta, Baltimore, Beverly Hills, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Dulles, Mountain View, Orlando, San Francisco, and Toronto. London and Tokyo are its foreign offices. As of December 2011, it serves 3.3 million paid subscribers.^{[citation needed]}

AOL is best known for its online software suite, also called AOL, that allowed customers to access the world's largest "walled garden" online community and eventually reach out to the Internet as a whole. At its prime, AOL's membership was over 30 million members worldwide,^[8] most of whom accessed the AOL service through the AOL software suite. The company has claimed that it had 34 million subscribers at its peak, although an undisclosed portion were using free hours.^[9]

In 2000 AOL and Time Warner merged under the name AOL Time Warner. The merger was not fruitful and on May 28, 2009, Time Warner announced that it would spin off AOL into a separate public company. The spinoff occurred on December 9, 2009,^[10] ending the eight-year relationship between the two companies.^[11]

History[link]

Major milestones[link]

With regional branches around the world, the former American "goliath among Internet service providers"^[8] once had more than 30 million subscribers^[8] on several continents. It ranked fourth (behind the Web, email, and graphic user interfaces) in a 2007 USA TODAY retrospective on the 25 events that shaped the first 25 years of the Internet^[12] and was named to the ".com 25" by a panel of Silicon Valley influencers on the occasion of the same anniversary.^[13]

In January 2000, AOL and Time Warner announced plans to merge, forming AOL Time Warner, Inc. The terms of the deal called for AOL shareholders to own 55% of the new, combined company. The deal closed on January 11, 2001. The new company was led by executives from AOL, SBI, and Time Warner. Gerald Levin, who had served as CEO of Time Warner, was CEO of the new company. Steve Case served as Chairman, J. Michael Kelly (from AOL) was the Chief Financial Officer, Robert W. Pittman (from AOL) and Dick Parsons (from Time Warner) served as Co-Chief Operating Officers.

AOL stock went from $226 billion in 2001 to about $20 billion in 2006.^[14]

As of June 2010, AOL's subscriber base dropped to 4.4 million.^[15]

An AOL subscription was rated the "Worst Tech Product of All Time" by PC World in 2006 who stated that it had the "stigma of being the online service for people who don't know any better".^[16] AOL was rated both one of the best and worst Internet suppliers in the UK, according to a poll by BBC Watchdog.^[17]

AOL ceased to be a part of Time Warner on December 9, 2009. The company declared an IPO on that day, under the stock symbol NYSE:AOL.^[18]

In February 2011, AOL purchased The Huffington Post for $315 million.^[19] Shortly after the acquisition was announced, Huffingtonpost.com co-founder Arianna Huffington assumed the role of President and Editor-in-Chief of The AOL Huffington Post Media group. Huffington replaced David Eun.^[20] She oversees the development of all editorial content from both companies including news, technology, music and local media websites.

1980s[link]

AOL began as a short-lived venture called Control Video Corporation (or CVC), founded by Bill von Meister. Its sole product was an online service called GameLine for the Atari 2600 video game console after von Meister's idea of buying music on demand was rejected by Warner Brothers.^[21] Subscribers bought a modem from the company for 49.95 USD and paid a one-time 15 USD setup fee. GameLine permitted subscribers to temporarily download games and keep track of high scores, at a cost of 1 USD per game. The telephone disconnected and the downloaded game would remain in GameLine's Master Module and playable until the user turned off the console or downloaded another game.

The original technical team was composed of Marc Seriff, Tom Ralston, Ken Huntsman, Janet Hunter, Dave Brown, Steve Trus, Ray Heinrich, Craig Dykstra, and Doug Coward.

In January 1983, Steve Case was hired as a marketing consultant for Control Video on the recommendation of his brother, investment banker Dan Case. In May 1983, Jim Kimsey became a manufacturing consultant for Control Video, which was near bankruptcy. Kimsey was brought in by his West Point friend Frank Caufield, an investor in the company.^[21] Von Meister quietly left the company in early 1985. Control Video was reorganized as Quantum Computer Services, Inc. on May 24, 1985, with Kimsey as Chief Executive Officer and Marc Seriff as Chief Technology Officer. Out of 100 employees from Control Video, only 10 remained in the new company.^[21] Case himself rose quickly through the ranks; Kimsey promoted him to vice-president of marketing not long after becoming CEO, and later promoted him further to executive vice-president in 1987. Kimsey soon began to groom Case to ascend to the rank of CEO, which he did when Kimsey retired in 1991.

Kimsey changed the company's strategy, and in 1985 launched a dedicated online service for Commodore 64 and 128 computers, originally called Quantum Link ("Q-Link" for short). The Quantum Link software was based on software licensed from PlayNet, Inc, (founded in 1983 by Howard Goldberg and Dave Panzl). In May 1988, Quantum and Apple launched AppleLink Personal Edition for Apple II and Macintosh computers. In August 1988, Quantum launched PC Link, a service for IBM-compatible PCs developed in a joint venture with the Tandy Corporation. After the company parted ways with Apple in October 1989, Quantum changed the service's name to America Online.^[22][23]

Steve Case positioned AOL as the online service for people unfamiliar with computers, in particular contrast to CompuServe, which had long served the technical community. The PlayNet system that AOL licensed was the first online service to require use of proprietary software, rather than a standard terminal program; as a result it was able to offer a graphical user interface (GUI) instead of command lines, and was well ahead of the competition in emphasizing communication among members as a feature.^{[citation needed]}

From the beginning, AOL included online games in its mix of products; many classic and casual games were included in the original PlayNet software system. In the early years of AOL the company introduced many innovative online interactive titles and games, including:

• Graphical chat environments Habitat (1986–1988) and Club Caribe (1988) from LucasArts.
• The first online interactive fiction series QuantumLink Serial by Tracy Reed (1988).
• Quantum Space, the first fully automated Play by email game (1989–1991).

1990s[link]

In February 1991 AOL for DOS was launched using a GeoWorks interface followed a year later by AOL for Windows. This coincided with growth in pay-based online services, like Prodigy, CompuServe, and GEnie. 1991 also saw the introduction of an original Dungeons & Dragons title called Neverwinter Nights from Stormfront Studios; it was the first Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) to depict the adventure with graphics instead of text.

AOL discontinued Q-Link and PC Link in the fall of 1994. In September 1993, AOL added USENET access to its features.^[24] This is commonly referred to as the "Eternal September". AOL quickly surpassed GEnie, and by the mid-1990s, it passed Prodigy (which for several years allowed AOL advertising) and CompuServe.

In particular was the Chat Room concept from PlayNet, as opposed to the previous paradigm of CB-style channels. Chat Rooms allowed a large group of people with similar interests to convene and hold conversations in real time, including:

• Private rooms – created by any user. Hold up to 23 people.
• Conference rooms – created with permission of AOL. Hold up to 48 people and often moderated.
• Auditoriums – created with permission of AOL. Consisted of a stage and an unlimited number of rows. What happened on the stage was viewable by everybody in the auditorium but what happened within individual rows, of up to 27 people, was viewable only by the people within those rows.^{[citation needed]}

Between 1990–94,^{[citation needed]} AOL launched services with the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, National Geographic, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, Pearson, Scholastic, ASCD, NSBA, NCTE, Discovery Networks, Turner Education Services (CNN Newsroom), National Public Radio, The Princeton Review, Stanley Kaplan, Barron's, Highlights for Kids, the US Department of Education, and many other education providers. AOL's offered the first real-time homework help service (the Teacher Pager—1990; prior to this, AOL provided homework help bulletin boards), the first service by kids, for kids (Kids Only Online, 1991), the first online service for parents (the Parents Information Network, 1991), the first online courses (1988), the first omnibus service for teachers (the Teachers' Information Network, 1990), the first online exhibit (Library of Congress, 1991), the first parental controls, and many other online education firsts.

The first chat room-based text role-playing game, Black Bayou. was introduced by AOL in 1996.

Originally, AOL charged its users an hourly fee, but in October 1996 this changed to a flat monthly rate of $19.95. During this time, AOL connections would be flooded with users trying to get on, and many canceled their accounts due to constant busy signals. A commercial featuring Steve Case telling people AOL was working day and night to fix the problem was made. Within three years, AOL's userbase grew to 10 million people. In 1995 AOL was headquartered at 8619 Westwood Center Drive in the Tysons Corner CDP in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia,^[25][26] near the Town of Vienna.^[27]

AOL was quickly running out of room in October 1996 for its network at the Fairfax County campus. In 1996,^{[citation needed]} AOL moved to 22000 AOL Way in Dulles, unincorporated Loudoun County, Virginia.^[28] The move to Dulles took place in mid-1996 and provided room for future growth. In a five year landmark agreement with the most popular operating system, AOL was bundled with Windows software.^{[citation needed]}

On March 31, 1997, the short-lived eWorld was purchased by AOL.

2000s[link]

In January 2000, AOL and Time Warner announced plans to merge. The terms of the deal called for AOL shareholders to own 55% of the new, combined company. The deal closed on January 11, 2001 after receiving regulatory approval from the FTC, the FCC, and the EU's COMP.^{[citation needed]}

In 2004, along with the launch of AOL 9.0 Optimized, AOL also made available the option of personalized greetings which would enable the user to hear his or her name while accessing basic functions and mail alerts, or while logging in or out.

In 2005, AOL broadcast the Live 8 concert live over the Internet, and thousands of users downloaded clips of the concert over the following months.^{[citation needed]} In late 2005, AOL released AOL Safety & Security Center,^{[citation needed]} a bundle of McAfee anti-virus, CA anti-spyware, and proprietary firewall and phishing protection software. News reports in late 2005 identified companies such as Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Google as candidates for turning AOL into a joint venture;^[29] those plans were apparently abandoned when it was revealed on December 20, 2005 that Google would purchase a 5% share of AOL for $1 billion.

On April 3, 2006, AOL announced that it was retiring the full name "America Online"; the official name of the service became "AOL", and the full name of the TimeWarner subdivision became "AOL, LLC".^[30]

On June 8, 2006,^[31] AOL offered a new program called AOL Active Security Monitor. This is a diagnostic tool to check the local PC's security status, and recommends additional security software from AOL or Download.com. The program rated the computer on a variety of different areas of security and general computer health. Two months later,^[32] AOL released AOL Active Virus Shield. This software was developed by Kaspersky Lab. Active Virus Shield software was free and did not require an AOL account, only an internet email address. The ISP side of AOL UK was bought by The Carphone Warehouse in October 2006 to take advantage of their 100,000 LLU customers which made The Carphone Warehouse the biggest LLU provider in the UK.^[33]

On August 2006, AOL announced that they would give away email accounts and software previously available only to its paying customers provided the customer accessed AOL or AOL.com through a non-AOL-owned access method (otherwise known as "third party transit", "bring your own access", or "BYOA"). The move was designed to reduce costs associated with the "Walled Garden" business model by reducing usage of AOL-owned access points and shifting members with high-speed internet access from client-based usage to the more lucrative advertising provider, AOL.com. ^[34]The change from paid to free was also designed to slow the rate of members canceling their accounts and defecting to Microsoft Hotmail, Yahoo!, or other free email providers. The other free services included:^[35]

• AIM (AOL Instant Messenger)
• AOL Video^[36] featured professional content and allowed users to upload videos as well.
• AOL Local, comprising its CityGuide,^[37] Yellow Pages^[38] and Local Search^[39] services to help users find local information like restaurants, local events, and directory listings.
• AOL News
• AOL My eAddress, a custom domain name for email addresses. These email accounts could be accessed in a manner similar to other AOL and AIM email accounts.
• Xdrive was a service offered by AOL which allowed users to back up their files over the Internet.^[40] It was closed on January 12, 2009.^[41]

According to AOL CEO Randy Falco, as of December 2007, the conversion rate of accounts from paid access to free access was over 80%.^[42]. Later in August 2006, AOL informed its American customers that it would be increasing the price of its dial-up access to US$25.90. The increase was part of an effort to migrate the service's remaining dial-up users to broadband, as the increased price was the same price they had been charging for monthly DSL access.^[43] However, AOL has since started offering their services for $9.95 a month for unlimited dial-up access.^[44]

On September 17, 2007, AOL announced that it was moving one of its corporate headquarters from Dulles, Virginia to New York City^[45] and combining its various advertising units into a new subsidiary called Platform A. This action followed several advertising acquisitions, most notably Advertising.com, and highlighted the company's new focus on advertising-driven business models. AOL management stressed that "significant operations" will remain in Dulles, which included the company's access services and modem banks.

In October 2007, AOL announced that it would move one of its other headquarters from Loudoun County, Virginia to New York City; it would continue to operate its Virginia offices.^[6] As part of the impending move to New York and the restructuring of responsibilities at the Dulles headquarters complex after the Reston move, AOL CEO Randy Falco announced on October 15, 2007 plans to lay off 2000 employees worldwide by the end of 2007, beginning "immediately".^[46]. The end result was a near 40% layoff across the board at AOL.

By November 2007, its customer base had been reduced to 10.1 million subscribers,^[47] just narrowly ahead of Comcast and AT&T Yahoo!.

On January 3, 2008, AOL announcing the closing one of its three Northern Virginia data centers, Reston Technology Center, and sold it to CRG West.^[48]

On February 6, 2008, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes announced that Time Warner would split AOL's internet access and advertising businesses into two, with the possibility of later selling the internet access division.^[49]

On March 13, 2008, AOL purchased the social networking site Bebo for $850m (£417m).^[50] On July 25, 2008 AOL announced it was shedding Xdrive, AOL Pictures, and BlueString to save on costs and focus on its core advertising business.^[51] AOL Pictures was terminated on December 31, 2008. On October 31, 2008, AOL Hometown (a web hosting service for the websites of AOL customers) and the AOL Journal blog hosting service were eliminated,^[52] after first announcing the impending shutdown on September 30, 2008^[53]

On March 12, 2009, Tim Armstrong, formerly with Google, was named Chairman and CEO of AOL.^[54]

On May 28, 2009, Time Warner announced that it would spin AOL off as an independent company once Google's shares ceased at the end of the fiscal year, and AOL's page and logo changed afterward.^[55]

On June 11, 2009, AOL announced the acquisition of Patch Media, a community-specific news and information that focuses on individual towns and communities. ^[56]

On November 23, 2009, AOL unveiled a sneak preview of a new brand identity which has the a wordmark Aol logo superimposed onto canvases created by commissioned artists. The new identity, designed by Wolff Olins,^[57] was enacted onto all of AOL's services on December 10, 2009.

The New AOL[link]

On December 10, 2009, AOL traded independently for the first time since the Time Warner merger on the NYSE under the symbol AOL. ^[58]

On April 6, 2010, AOL announced that they were planning to shut down or sell Bebo. This has been successfully concluded but with a huge loss on investment.^[59] On June 16, 2010, AOL sold Bebo to Criterion Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount, believed to be around $10 million. ^[60]

On September 28, 2010, at the San Francisco TechCrunch Disrupt Conference, AOL signed an agreement to acquire TechCrunch to further its overall strategy of providing premier online content.^[61][62]

In December 2010, AIM eliminated access to AOL chat rooms noting a marked decline of patronage in recent months. ^[63] On December 12, 2010, AOL acquired about.me, a personal profile/identity platform, 4 days after public launch. ^[64]

On January 31, 2011, AOL announced the acquisition of European video distribution network, goviral. ^[65] On February 7, 2011, AOL bought The Huffington Post for $315 million.^[66]

On March 10, 2011, AOL announced it will cut around 900 workers in the wake of the Huffington Post deal.^[67]

On September 14, 2011, AOL formed a strategic ad selling partnership with two of its largest competitors, Yahoo and Microsoft.^[68]

On March 15, 2012, AOL announced the acquisition of Hipster, a mobile photo sharing app for an undisclosed amount. ^[69]

On April 9, 2012, AOL announced a deal to sell 800 patents to Microsoft for $1.056 billion. The deal includes a "perpetual" license for AOL to use these patents. ^[70]

On April 24, 2012 the company launched the AOL On network, a single web site for its video output.^[71]

Controversies[link]

This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. Its Criticism section may compromise the article's neutral point of view of the subject. Tagged since September 2009. It may be unbalanced towards certain viewpoints. Tagged since September 2009.

Community leaders[link]

Prior to mid-2005, AOL used online volunteers called Community Leaders, or CLs, to monitor chatrooms, message boards, and libraries. AOL's use of remote volunteers dated back to the establishment of its Quantum Link service in 1985. Some community leaders were recruited for content design and maintenance using a proprietary language and interface called RAINMAN, although most content maintenance was performed by partner and internal employees.

Two former community leaders, Brian Williams of Dallas and Kelly Hallissey of New York filed a class action lawsuit against AOL citing violations of U.S. labor laws in its use of community leaders. The lawsuit was filed in the United States Federal Courthouse, New York City on May 25, 1999 which subsequently was followed by the dismissal of all community leaders under the age of 18 years old as well as a reorganization of the community leader program as a whole. The Department of Labor was also investigating AOL's alleged labor law violations, but came to no conclusion closing their investigation in 2001.^[72] AOL began drastically reducing the responsibilities and privileges of its volunteers in 2000. The program was eventually ended on June 8, 2005. Current Community Leaders at the time were offered 12 months of credit on their accounts in thanks for their service.

Within one decade of the class action lawsuit being filed, the class had grown to over 6,000 members citing the largest class action lawsuit ever filed against an internet based company. Currently it is the third largest class ever involved in any lawsuit on a federal level in the United States, affecting ultimately the employment eligibility of individuals in an online environment.

In February 2010, a settlement was approved by the Courts in the class action suit. The settlement included a $15 million USD payment. This payment was then divided by one third, the first of which was attorney and legal fees. Five Million was then divided among the included members of the class which consisted of more than 7,000 individual former Community Leaders. The final five million dollars was donated to charities hand picked by Hallissey and Williams then approved by the Courts for distribution. One such charity, The Remote Area Medical Foundation (www.ramusa.org), received payments in excess of $1.2 million USD for the provision of medical services, supplies and medication for those in need within the more rural areas of the United States and beyond.

Prior to the 1999 class action lawsuit, the community leaders were informed of a change in compensation for duties performed by AOL. Community leaders would be charged a reduced rate per month for their accounts and no longer would be given unlimited access without invoice. During this live announcement via an online meeting of all community leaders in a virtual arena, Brian Williams of Dallas led many community leaders in a virtual "strike" or "sit-in" to protest the new charges the community leaders were being asked to now pay. This protest or strike is noted as the first of its kind for an online environment and was nicknamed for the row of the arena it was held in; Row 800. Following the protest, AOL terminated the online working relationship between itself and several of the Community Leaders involved. Quickly following the release of these community leaders was the reinstatement of each one terminated with exception to Williams, which AOL was not willing to review due to the role he played within the cause of the protest. During this time, Williams role on AOL was that of Guide XNT (Guide Program), CB Naked (Crystal Ball forum), VnV Naked (iVillage's Vices and Virtues Forum) and JCommBrian (Jewish Community Online Forum).

Billing disputes[link]

AOL has faced a number of lawsuits over claims that it has been slow to stop billing customers after their accounts have been canceled, either by the company or the user. In addition, AOL changed its method of calculating used minutes in response to a class action lawsuit. Previously, AOL would add 15 seconds to the time a user was connected to the service and round up to the next whole minute (thus, a person who used the service for 11 minutes and 46 seconds would be charged for 13 minutes). AOL claimed this was to account for sign on/sign off time, but because this practice was not made known to its customers, the plaintiffs won (some also pointed out that signing on and off did not always take 15 seconds, especially when connecting via another ISP). AOL disclosed its connection-time calculation methods to all of its customers and credited them with extra free hours. In addition, the AOL software would notify the user of exactly how long they were connected and how many minutes they were being charged.

AOL was sued by the Ohio Attorney General in October 2003 for improper billing practices. The case was settled on June 8, 2005. AOL agreed to resolve any consumer complaints filed with the Ohio AG's office. In December 2006, AOL agreed to provide restitution to Florida consumers to settle the case filed against them by the Florida Attorney General.^[73]

Account cancellation[link]

Many customers complained that AOL personnel ignored their demands to cancel service and stop billing. In response to approximately 300 consumer complaints, the New York Attorney General's office began an inquiry of AOL's customer service policies.^{[citation needed]} The investigation revealed that the company had an elaborate scheme for rewarding employees who purported to retain or "save" subscribers who had called to cancel their Internet service. In many instances, such retention was done against subscribers' wishes, or without their consent. Under the scheme, consumer service personnel received bonuses worth tens of thousands of dollars if they could successfully dissuade or "save" half of the people who called to cancel service.^{[citation needed]} For several years, AOL had instituted minimum retention or "save" percentages, which consumer representatives were expected to meet. These bonuses, and the minimum "save" rates accompanying them, had the effect of employees not honoring cancellations, or otherwise making cancellation unduly difficult for consumers.

On August 24, 2005, America Online agreed to pay $1.25 million to the state of New York and reformed its customer service procedures. Under the agreement, AOL would no longer require its customer service representatives to meet a minimum quota for customer retention in order to receive a bonus.^[74] However the agreement only covered people in the state of New York.^[9]

On June 13, 2006, Vincent Ferrari documented his account cancellation phone call in a blog post,^[75] stating he had switched to broadband years earlier. In the recorded phone call, the AOL representative refused to cancel the account unless the 30-year-old Ferrari explained why AOL hours were still being recorded on it. Ferrari insisted that AOL software was not even installed on the computer. When Ferrari demanded that the account be canceled regardless, the AOL representative asked to speak with Ferrari's father, for whom the account had been set up. The conversation was aired on CNBC. When CNBC reporters tried to have an account on AOL cancelled, they were hung up on immediately and it ultimately took more than 45 minutes to cancel the account.^[76]

On July 19, 2006, AOL's entire retention manual was released on the Internet.^[77] On August 3, 2006, Time Warner announced that the company would be dissolving AOL's retention centers due to its profits hinging on $1 billion in cost cuts. The company estimated that it would lose more than six million subscribers over the following year.^[78]

Direct marketing of disks[link]

Prior to 2006, AOL was infamous for the unsolicited mass direct mail of CD-ROMs and 3½" floppy disks containing their software. They were the most frequent user of this marketing tactic, and received criticism for the environmental cost of the campaign.^[79] According to PC World, in the 1990s "you couldn't open a magazine (PC World included) or your mailbox without an AOL disk falling out of it".^[9]

The mass distribution of these disks was seen as wasteful by the public and led to protest groups. One such was No More AOL CDs, a web-based effort by two IT workers^[80] to collect one million disks with the intent to return the disks to AOL.^[81] The website was started in August 2001, and an estimated 410,176 CDs were collected by August 2007 when the project was shut down.^[81] AOL CDs were recognized as No.1 on PCWorld's top ten list of most annoying tech products.^[82]

Software[link]

• In 2000, AOL was served with an $8 billion lawsuit alleging that its AOL 5.0 software caused significant difficulties for users attempting to use third-party Internet service providers. The lawsuit sought damages of up to $1000 for each user that had downloaded the software cited at the time of the lawsuit. AOL later agreed to a settlement of $15 million, without admission of wrongdoing.^[83] The AOL software then was given a feature called AOL Dialer, or AOL Connect on Mac OS X. This feature allowed users to connect to the ISP without running the full interface. This allowed users to use only the applications they wish to use, especially if they do not favor the AOL Browser.
• AOL 9.0 was once identified by Stopbadware as being under investigation^[84] for installing additional software without disclosure, and modifying browser preferences, toolbars, and icons. However, as of the release of AOL 9.0 VR (Vista Ready) on January 26, 2007, it was no longer considered badware due to changes AOL made in the software.^[85]

Usenet newsgroups[link]

When AOL gave clients access to Usenet in 1993, they hid at least one newsgroup in standard list view: alt.aol-sucks. AOL did list the newsgroup in the alternative description view, but changed the description to "Flames and complaints about America Online". With AOL clients swarming Usenet newsgroups, the old, existing user base started to develop a strong distaste for both AOL and its clients, referring to the new state of affairs as Eternal September.^[86]

AOL discontinued access to Usenet on June 25, 2005.^[87] No official details were provided as to the cause of decommissioning Usenet access, except providing users the suggestion to access Usenet services from a third-party, Google Groups. AOL then provided community-based message boards in lieu of Usenet.

Terms of Service (TOS)[link]

AOL has a detailed set of guidelines and expectations for users on their service, known as the Terms of Service (TOS, also known as Conditions of Service, or COS in the UK). It is separated into three different sections: Member Agreement, Community Guidelines and Privacy Policy.^[88][89] All three agreements are presented to users at time of registration and digital acceptance is achieved when they access the AOL service.

There have been many complaints over rules that govern an AOL user's conduct. Some users disagree with the TOS, citing the guidelines are too strict to follow coupled with the fact the TOS may change without users being made aware. A considerable cause for this was likely due to alleged censorship of user-generated content during the earlier years of growth for AOL.^{[90][91][92][93]}

Certified email[link]

In early 2005, AOL stated its intention to implement a certified email system called Goodmail, which will allow companies to send email to users with whom they have pre-existing business relationships, with a visual indication that the email is from a trusted source and without the risk that the email messages might be blocked or stripped by spam filters.

This decision drew fire from MoveOn, which characterized the program as an "email tax", and the EFF, which characterized it as a shakedown of non-profits.^[94] A website called Dearaol.com^[95] was launched, with an online petition and a blog that garnered hundreds of signatures from people and organizations expressing their opposition to AOL's use of Goodmail.

Esther Dyson defended the move in a New York Times editorial saying "I hope Goodmail succeeds, and that it has lots of competition. I also think it and its competitors will eventually transform into services that more directly serve the interests of mail recipients. Instead of the fees going to Goodmail and EON, they will also be shared with the individual recipients."^[96]

Other members of the antispam and blogging community were broadly critical of moveon.org and the EFF's attempts to characterize this as a "shakedown".^{[citation needed]}

Tim Lee of the Technology Liberation Front^[97] posted an article that questioned the EFF's adopting a confrontational posture when dealing with private companies. Lee's article cited a series of discussions^[98] on Declan McCullagh's Politechbot mailing list on this subject between the EFF's Danny O'Brien and antispammer Suresh Ramasubramanian, who has also compared^[99] the EFF's tactics in opposing Goodmail to tactics used by Republican political strategist Karl Rove. Spamassassin developer Justin Mason posted some criticism of the EFF's and Moveon's "going overboard" in their opposition to the scheme.

The dearaol.com campaign lost momentum and disappeared, with the last post to the now defunct dearaol.com blog—"AOL starts the shakedown" being made on May 9, 2006.

Comcast, who also used the service, announced on its website that Goodmail had ceased operations and as of February 4, 2011 they no longer used the service.^[100]

Search data[link]

On August 4, 2006, AOL released a compressed text file on one of its websites containing 20 million search keywords for over 650,000 users over a 3-month period between March 1, 2006 and May 31, intended for research purposes. AOL pulled the file from public access by August 7, but not before its wide distribution on the Internet by others. Derivative research, titled A Picture of Search^[101] was published by authors Pass, Chowdhury and Torgeson for The First International Conference on Scalable Information Systems.^[102]

The data were used by Web sites such as AOLstalker^[103] for entertainment purposes, where users of AOLstalker are encouraged to judge AOL clients based on the humorousness of personal details revealed by search behavior.

User list exposure[link]

In 2005, Jason Smathers, an AOL employee, was convicted of stealing America Online's 92 million screen names and selling them to known spammers.^[104][105]

Company purchases[link]

Notable people[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2009)

See also[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• AOL
• AOL mobile
• AOL Trademark List – list of major trademarks owned by AOL
• AOL CD Collecting Site has the only published book on AOL Disk Collecting with older CD versions available
• Organizational Chart of AOL, from wikiorgcharts.com
• Nieman Journalism Lab. "AOL". Encyclo: an encyclopedia of the future of news. http://www.niemanlab.org/encyclo/aol. Retrieved 1 April 2012. 

International Sites[link]

Gavin DeGraw
DeGraw in March 2012
Background information
Birth name	Gavin Shane DeGraw
Born	(1977-02-04) February 4, 1977 (age 35) South Fallsburg, New York, United States
Genres	Blue-eyed soul, pop rock, rock
Occupations	Musician and singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, piano, guitar
Years active	2000–Present
Labels	RCA Records
Website	gavindegraw.com

Gavin Shane DeGraw (born February 4, 1977) is an American musician and singer-songwriter. He is known for his songs "Chariot", "Follow Through", "I Don't Want to Be" (which has been featured as the theme song for the television drama series, One Tree Hill since 2003), "In Love with a Girl", and "Not Over You".

Early life[link]

DeGraw grew up in the Catskills in South Fallsburg, New York.^[1] His mother, Lynne (Krieger), was a detox specialist, and his father, Wayne DeGraw, was a prison guard;^[2] he referenced his father's occupation in the song "I Don't Want to Be".^[3] His father is of Irish descent and his mother's family was of Russian ancestry.^[4] DeGraw began singing and playing piano at the age of eight. He also has two siblings, both older, named Neeka and Joey (born August 1973). It was at his brother's advice that he began writing his own songs.^[5] Joey DeGraw is a musician as well, currently touring to promote his own music.^[6]

Career[link]

DeGraw rose to fame in 2003 when "I Don't Want to Be" was chosen as the theme song for teen drama One Tree Hill.^[7] The song has also been performed on American Idol^[8] and Idol Sweden^[9] by various contestants during different seasons.

DeGraw released his debut album, Chariot on July 22, 2003 under J Records.^[10] Chariot was recorded at Los Angeles' music studios, Sunset Sound and produced by Mark Endert.^[1] Chariot sold over a million copies and earned platinum certification.^[11] The album also featured three of DeGraw's singles: "I Don’t Want To Be", "Follow Through" and "Chariot".^[11] He then went on to release an acoustic version of the album called Chariot Stripped in 2004. Chariot Stripped contains a cover version of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come".^[12]

DeGraw performing in Georgia, 2005

DeGraw's second album, self-titled Gavin DeGraw was released on May 6, 2008.^[10] The first single, "In Love with a Girl" was released on February 12, 2008. The second U.S. single "Cheated On Me" was released in the US on September 30, 2008. This was followed by the Live From Soho album, released on Nov 7 2008, featuring mostly tracks from Gavin DeGraw.^[13] Gavin DeGraw debuted at No. 1 on the digital sales chart and ranked at No. 7 on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart.^[11]

Gavin Degraw's third album, Free was released March 31, 2009.^[14] DeGraw made Free in less than two weeks at the Brooklyn studio of his producer Camus Celli. DeGraw included some songs on the album that he wrote very early in his career and that have evolved over time, songs such as "Dancing Shoes" and "Glass".^[1] The debut single from the album, "Stay", was released on March 11, 2009.^[15] FREE has been described as "recorded versions of his live favourites".^[11]

DeGraw's fourth, and most recent album, Sweeter was set to release on August 9, 2011 but got pushed back to September 20, 2011.^[16] The album features many tracks co-written with other artists. The first single "Not Over You" was released on iTunes in June.^[17] The track was co-written and produced by Ryan Tedder and was said to be inspired by Kyle Craig. "Not Over You" is his first song to reach the top spot on the Adult Pop Songs.^[18] Sweeter contains collaborations from producers including Butch Walker, Eric Rosse, and Ron Aniello; alongside another co-written title track, "Sweeter" with Andrew Frampton. The album was recorded in many locations including Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Walker’s Space in Venice and the Henson Recording Studios.^[11]

Sweeter is DeGraw's first album released under RCA Records, all three of his previous albums were released under J Records. DeGraw went on to release an acoustic album based mostly on songs from Sweeter. The iTunes Session album features seven tracks and a 30 minute interview.^[19]

Appearances[link]

Alongside DeGraw's musical career he has also performed on multiple TV shows and his songs can be heard across TV and film.

TV appearances[link]

DeGraw made his first TV appearance on Real Magic TV. He then went on to appear on: The Sharon Osbourne Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, American Dreams, Total Request Live and Rove Live. During Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2004, DeGraw is credited as a performer. After this, he was seen on What I Like About You alongside Dutch TV shows Barend & Van Dorp and Clement Behrendt Kjersgaard. DeGraw performed "I Don't Want to Be" during the 2005 Radio Music Awards. He was also a musical guest on The VIP, Jensen!, New York 360º and Entertainment Tonight. DeGraw has appeared on multiple episodes of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Live! with Kelly, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Last Call with Carson Daly, performing tracks from whichever album he was promoting. DeGraw is credited as a presenter for the 2011 American Music Awards and can mostly be seen presenting footage from backstage. Recently he appeared during an episode of Conan; the episode was aired on January 9, 2012.^[6] On April 4, 2012 DeGraw performed on the final episode of One Tree Hill following his heavy connection with the show throughout its nine seasons. ^[20]

DeGraw was a contestant on ABC's season 14 of Dancing With the Stars which premiered on Monday March 19, 2012. DeGraw and his partner Karina Smirnoff were eliminated from the competition during week 5, following a Dance Duel with cast-mate Jaleel White and his partner Kym Johnson. ^[21]

Soundtrack credits[link]

DeGraw's songs have been played on twelve different titles across both TV and film.

"Follow Through" was part of the soundtrack for 2004 film Laws of Attraction and an episode of Scrubs called My Self-Examination, aired on 27 April 2004. The song has also been featured on One Tree Hill and on British and Italian TV advertisements for Carte D'or.^[6]

"Chariot" features as an uncredited part of the soundtrack for the American-Canadian TV series Dead Like Me. The song features in a 2004 episode called Always and is portrayed by DeGraw. DeGraw plays a non-recurring small role as street singer, Pete Anderson. The song also features on the TV series Boston Legal in a 2006 episode named Helping Hands, it is played during Denise and Daniel's dinner. The song can also be heard during a 2007 episode of Cold Case called Knuckle Up.^[6]

His song "We Belong Together" was also featured in the 2006 film Tristan and Isolde.^[22]

DeGraw has performed a cover of Smokey Robinson's love ballad, "The Tracks of My Tears", which is played during Chaos Theory, an episode of The Cleaner aired on August 5 2008.^[6]

During a Christmas special of TV series House called "Joy to the World", a cover of The Christmas Song performed by DeGraw was played.^[6]

TV dance competition and reality show So You Think You Can Dance utilised three of DeGraw's tracks across four shows and also features a cover performed by DeGraw. "Belief", "More Then Anyone" and "We Belong Together" are used as background tracks across the 2006, 2008 and 2009 series respectively. During the first part of the 2007 finale, a cover of "We Are the Champions", performed by DeGraw, is used.^[6]

DeGraw's songs are contained in the soundtracks of eleven episodes of One Tree Hill. Throughout he is uncredited. However, tracks such as "Belief", "More Than Anyone", "Chariot", "We Belong Together" and "Jealous Guy" all feature in the show. During the second season of the show, an unreleased live version of "Chariot" is played during the episode "Something I Can Never Have".^[6]

During a special of the TV show The Bachelor called The Bachelor: Jason & Molly's Wedding, DeGraw's song "Follow Through" is played.^[6]

Acting credits[link]

He has appeared in an on-screen role in three One Tree Hill episodes. His first appearance was in 2004, during You Gotta Go There to Come Back; he was seen singing "I Don't Want to Be" and "Chariot" at Karen's Cafe. His second appearance was at the beginning of 2008 episode, What Comes After the Blues where he was seen singing "I Don't Want to Be" with Jackson Brundage and performs in the series final episode.^[6]

Other[link]

DeGraw has released a number of music videos as well, including "I Don't Want to Be", "Follow Through" and "Chariot". The latter was directed by Zach Braff, who also directed music videos for Joshua Radin.^[6]

DeGraw's song "More Than Anyone" was selected by fans of One Tree Hill through a Cingular Wireless contest as the first wedding dance song for Nathan & Haley in the 3rd season finale "The Show Must Go On."^[23]

At the Des Moines Arts Festival on 27 June 2009

He and his brother opened The National Underground in December 2007, a New York City music venue that is a roots rock Americana music bar located in Manhattan's Lower East Side, at 159 East Houston Street between Allen Street and Eldridge Street.^[24] The venue offers music, food, and drink.^[25][26][27] The idea for the venue came about because the brothers wanted a place where they could hang out on a regular basis, and where other musicians could come in and listen and learn.^[28] "We were picky about the quality of musicians that played there," Gavin DeGraw says. "We wanted a place where the players were so good, other musicians were like, 'Wow! I really respect what they're doing.'"^[29]

Personal life[link]

On August 8, 2011, DeGraw was hospitalized after being assaulted by several people in New York City. Police said a group of men attacked DeGraw early Sunday morning at 6th Street and First Avenue in the East Village, near The National Underground. He suffered a broken nose, a concussion, two black eyes and lacerations to his face. Only minutes after the attack, DeGraw was then struck by a taxi. He was admitted to Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital Center for treatment. He had to cancel his scheduled August 9 performance at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, located in Saratoga, New York.^[30]

DeGraw has said that his ultimate goal is "to leave this world a better person, and for me to not be the only one who knows it."^[6]

Band members[link]

Current[link]

Billy Norris – guitar, background vocals (since 2009) Ian O'Neill – drums, background vocals (since 2011) Ben Mars- Bass (Started on summer tour of 2012) Jimmy Wallace – keyboards, acoustic guitar, vocals (2007–2008, since 2011)

Previous[link]

Johnny "Tsunami" Andrews – guitar, background vocals Joey DeGraw – guitar, background vocals Brian Dennis – guitar, background vocals Matt Flynn – drums Jose Barrera – Guitar and musical composition Joey "Coach" Hanna – drums, background vocals

Rodney Howard – drums Whynot Jansveld – bass, background vocals Alvin Moody – bass, background vocals Casey Twist – bass, background vocals Tony Tino - Bass

Discography[link]

Studio[link]

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions[31][32]									Certifications (sales thresholds)
		US	CAN	DEN	NED	FIN	ITA	SWI	SWE	NOR
Chariot	Release date: July 22, 2003 Label: J	56	—	1	6	23	43	48	21	2	US: Platinum[33]
Gavin DeGraw	Release date: May 6, 2008 Label: J	7	21	3	8	36	44	23	13	35
Free	Release date: March 31, 2009 Label: J	19	—	29	76	—	—	96	—	—
Sweeter	Release date: September 20, 2011 Label: RCA	8	41	6	6	—	—	19	29	25

EPs[link]

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions[34]
		US
iTunes: Live from Soho	Release date: 2008	167

Other albums[link]

• 2001: Gavin Live

Singles[link]

Year	Title	Chart positions[31][32]												Certifications (sales thresholds)	Album
		US	US Adult	US Pop	CAN	UK	IRE	AUS	NZ	NED	ITA	NOR	SWE
2004	"I Don't Want to Be"	10	9	1	—	27	25	19	30	13	—	6	15	US: Platinum[35]	Chariot
2005	"Chariot"	30	5	17	—	—	—	—	—	12	27	19	—	US: Gold[35]
	"Follow Through"	111	22	33	—	—	—	—	—	13	—	12	—	US: Gold[33]
2006	"Just Friends"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	26	—	—	—
	"We Belong Together"	26	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	US: Gold[33]	Gavin DeGraw
2008	"In Love with a Girl"	24	5	10	32	—	—	—	—	22	—	—	73
	"She Holds a Key"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	29	—	—	—
	"Cheated on Me"	—	30	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2009	"I Have You to Thank"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Stay"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Free
	"Dancing Shoes"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2011	"Not Over You"	18	1	9	23	—	—	37	8	13	—	—	—	US: Platinum[33] NZ: Gold[36] AUS: Platinum[37]	Sweeter
	"Soldier"	—	—	—	—	59	—	—	—	14	—	—	—
	"Sweeter"	—	17	—	—	—	—	—	—	25	—	—	—

Awards and nominations[link]

Year	Award
2005	Billboard Music Award nomination for Top Soundtrack Single of the Year ("I Don't Want to Be")
2005	Radio Music Award nomination for Song of the Year/Mainstream Top 40 Radio ("I Don't Want to Be")

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	Music portal

List of Berklee College of Music alumni List of Ithaca College alumni

List of people from New York List of singer-songwriters

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Gavin DeGraw Biography". Gavin DeGraw US. http://gavindegraw.us/biography.html. Retrieved 25 January 2012. 
2. ^ "More Than a Memory - The Official Gavin DeGraw fan site: Articles & Interviews". Gavindegraw.us. 2005-04-29. http://gavindegraw.us/articles/timesheraldrecord05april29.html. Retrieved 2012-05-09. 
3. ^ "I Don't Want To Be Lyrics". Lyrics On Demand. http://www.lyricsondemand.com/g/gavindegrawlyrics/idontwanttobelyrics.html. Retrieved 25 January 2012. 
4. ^ Staff (February 3, 2005). "Gavin DeGraw Speaks Out on Life and Music – His 'I Don’t Want To Be' Is the Theme Song for the Teen Soap 'One Tree Hill'. Associated Press (via MSNBC). Retrieved August 8, 2011.
5. ^ "Gavin DeGraw". Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. http://www.bonnaroo.com/artists/gavin-degraw.aspx. 
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} "Gavin DeGraw IMDB page". IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1501113/. Retrieved 25 January 2012. 
7. ^ "One Tree Hill IMDB page". IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368530/. Retrieved 25 January 2012. 
8. ^ "'American Idol' Needs To Retire 'I Don't Want To Be,' Whitney Houston And Heart". MTV Website. MTV. http://newsroom.mtv.com/2010/03/03/american-idol-i-dont-want-to-be/. Retrieved 25 January 2012. 
9. ^ "YouTube Video: Guy singing I Don't Want To Be in Idol 2009". YouTube. Google. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e43QQdO_OJY. Retrieved 25 January 2012. 
10. ^ ^{a b} "Amazon: Chariot Gavin DeGraw | Format: Audio CD". Amazon Retail. http://www.amazon.com/Chariot-Gavin-Degraw/dp/B00009V8Z9. Retrieved 25 January 2012. 
11. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Gavin DeGraw Official Bio". Gavin DeGraw Official Website. http://www.gavindegraw.com/bio. Retrieved 28 January 2012. 
12. ^ "Amazon: Chariot Stripped (Bonus CD) Gavin DeGraw | Format: Audio CD". Amazon Retail. http://www.amazon.com/Chariot-Stripped-Bonus-Gavin-Degraw/dp/B0002IQJUK/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1327522439&sr=1-1. Retrieved 25 January 2012. 
13. ^ "Gavin DeGraw Discography". Gavin DeGraw Website. http://www.gavindegraw.us/discography.html. Retrieved 25 January 2012. 
14. ^ "Amazon: FREE Gavin DeGraw | Format: Audio CD". Amazon Retail. http://www.amazon.co.uk/FREE-Gavin-DeGraw/dp/B001T4MT64. Retrieved 25 January 2012. 
15. ^ "iTunes Single - Stay". iTunes. http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/stay-single/id308873888. Retrieved 25 January 2012. 
16. ^ "Gavin DeGraw Blog". Gavin DeGraw Blog. Gavin DeGraw. http://www.gavindegraw.us/. Retrieved 29 January 2012. 
17. ^ "Gavin DeGraw Website - Not Over You Release". Gavin DeGraw Website. http://www.gavindegraw.com/music/not-over-you-single. Retrieved 25 January 2012. 
18. ^ Trust, Gary (26 January 2012). "Weekly Chart Notes: Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Gavin DeGraw". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/column/chartbeat/weekly-chart-notes-adele-kelly-clarkson-1005994562.story#/column/chartbeat/weekly-chart-notes-adele-kelly-clarkson-1005994562.story?page=2. Retrieved 28 January 2012. 
19. ^ "iTunes Session Gavin DeGraw". iTunes. http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/itunes-session/id480772033?ign-mpt=uo%3D4. Retrieved 25 January 2012. 
20. ^ "ABC.com - Dancing with the Stars - Dancing with the Stars 2012 Cast Announcement - Season 14". Abc.go.com. http://abc.go.com/shows/dancing-with-the-stars/cast-announcement. Retrieved 2012-05-09. 
21. ^ 04/18/2012 (2012-04-18). "'Dancing with the Stars' ('DWTS') 2012: Gavin DeGraw Booted After Showdown | Video - ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/dancing-stars-dwts-2012-gavin-degraw-booted-showdown-16161893. Retrieved 2012-05-09. 
22. ^ "Gavin Degraw Discography". Gavin DeGraw. http://gavindegraw.us/discography.html. Retrieved 25 January 2012. 
23. ^ "Tree Hill Memories: 322 THE SHOW MUST GO ON". Tree Hill Memories. http://www.freewebs.com/treehillmemories/s322.html. Retrieved 29 January 2012. 
24. ^ "About Us". The National Underground Official website. Accessed October 5, 2010. http://www.thenationalunderground.com/aboutus.html. 
25. ^ Carlson, Erin (May 8, 2008). "Gavin DeGraw Doesn't Wanna Be Another Singer-Songwriter". The Decatur Daily. http://www.decaturdaily.com/stories/Gavin-DeGraw-doesnt-want-to-be-another-singer-songwriter,11132. 
26. ^ Friedman, Roger (March 6, 2008). "Patrick Swayze Slammed by National Enquirer". Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,335432,00.html. 
27. ^ "Soul of the City: New York City". Glide Magazine. August 29, 2008. http://www.glidemagazine.com/hiddentrack/soul-of-the-city-new-york-city/. 
28. ^ Adams, Patty (July 27, 2008). "Six Seconds with: Gavin DeGraw". New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/pagesixmag/issues/20080727/Six+Seconds+Gavin+DeGraw. 
29. ^ Tomcho, Sandy (August 15, 2008). "Gavin DeGraw Performs at Monticello Gaming & Raceway". Times Herald-Record. http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080815/ENTERTAIN/808150350. 
30. ^ "Gavin DeGraw released from hospital after attack, doesn’t remember much". The Washington Post. 10 August 2011. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/celebritology/post/gavin-degraw-released-from-hospital-after-attack-doesnt-remember-much/2011/08/10/gIQAICCP6I_blog.html. Retrieved 21 September 2011. 
31. ^ ^{a b} Gavin DeGraw. Billboard
32. ^ ^{a b} "Gavin Degraw – Music Charts". Acharts.us. http://acharts.us/performer/gavin_degraw. Retrieved 2011-11-02. 
33. ^ ^{a b c d} "Gavin Degraw RIAA album certifications". RIAA. http://riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=&artist=Gavin%20DeGraw%&format=album&debutLP=&category=&sex=&releaseDate=&requestNo=&type=&level=&label=&company=&certificationDate=&awardDescription=&catalogNo=&aSex=&rec_id=&charField=&gold=&platinum=&multiPlat=&level2=&certDate=&album=&id=&after=&before=&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2010&sort=CertificationDate&perPage=50. Retrieved 2011-10-02. 
34. ^ "iTunes Live from Soho – Gavin DeGraw". AllMusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/itunes-live-from-soho-r1462791/charts-awards. Retrieved 2011-11-02. 
35. ^ ^{a b} "Gavin DeGraw: Timeline". Rock On The Net. http://www.rockonthenet.com/artists-d/gavindegraw.htm. 
36. ^ "RIANZ". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. http://www.rianz.org.nz/rianz/chart_facts.asp. Retrieved 2010-08-07. 
37. ^ "http://www.aria.com.au/pages/httpwww.aria.com.auSINGLEaccreds2011.htm". Aria.com.au. 2011-12-31. http://www.aria.com.au/pages/httpwww.aria.com.aupageshttpwww.aria.com.auSINGLEaccreds2011.htm. Retrieved 2012-05-09. 

• Billboard Artist Chart History – retrieved March 15, 2009.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gavin DeGraw

• gavindegraw.com, DeGraw's official website
• Gavin DeGraw at the Internet Movie Database
• Gavin DeGraw collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
• Music videos at AOL Video
• Exclusive Gavin DeGraw Interviews at OurStage.com

v t e Gavin DeGraw Albums Chariot Gavin DeGraw Free Sweeter Singles "I Don't Want to Be" "Chariot" "Follow Through" "In Love with a Girl" "Cheated on Me" "Not Over You" "Soldier" "Sweeter" Related articles RCA Records

v t e Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 14) Donald Driver Katherine Jenkins William Levy Maria Menounos Melissa Gilbert Roshon Fegan Jaleel White Gladys Knight Gavin DeGraw Sherri Shepherd Jack Wagner Martina Navratilova

Persondata
Name	Degraw, Gavin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 4, 1977
Place of birth	South Fallsburg, New York, United States
Date of death
Place of death

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2010)

Spinner is an AOL Music property, which bills itself as "the ultimate music blog for free MP3s, free CD listening, [and] discovering new artists."

Spinner was originally a producer of streaming media player software based in the United States, and was variously known as TheDJ.com, Spinner Networks, Inc., and Spinner.com. It was acquired by AOL on June 1, 1999, at the same time AOL acquired Nullsoft.^[1]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

This United States software corporation or company article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Eric Church
Eric Church
Background information
Birth name	Kenneth Eric Church
Born	(1977-05-03) May 3, 1977 (age 35)
Origin	Granite Falls, North Carolina, United States
Genres	Country, Southern rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Capitol Records Nashville, EMI Nashville
Associated acts	Terri Clark, Jay Joyce
Website	www.ericchurch.com

Kenneth Eric Church (born May 3, 1977) is an American country music singer-songwriter. Signed to Capitol Records in 2006, his debut album Sinners Like Me produced four singles on the Billboard country chart, including the Top 20 hits "How 'Bout You", "Two Pink Lines", and "Guys Like Me". His second album, 2009's Carolina, produced three more singles: "Smoke a Little Smoke" and his first Top 10 hits, "Love Your Love the Most" and "Hell on the Heart". 2011's Chief, his first #1 album, includes the singles "Homeboy" and "Drink in My Hand", which became his first #1 single in January 2012.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Eric Church was born and raised in Granite Falls, North Carolina. At thirteen, he bought a guitar and began writing songs of his own. By his senior year of high school, he had found a gig at a local bar, which occupied most of his time. He played many Jimmy Buffett cover songs and a few of his own original songs in some dive bars. Some of these places were so rough that he got into a few altercations from the stage. For a few years, the band played often in bars and restaurants throughout North Carolina.^[1] The band "Mountain Boys" consisted of his college roommate (Mark Snow), brother, and a fellow guitarist.^[2]

Before moving to Nashville, Eric Church graduated from South Caldwell High School and then Appalachian State University with a degree in marketing. Upon graduation, Church became engaged. The future bride's father attempted to persuade Eric into a corporate career, which he rejected as an aspiring musician. He broke the engagment and headed to Nashville with his father's financial backing. His father also provided the opportunity to make contacts, and more importantly, time to focus on developing his songwriting ability .^[1]

Music career[link]

[edit] 2006-2007: Sinners Like Me

Arthur Buenahora Jr. signed him to a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Tree Music Publishing. Terri Clark took "The World Needs a Drink", which he co-wrote with Casey Beathard, into the country Top 30.^[2]

He started recording with different producers. Capitol Nashville showed an interest and watched him perform but they were yet to be convinced enough to offer a recording contract.^[3] Autumn House-Tallant told HitQuarters that they didn't think the music was interesting enough.^[3] The record company's attitude changed after he started working with producer Jay Joyce. The strong sound and direction the two forged together finally convinced Capitol Nashville that he was ready.^[3] His first single, "How 'Bout You" peaked at #14 on Hot Country Songs and led off his debut album Sinners Like Me. In April 2006, he performed on the Grand Ole Opry for the first time.^[4]

The album's other two singles, "Two Pink Lines" and "Guys Like Me", both reached the Top 20 as well.^[2] The fourth single, the title track, peaked at #51. An additional track from the album, "Lightning", was made into a music video despite not being released as a single. Church wrote the song shortly after moving to Nashville, inspired by the movie The Green Mile.^[4] Following the album's success, Church toured with Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts.^[4]

[edit] 2008-2010: Carolina

In 2008, Eric Church released a fifth single, "His Kind of Money (My Kind of Love)" to country radio. It debuted on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart at #55 in early 2008, and reached its peak of #46 in August. Originally slated as the lead single to an upcoming second album, "His Kind of Money" was instead included as a bonus track on albums sold at Best Buy.

Following this song was "Love Your Love the Most", which debuted in late 2008 and was the first single from his second album Carolina, released on March 24, 2009.^[2] As with his debut album, Carolina was produced by Jay Joyce, and is entirely composed of songs that he co-wrote. "Love Your Love the Most" brought Church to the top 10 for the first time, peaking at #10 in September 2009. The album's second single, "Hell on the Heart", debuted in October 2009 and would also hit the top 10 in May 2010. The third single from "Carolina" was "Smoke A Little Smoke".

In June 2010 he moved to Capitol Nashville's new imprint EMI Records Nashville, becoming their second artist. On January 14, 2011, he released a four song EP entitled "Caldwell County".

[edit] 2011-2012: Chief

Eric Church released "Homeboy" to country radio in early 2011. The album Chief was released July 26, 2011, debuting at #1 on both Top Country Albums and the Billboard 200.^[5] The album sold 145,000 copies in its first week.^[5] On November 30, 2011, Chief was announced as a nominee for the 2012 Grammy Awards for Best Country Album. In January 2012 "Drink in My Hand" became his first #1 single. In February 2012, "Springsteen" was released as the third single from Chief, and has since become a Top 10 country hit, as well as his first Top 20 single on the Billboard Hot 100.

Personal life[link]

On January 8, 2008, Church married music publisher Katherine Blasingame in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. On October 3, 2011, they welcomed son Boone McCoy Church.^[6][7] Their home (along with Eric's "mancave"), located in Nashville, was featured in an episode of CMT "Cribs".^[8]

Tour[link]

• Me & My Gang Tour 2006 with Rascal Flatts & Gary Allan (Eric was kicked off for playing too long & Taylor Swift took his spot)
• Roadside Bars and Pink Guitars with Miranda Lambert (Select Dates)
• CMT Revolution Tour 2010 with Miranda Lambert & Josh Kelley
• My Kinda Party Tour 2011 with Jason Aldean & The JaneDear Girls (Spring Leg)
• Locked & Loaded Tour 2011 with Toby Keith
• Blood, Sweat and Beers Tour 2012 with Brantley Gilbert (First Headlining Tour)