The music industry is saturated with hundreds of new productions on a daily basis. Some tunes go viral instantly, while others seem to float perpetually in underrated territory where only the most music-obsessed fans dare to tread. So how do you know when your own production is actually good?
The teams behind ScreenCraft, Buffalo 8 Productions, and Bondit announced the launch of TuneRise, a global, digital talent discovery platform for unsigned music artists. TuneRise changes the game by creating a single marketplace to discover, connect, collaborate, develop, monetize and celebrate the next generation of talent. It will be boosted by an international network of music blog and social media influencers. Most important, the platform fills a much-needed role in the rapidly changing global music industry, which now boasts a growing, albeit fragmented, community of more than 100 million unsigned artists who create and post music across a myriad of online content platforms.
"A&R executives rarely take chances on artists who don't have a significant fan base and large social media presence, which is a shame because there are some amazing undiscovered artists out there who could benefit from a promotional spotlight and exposure to top music producers and executives," TuneRise co-founder Ben de Ayora said.
Similar to the ScreenCraft platform - one of the premiere screenwriting contest platforms in Hollywood - TuneRise will hold genre-based contests enabling artists to submit original content directly to the site for the opportunity to win experiential and hands-on prizes including mentorships, performance opportunities, professional equipment and sponsored merchandise along with in-person pitch meetings with key executives in the music business.
"We can't wait to discover the grand prize winner of our inaugural Electronic Music Contest launching today," co-founder John Rhodes said. "We aim to provide unparalleled music industry access and career acceleration to the winners, replicating the huge success we've had with the ScreenCraft screenwriter discovery platform in Hollywood."
"We've had great success as respective teams building businesses in the media space," Buffalo 8 and BondIt CEO and co-founder Matthew Helderman said. "Collaborating on this new music platform together has been an exciting venture and we're passionate to find great new voices around the world."
TuneRise is curated by veteran industry executives experienced in molding artists' careers. The esteemed panel of judges include Matt Oliver, music publicist at Infamous PR; Ryan Saylor, music rights management at Sony/ATV; Carlos Cancela, A&R in charge of EDM at Warner Bros Records; Alexis Grapsas, music composer at Warner Bros. whose credits include Empire, Revenge and Shameless; Dave Ireland, founder/editor at Magnetic Magazine; Paper Diamond, Electronic music producer and touring artist who has releases on Mad Decent, Pretty Lights Music, his own Elm & Oak records and has played some of the biggest festivals in the world, The Disco Fries, American electronic music duo that has collaborated with Tiesto and Calvin Harris, and Bradley Kohn, multiplatinum music engineer and producer working for such artists as Pendulum, Drumsound & Bassline Smith, The Qemists and Coldcut.
Magnetic Magazine offered the details of the prizes to be awarded:
Grand Prize
The first prize winner will not only get $3,000 spending money at Guitar Center, but he/she will be flown out to Los Angeles to be mentored by Paper Diamond, and other professionals in varying fields of the music industry. In addition to the Guitar Center spree, and mentorship, your track will be promoted across social media channels garnering 1,000,000+ followers with additional promotion on YourEDM.com, and Tunerise's SoundCloud and Spotify accounts. The winner will also get a Novation Circuit, and custom V-Moda headphones.
2nd Prize
The second prize winner will receive a $1,000 shopping spree at Guitar Center. They will also get blog promotion for their track through our partners, plus extra promo across social media, and a featuring on TuneRise's Spotify and SoundCloud. A Novation Launch Pad valued at $139 will also be included.
Top 5 Finalists
The top five finalists will each get $200 gift cards to Guitar Center plus a shout out on YourEDM.com, social media promotion, and additional promo on TuneRise's SoundCloud and Spotify. Finally, all semi-finalists will receive extra blog promo, and social media exposure to help kickstart their career.
TuneRise will launch with an inaugural contest that delves deep into the world of electronic dance music to find the next innovative DJ or electronic music producer. Artists can sign up HERE. Submissions are accepted until the final deadline on January 10, 2016.