SONG CONTEST BLOG

Audiolife is an LA-based artist services company founded in 2005 by three USC graduates.  Their mission is “to create a middle-class in the music industry by giving all artists simple tools to generate revenue so they can spend time on what they love and do best – make music!”.  Currently in public beta, the company announced this week that it will be accepting submissions for its “Artist Advancement Scholarship”, an initiative geared toward college level music school students, artists and otherwise, in pursuit of a professional career in the music industry.  Don’t let the inclusion of the word “scholarship” fool you though; this is a writing exercise where $500 cash is on the table for one winner, not a scholarship application to potentially finance your future academic studies.  I imagine that Audiolife is seeking to achieve two things with this campaign, the first is to establish the company’s perceived value and, the second, to  draw more users to learn about their offering by writing competitively about it.  Personally, I would prefer to reward the best ten applications with $50 each and use their essays as original content on the site to raise Audiolife’s natural search ranking…

Applications must be received no later than 11:59 p.m. PST on April 1, 2009, in the form of an essay addressing the question, “How do you see Audiolife affecting the music industry in the next two or three years?”, in 1000 words or less.  Students in any accredited academic university or music institution enrolled at least part-time during the 2009 academic school year are eligible.  A winner will be selected by Audiolife’s management team and announced by April 20th, 2009.  Essays should be emailed to Travis Dean at travis[at]audiolife.com