SONG CONTEST BLOG

Congratulations to UK rockers, This Is Radio Freedom, winners of Breaking the Band 2! This Is Radio Freedom emerged from their previous guise as last year’s surprise festival crowd-pleasers VWF, blasting our their electro-tinged, visceral rock ‘n’ roll alongside Iggy Pop and Primal Scream at Almeria’s Natural Festival as well as other venues and festivals including Secret Garden Party and Truck 10. As the winners of Breaking the Band 2, This Is Radio Freedom are currently in the process of working with We Are Listening’s agents to customize their prize package and deliver an unprecedented promotional campaign that includes radio, licensing, representation and more.

We Are Listening have brought together an exceptional panel of judges for an extraordinary international songwriting contest – The Singer/Songwriter Awards – and you only have until the [b]2nd September[/b] to sign up!

Six gifted artists will be flown to London for a luxurious weekend stay at the centrally located, five star myHotel Bloomsbury and an all-inclusive recording session with producer Steve Williams (Sting, Eric Clapton, Seal) at Sphere Studios.

Selected songs will also be represented by We Are Listening and supported through global digital distribution, sync licensing administration and radio promotion.

Artists with a completed master may choose alternative prizes in the form of CD duplication, an 8 week dedicated US radio campaign, 3 months with a music publicist, film and television placements and more.

Catering to all genres of music and artists around the world – signed or unsigned – The Singer/Songwriter Awards is YOUR opportunity to get your music heard, promoted and sold.

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Popkomm, the European music industry conference and festival, has announced YouLicense.com as one of the finalists for the ‘Innovation in Music & Entertainment Award’.

YouLicense.com is an online network for music artists, publishers, labels and other content owners to conduct business directly with media buyers. The online destination allows artists to upload their music, bio and copyright information free of charge. Buyers are then invited to search, bid and license the rights to music they like directly from the artist using customised licensing agreements. There are no fixed fees or terms. It’s an open marketplace.

“Licensing music is a highly complex field. We aim to simplify the process and give equal opportunities to all content owners. In this digital age, people are hungry to license music in the quickest and easiest possible way.” – Maor Ezer, CEO, YouLicense.com

YouLicense.com is non-exclusive and welcomes anyone to upload and offer their music.

www.YouLicense.com

The Independent Music Awards (IMA), an international program that delivers major results for indie releases, recently added new promotional programs that place IMA Winners and Finalists in front of 20 Million music fans and industry decision-makers.

The IMAs also announced the deadline for entries for the upcoming program has been extended. Submissions must now be postmarked by midnight on August 17, 2007.

For the past 7 years, the Independent Music Awards has helped indie artists & releases worldwide overcome mainstream obstacles & reach larger audiences & opportunities.

Supporting nearly 50 album and song categories in a variety of music genres spanning Punk to New Age and design categories including Music Video & Swag, IMA Winners benefit from yearlong promotion, marketing & distribution programs via print, broadcast & online initiatives.

Winners & Finalists credit the program with boosting their visibility among festival bookers, club talent buyers, radio programmers, distributors, industry insiders and fans. Past Winners & Finalists include: Speech, Lacuna Coil, Mary Gauthier, Sugarcult, Chris Whitley, Richard Julian, Eleni Mandel, The Mooney Suzuki , Girlyman, Dan Bern, Sweet Honey in The Rock, Bitter:Sweet and God Forbid.

New Sponsors Will Place IMA Winners

Produced by Music Resource Group, publisher of The Musician’s Atlas & co-sponsored by mega retailer, Borders Books & Music; online retail giant eMusic; radio promotion gurus, The Planetary Group; digital networks, ManiaTV & HavocTV; Burnside Distribution; social networking community, Trig.com and radio tracking service, MediaGuide, IMA Winners are promoted to more than 20 Million music fans & key industry players including Radio Programmers, Talent Buyers, Film, TV & Gaming Music Supervisors and Music Press.

Judges For The 7th Annual IMA Program Include: Ray Davies, Suzanne Vega, Les Claypool, Snoop Dogg, Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Mavis Staples, Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance), Angelique Kidjo, Tim Pagnotta (Sugarcult), Duncan Sheik, Judy Collins, Rob Wasserman, Chuck Comeau (Simple Plan), Charlie Musselwhite, Mobb Deep, Susan Tedeschi, MickDeth (18 Visions), Martin Atkins (Public Image Ltd./Nine Inch Nails), Ice-T, Carrie Hughes (MTV Music Supervisor), Anthony DeCurtis (Rolling Stone Contributing Editor), Kevin Lyman (Vans Warped Tour Creator/Producer), Stefan Goldby (Mania TV Music Programming), Chris Douridas (Tastemaker/KCRW DJ), Mike Errico (Blender.com Editor).

Program Highlights Include:

• Winning songs and contact information are promoted to over 10 million Borders Books & Music customers in 12 consecutive weekly “Shortlist” opt-in eNewsletters. The artist’s own releases will be available for purchase at the BordersStores.com site.

• The IMA Winners “Now Hear This” CD is promoted to more than 1 Million eMusic subscribers.

• IMA Jukeboxes feature artist music and contact info. All IMA Finalists are included in the Vox Populi Jukebox which allows music fans to vote for their favorite songs.

• The Winners of this Vox Populi Poll are also promoted to press and industry.

New Sponsors Will Place IMA Winners

• 10,000 copies of the IMA Winners CD compilation is distributed to music fans & industry pros at international music conferences, festivals, Spring Break & other events throughout the year.

• The sampler, promoted at 650+ US & Canadian college & public stations by leading promotions company, The Planetary Group, routinely places in the Top 1-25 CMJ charts.

• Winners & Finalists to be promoted to more than 9 Million viewers at digital broadcast sites including ManiaTV.com & HavocTV.com.

• Winners & Finalists to be promoted to Trig.com, MySpace & other social networking communities.

Entries must be postmarked by midnight August 17, 2007.

Prince angers British music retailers with a promotional distribution deal that will make his latest album, “Planet Earth”, worthless for traditional CD stores in the UK, a sector in the music industry already facing rapidly declining CD sales.

Last Sunday, The Mail on Sunday, a British tabloid with an estimated 2.9 million copies sold, packaged “Planet Earth” with its newspaper as an unprecedented promotional giveaway.

Sunday papers are a British gem and often include various added-value magazines, digests, CDs and other eye-catching purchase incentives at a premium price point. This, however, is the first time we see an artist release an entire album in exclusive association with a newspaper as opposed to the traditional or even modern, digital means.

It is not yet clear how much Prince was paid for this campaign and how he intends to milk it (i.e. UK tour, merchandising). This controversial step appears to mirror Paul McCartney’s alliance with Starbucks earlier in the year. I think that while record companies are scrambling for marketing ideas and music retailers fighting for dear life, artists – and a new breed of artist managers – are crossing over to alternative media for mass, public penetration and leaving a weeping music infrastructure for dust.

To the determent of music retailers, the potential for something like this is obvious and exponential. Let’s face it, Prince is not where he used to be – neither is Paul McCartney – so a massive push by a media giant to blitz its readership with a new product may generate some very satisfying, financial returns for all. All except the music retailers, that is.

Is the album any good? It doesn’t matter. When 2.9 million people receive the same CD, on the same day, around the same time, the artist formerly known as.. is, now, the artist at the very fore.

Breaking the Band from We Are Listening is every song contest, licensing, press, booking, touring and festival showcasing opportunity rolled into one. We’ve created an enormous independent artist campaign with a major label budget. This may be the single, largest investment in any emerging artist’s career by an independent music company.