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Brands & Merch Business News
Sony Xperia confirms talent search, giving away a single deal
By Aly Barchi | Published on Thursday 22 May 2014
Sony Mobile’s Xperia line has allied with Talenthouse, a website that aims to enable creative collaboration and all that shizzle, for a new talent search for the ‘next big thing’ in pop. Oh yes. One of them.
Open to soloists, bands and musicians of a pop and/or “indie, rock, EDM, hip-hop, R&B or singer-songwriter” persuasion, aged eighteen and over, the online/on-phone competition’s end prize is a “digital single deal” with Sony Music UK, with “options” for an LP release too. So that’s nice.
Acts are invited to upload an original track, via this site, by 8 Jul. Tracks will then be deliberated over by the likes of Epic A&R/co-MD Steven Melrose, Columbia Records’ Head Of Radio Sam Potts and Syco strategist Genevieve Ampaduh, who’ll also advise the overall winner on the various ways to make hits.
A paid-for trip to London, plus promotion and PR for the winning single, are also part of the victory pack. The songs will also be put to a ‘social vote’ amongst the online Talenthouse community, with the most popular act winning a nice round $2000 (or approx £1184).
Now for some words of advice for budding pop stars from Sony A&R man Melrose, who proposes that: “Being smart and understanding what music you make, understanding the market for your music, understanding where that music sits in the bigger picture, if you can understand where you live in your biosphere as an artist and you can make those expectations, you’ve got a chance for a career”.
Potts, meanwhile, adds this: “Persistence is really key. Sometimes when you start out, not everyone gets your music and often it takes sheer drive and determination over a period of time to make people believe in them. Even the biggest artists have had their fair share of no’s early on”.
Back on the competition, David Chapon, Head Of Consumer Engagement at Sony Mobile, says: “There are thousands of music artists and bands out there hungry to have their music heard. If you’ve ever dreamt of securing a record deal, having your music heard by a big audience, and being part of a family of music artists which include many of the world’s best talent, now’s your chance”.
He went on: “This collaboration is powered by Talenthouse, the world’s creative network, which means we are able to discover a high calibre of creatives – in this case music talent – around the world. It gives us a unique opportunity to find a great new music act and give them a record deal with our sister company Sony Music UK as well as offering users of Sony Xperia’s Android app Xperia Lounge exclusive new content”.
