New music contest TuneBreaker is offering a £10,000 people-powered New Music Award for unsigned emerging and independent artists. Free registration opens on 11.11.10 and all artists must be fully signed up by midnight latest on 20.11.10. After signing up, artists will upload 2 original recordings in the form of MP3s for which they must own the recording copyright. Publishing can be owned by a 3rd party provided they are original compositions (cleared samples both recording & compositions are allowed). These songs will be placed in to the SLV system and be priced at £0.60 per song. For each MP3 sold one vote will be awarded. The TuneBreaker Live Chart™ will refresh and update the position of how many votes between each artist in the top 100. So what happens with the money? TuneBreaker finds it totally ironic that musicians are forced to give away their music. We want to help stop this and that is why the TuneBreaker New Music Award™ was created by fans globally wanting to discover new real music and also happy to buy it. Artists will receive 50% of the net revenue from each sale, which we estimate will be @ £0.18p per MP3 sale. The equivalent royalty on a 12 track album would be @ £2.16 and remind us, which label pays that royalty again? Even if you don't make it to the top 100 or even the top 50 you have the ability to sell yourselves & your music to a global fanbase. You will come away with your rights intact, a great feel good factor, promotion to the world and more fans.

LINKS:
www.tunebreaker.com
www.twitter.com/tunebreaker
www.facebook.com/pages/TuneBreaker/153903081306878

SongLink is proud to be a a Premier Sponsor of the Indie International Songwriting Contest, now in its third year and currently open for entries for the Spring 2011 contest which closes on April 30th 2011. Why is the Indie International Songwriting Contest so unique? 1) Because we limit our entries - you will not be competing with hundreds of other entries in your genre. The maximum number will be 150 - and you could be three of them! This gives you a much greater chance to be recognized for your outstanding talent. We award the top 10 per genre. That's a minimum of 7% of song entries that will be rewarded for their songwriters' talents because of our limited submission numbers! You won't find that percentage anywhere. 2) You know exactly who scored or critiqued your song - most other song contests tell you that they have a prestigious list of judges on their roster. But what songs will they listen to? Unfortunately, probably not your song, and maybe none of them! Or you may pay for a critique with another contest - but it doesn't come from your judge! ALL songwriters get to log in after the contest to review their score or detailed critique and a link to the respected professional who did the scoring. If you pay for a critique, you will be able to use quotes from your entry in your bio because you know who wrote it! We do not or nor will we ever use "song screeners". This contest is about recognizing great songs.

LINKS:
www.indieinternational.com

We ran this competition last year for 2009 it was such a success with over 2000 entrants we just had to do it again. Last year the winning writer received a publishing deal with Respect Music, also the winning song was re recorded and released on iTunes. This year as well as the publishing offer, and release on iTunes, the winning song will be re recorded and produced by David Stevens and Trevor Murrell who between them have been on over 250 million hit records, and between them have worked with  Wham!, Matt Bianco, Des'ree, Sade and Joe Cocker,  Ray Charles, Michael Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Lional Richie, Debbie Harry , The Bee Gees to name a few. A video of the winning song will also be made. Each writer can enter up to 3 songs, which cannot be instrumentals. There is an entry fee of £5.00 per song or 3 songs for £10.00. The judges include David Stevens, Trevor Murrell, Michael Cohen of MPC Entertainment, David Palmer mixer/producer (Sugababes), an A&R person from Universal and Caz Stevens of Lemon Soda Music.

LINKS:
www.lemonsodamusic.com
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Presents an Audience with FranKo (How a New Band Can Hit the Chart with a Debut Single)
On Tuesday 16 November, Chris Craker will introduce his new band, FranKo at a special City Showcase Session at London's Apple Store in Regent Street. Chris has operated at the very forefront of the music industry for over 25 years. He has won numerous awards and been acclaimed for his activities as a performer, recording artist, composer, arranger, producer/engineer, record  label founder, artist manager, author, crtic, industry commentator, strategic advisor, and most recently as the General Manager and Senior VP of the International Division of Sony BMG Masterworks, where he maintained offices in both London and New York. He resigned from that position in April 2008 and is now fully independent once more.
FranKo (www.myspace.com/frankoUK) commenced a ten week 'single' campaign from November 1st utilizing all the very latest digital marketing tools and social networking opportunities and techniques, all backed up the most important part - a great song! FranKo will perform live at the event, and the band, Chris and their digital support team (including Patrick Ross from Delta 9 and Duncan Reid from Tunited) will discuss and demonstrate exactly how they are building a marketing campaign for their debut single from the bottom up (from a great song to chart placement) in the vibrant, fast moving and exciting music business landscape of the 21st century. Learning from the past and understanding the future is key. This will be an interactive session and will give you an opportunity to talk with the band and with Chris and his team of digital experts. The Session will start at 7pm so arrive early to secure your front row seats!
Meanwhile, City Showcase will take place in London on 5-8 May 2011, and intends to shine a light on yet more emerging artistry as well as give creative and career advice to budding musicians. City Showcase has a great record of spotting tomorrow's emerging talent today: Keane, Razorlight, Amy Winehouse, Scouting for Girls and NDubz all performed at the festival before they became the household names we know today. Artists wanting to apply should go to www.cityshowcase.com or register via www.sonicbids.com.

LINKS:
City Showcase