Month: January 2016

The search for Ireland’s greatest cover version begins afresh on January 17 with the return of the hugely popular Le Crunch Apple of My Eye Song Contest. Super healthy apple brand Le Crunch from France have teamed up with JOE.ie to launch a nationwide search for Ireland’s best undiscovered musical talent.

Thousands of aspiring musicians and singers have entered the competition to date, showcasing an immense depth of talent from the four corners of Ireland. Amazing interpretations of well-known songs have wowed past judges, and now Le Crunch from France and JOE.ie are asking the public to record their favourite cover version (on video or MP3) and enter it to be in with a chance of winning €2,500 in cash prizes.

The public will be asked to enter the competition through Joe.ie and a panel of music industry judges – Niamh Farrell (HamsandwicH), Paddy McKenna (RTE and Joe.ie) and Shane Dunne (Indiependence Festival Director) – will select the top ten tunes to go through to a National Semi-Final. The public will then be given the opportunity to vote for the final five.

Dublin’s most iconic music venue, Whelan’s, will host a National Final on Wednesday, March 9, featuring the judges’ favourite five in front of a live audience.

“It’s a great opportunity for budding Irish artists to have their talents showcased to a huge audience,” says Paddy McKenna, “and also have their song checked out by some influential people from the Irish music industry. We’re looking forward to hearing what is out there and during the competition we’ll be hosting some of the best songs and videos on JOE.ie and Her.ie.”

Sandrine Gaborieau, Marketing Director of Le Crunch from France, said, “We’ve been thrilled with the quality and amount of entries that the competition has received in previous years and it has been a privilege to help discover such new and exciting talent. We’re once again looking forward to hearing another superb batch of songs.”

The Le Crunch Apple of My Eye Song Contest 2016 opens for submissions on Monday, January 17 through JOE.ie and the deadline for entries is Friday, February 12.

www.ouitolecrunch.com

Spotify have recently teamed up with Genius to add annotations to songs featuring in their ‘Behind The Lyrics’ playlists.

Genius currently has the world’s largest collection of song lyrics and crowdsourced musical knowledge, which will add a new dimension to the Spotify experience and change the service from that of a passive experience to something much more immersive.

At the moment the service is restricted to the above playlist subset but it is thought that future collaboration with Genius will result in lyric writers being able to annotate their works and give fans of the songs an insight into the creative process, fun facts or the story behind the song across all licensed catalogue on the platform.

IMRO members can access the Genius website to see what the service has to offer in the meantime.

Grand Prize Has Been Increased To $20,000 Cash (US)

January 26, 2016 – Unsigned Only Music Competition announced today its judging panel for the 2016 competition, which is now accepting entries. The panel consists of high-profile recording artists and journalists who will select the winners in 13 categories representing a wide variety of genres of music.

Unsigned Only is open to solo artists, bands, and singers who are not signed to a major label record company. Unsigned Only is looking for outstanding, talented artists, newcomers or veterans, and accepts both original and cover songs.

This year, Unsigned Only has increased its Grand Prize to $20,000 in cash (US) this year – plus additional merchandise. The Grand Prize winner will also receive one-on-one mentoring from a group of music industry executives, ranging from label presidents to heads of A&R. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to directly network with the top record company professionals and get advice, guidance, feedback, and networking opportunities. A First, Second, and Third Place winner will also be selected in each category.

Artists may enter into any of the following categories: Adult Album Alternative (AAA) Adult Contemporary (AC); Americana; Christian; Country; EDM (Electronic Dance Music); Folk/Singer-Songwriter; R&B/Hip-Hop; Rock; Pop/Top 40; Screen Shot; Teen; and Vocal Performance.

“We are thrilled to be able to give away $20,000 this year to our Grand Prize winner,” say Founders/Directors Candace Avery and Jim Morgan. “What all artists need the most is cash, and $20,000 can go a long way toward helping them with a new CD, a tour, a van, or whatever they might need.”

Judges include: Aimee Mann; R. City; The Killers; Bone Thugs N Harmony; The Struts; Dustin Lynch; Kelly Price; Darryl McDaniels (Run DMC); Aaron Shust; Rapsody; Hayes Carll; Kool and the Gang; David Crowder; Lucero; Colt Ford; The Turnpike Troubadours; Frank Foster; Kyle Anderson (Senior Writer, Entertainment Weekly); Josh Jackson (Co-Founder and Editor-In-Chief, Paste Magazine); Anthony DeCurtis (Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone); Zach Long (Associate Editor, Time Out Chicago); Michael Molenda (Editor-In-Chief, Guitar Player); Jim Farber (Music Critic); Lyndsey Parker (Managing Editor, Yahoo Music); Jed Gottlieb (Music & Theater Writer, Boston Herald); Matthew Meadow (Editor-In-Chief, Your EDM); Kevin McNeese (President, NewReleaseToday); Andy Herman (Music Editor, LA Weekly); Sarah Jones (Editor, Electronic Musician Magazine); Chelsea Perry; Sasha Geffen (Consequence of Sound); and more.

For entry and general information, please go to http://www.unsignedonly.com

Want to find out how to get ahead in the music industry? Are you a singer ? Musician? Manager? Then MIX ’16 might be for you. The Music Industry Xplained course is the essential how-to guide for anyone seeking a career in music.

Brought to you by Hot Press, MIX ‘16 is a 13 week series of exclusive lectures by top industry experts and distinguished professionals from the Irish and international music industry. Spanning a wide range of subjects including Music Marketing, Publicity, Image Development, Record Production, Music Publishing, Radio, Finance, Touring and Distribution, Mix ’16 will run one for day a week for 13 weeks in Dublin City Centre.

The course kicks off on the 2nd February and places are limited and in extremely high demand so head over to www.hotpress.com/mix/enrolment now for more details on how to secure your place. Alternatively you can email Louise Zayed – louise@nullhotpress.ie or call 01 2411500.

Music Generation and The Contemporary Music Centre are working together to develop a mutual understanding of best practice in relation to composers engaging with children and young people in a Performance Music Education context within Music Generation.

Composers and Music Generation musicians/coordinators are invited to attend a session to learn more about the residency-type composition projects which Music Education Partnerships around the country are developing and the work opportunities these present for composers.

Tuesday, 2 February 2016, 10.00am – 12.30pm in the Contemporary Music Centre Library, 19 Fishamble Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 8. Booking required. To book tel: 01-673 1922 or email Leanne on lfitzgerald@nullcmc.ie

On Friday 5 February, 15 traditional flute and whistle players will compete for the Seán Ó Riada Gold Medal in a final to be broadcast live on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, and this year for the first time a Musicians’ Convention will be held on Saturday as part of the weekend’s events, intended to help and advise traditional musicians on a host of subjects. The events will take place in the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork.

Munster musicians are to the fore in this year’s final, with four competitors from Cork, two from Clare, one from Kerry and one from Tipperary. The youngest competitor is Eimhear Flannery from Rockchapel in Mallow, Co. Cork, who is just 11 years old, and Seán Gavin will be the musician who will travel the furthest to compete, all the way from Chicago.

This year’s judges are esteemed musicians Mary Bergin, Patsy Hanly and Mick O’Connor, and the final will be broadcast live on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta from 7 pm on Friday 5 February.

The Musicians’ Convention on Saturday will run from 2 pm to 5 pm, with speakers from the music industry giving talks on funding opportunities, publicity, insurance, copyright, marketing and publishing, amongst other topics. Speakers will include representatives from IMRO, the Arts Council and Gael Linn, and entry is €5. Musicians interested should register by emailing claru@nullcuireadhchunceoil.ie .

There is a full schedule of speakers for the Convention at www.rte.ie/rnag

Saturday evening’s events will be completed by a free concert at 8 pm with several of the past winners of the Seán Ó Riada Gold Medal, as well as this year’s winner.

The weekend’s event have been sponsored by RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, Iontaobhas Fódhla, Gael Linn, Rochestown Park Hotel, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, IMRO, Ealaín na Gaeltachta and GaelTaca.