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Carol Keogh wins Unsigned and Online title

June 15, 2012

Dublin-based singer-songwriter wins top prize in competition run by Microsoft and MUZU TV to find Ireland’s best unsigned act

Singer-songwriter Carol Keogh has been announced as the winner of Unsigned and Online, a competition to promote independent Irish music. Unsigned and Online was the collaboration of Microsoft and MUZU TV, in association with IMRO, designed to challenge unsigned musicians to use various Microsoft products and digital media to promote their band. Over the past ten weeks bands and artists from around the country battled it out to win points online and vie for the Number 1 spot. The artists’ videos were viewed nearly 100,000 times.

Carol Keogh walks away an amazing prize worth over €10,000. The prize consists of a digital marketing campaign across Microsoft platforms, including Windows Live and MSN, Ireland’s number one portal, an acoustic session in MUZU TV’s studio and a slot on stage at an upcoming gig at Dublin’s The Academy.

Carol’s song ‘Into the Blue’ beat off some stiff competition from second placed Policy with ‘Suggestion Box’ and The Last Crash with ‘Melt Me’ in third.


Carol Keogh – Into the Blue on MUZU.TV.

Dublin-based Carol has been working the music scene for a number of years, writing, performing and recording with various bands, such as The Plague Monkeys and The Tycho Brahe. She has been performing as a solo artist since 2008 and is currently demoing tracks with her backing band The City Fathers for her forthcoming debut album, which will be called ‘Mongrel City’.

Making the announcement, Orla Sheridan, Consumer Channels Group Manager at Microsoft, said: “We are thrilled for Carol on winning Unsigned and Online, ‘Into the Blue’ is a really great song. Carol has shown a real determination throughout her music career and the win will give her added exposure to help with her continued success.

She added: “We know that there are countless bands and musicians around Ireland using digital and social media as a powerful tool to gain and maintain their fan base. The power of online has been shown time and again as unsigned acts try to exploit its full potential by sharing their music. But it’s not just about making your music accessible; people need to know where to find you. That’s the reason Microsoft and MUZU TV came together to launch Unsigned and Online. We merged the best of Windows Live technologies, such as Hotmail and SkyDrive with MUZU’s reach and expertise to deliver a platform that really delivered exposure for the acts. SkyDrive from Microsoft is the best way to share documents, photos and videos on the web and across your devices.”

Ciaran Bollard, CEO at MUZU TV said: “Unsigned and Online is a great example of what can be achieved by harnessing the power of the internet and technology to record music and create music videos at a fraction of what it used to cost for artists.  There is an incredible amount of talent out there and Unsigned and Online is a chance for Irish artists to gain nationwide and international exposure.”

Carol has previously released two albums with The Plague Monkeys in the late 90’s and, while performing with The Tycho Brahe, she was nominated for Best Female Singer at the 2002 Meteor Awards. The band was also nominated that year for Best Irish Band.

On winning Unsigned and Online, Carol said: “It’s great to have won the competition, which was based on votes from the public, and the timing couldn’t be better. Digital and social media are the bedrock for unsigned musicians as it allows us to share our music with large groups of people. The exposure that I will get through the prize from Microsoft and MUZU will help greatly in getting my album finished and ready for release.”

All of the tracks are still available to view on www.muzu.tv/unsignedandonline.

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