2010 auditions kicked off at the start of August and are travelling across the country in the search for the UK’s best singers, singer/songwriters, rappers and vocalists. It’s open to all genres, so whether you’re into RnB, Rap, Acoustic, Pop or Classical – Open Mic UK has it all! Acts can perform either covers or original material and they’ll be invited to a live audition in front of the judging panel.

Those who make it through the audition stage will go on to perform across the UK in live shows, in front of a live audience and judging panel, for the chance to sing at the Grand Final at the 02 in London. The panel is made up of industry insiders, A&R, vocal coaches and guest celebrities.

There are plenty of opportunities to win prizes throughout the competition. There’s over £50, 000 worth of prizes up for grabs and the winning act will be offered a recording and management contract to develop their music and release their single. Competing acts will also have the chance to perform live in some of the best music venues in the country.

The competition is divided into age categories; Under 18, 18-24 and 25 and over. All types of singers, vocal performers, groups and acoustic singer/songwriters are invited to enter Open Mic UK. It’s all about finding an act that has the ability to become a professional recording artist.

So, if you think you’ve got what it takes, get on the mic for Open Mic UK 2010!

For dates, venues and more information go to www.openmic.co.uk

The best under the radar artists took to the stage at the Indig02 in London on Saturday 10th July for the chance to be crowned the winner of Live and Unsigned 2010, and it was The Lottery Winners from Leigh who eventually took home the title!

The Lottery Winners battled it out in live auditions and live heats across the country to eventually take away the top spot. They were crowned the UK’s best Live and Unsigned Act on the main stage of the Festival in front of a sold out crowd and an array of industry judges.

Representatives from the music industry were out in force to meet enthusiastic newcomers at the Grand Final of Live and Unsigned, the biggest unsigned music competition in the UK for original artists.

Over 10, 000 acts entered the competition this year, and the Grand Final saw the cream of the UK’s unsigned talent showcase their music in front of thousands of audience members and the judging panel which included Slade’s legendary front man Noddy Holder, Radio 1’s Annie Nightingale, Kerrang’s Alex Baker and RnB star Shola Ama.

The Festival played host to an eclectic mix of artists, with four genre categories performing throughout the day including Rock, Indie, Alternative and Pop/Acoustic/Urban. Category winners included rock band Underline The Sky, acoustic act Sam Garrett and alternative group We Beat The System. But the judges, alongside an energised audience, voted Indie band The Lottery Winners as the overall winner. Their winners package includes a management and recording contract, development of a clothing brand, publicity package and UK tour.

Chris Grayston, judge on the night and head of A&R at Future Music commented ‘The standard this year was fantastic. The competition has grown year on year, and this year has to be the biggest yet. The talent has improved, there have been some fantastic prizes up for grabs, invaluable development opportunities and Grand Finalists played on stage at the best live music venue in the country, the 02 in London. It was a great end to a great year. I am confident we have chosen the right winner. I am looking forward to next year’s competition and working with The Lottery Winners and I’m sure we’re going to be seeing a lot more of them.’

With over 30, 000 registrations in the last three years, Live and Unsigned has cemented its place on the UK music scene as the largest unsigned music competition for under the radar, original artists. The competitions popularity comes from its reputation for encouraging originality and it’ss open to all unsigned acts regardless of genre, so it’s got something for everyone!
Live and Unsigned 2011 auditions begin again in January 2011 and will be travelling across the UK. For more information go to www.LiveandUnsigned.Uk.com Auditions for Future Music’s National competition for solo singers ‘Open Mic UK’ start in August 2010 Openmicuk.co.uk

Check out The Lottery Winners MySpace at; Myspace.com/thelotterywinnersmusic

Samsung Mobile L!ve today announced the launch of ‘Monte Battle of the Bands’ – showcasing the best in live regional music talent from the UK. Unsigned bands will get the chance to play the gig of their lives and they’ll need to pull out their most rock’n’roll dance moves and best guitar strums to win the ultimate prize – studio time worth up to £10,000 to record their own album tracks.

‘Monte Battle of the Bands’ will give unsigned bands the chance to perform in their home regions in front of a Samsung Mobile L!ve audience.

Those wishing to enter should sign up at www.montemobilelive.com and submit a video of their band performing – the best talent will then be invited to battle against each other and have their performances uploaded to the web site after the events. The public will then vote online to decide the overall winners who will receive £10,000 of production time at well renowned recording studio.

All those who vote on line for their favourite band will have the chance to download exclusive Monte Battle of the Bands content for free, once the winners have been announced.

The events will be taking place at the following shopping centres:
Westfield – Merry Hill, Dudley: 22nd – 23rd May

Manchester Arndale: 5th – 6th June

The brand new Samsung Monte has full social networking applications including Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, allowing users to access their favourite bands profiles whenever and wherever they choose.
Advanced Instant Messaging capabilities mean users have access to all their friends at the touch of a screen. Available to buy now, the Monte comes in orange and graphite, or a black and silver design.

The first twenty people (aged 16 or over) on each day to purchase a Monte handset from any of the retailers in the Mobile L!ve shopping centre venues, will receive £50 worth of See vouchers.

Terms and conditions for Monte Battle of the Bands
Bands entering must have more than one person and all members must be aged 18 or over

Winners will be selected by a public on-line vote

No purchase necessary to enter

Full terms and conditions can be found at: www.montemobilelive.com  

With extensive experience in touring, performing and topping the charts, Noddy will be bringing his wealth of experience to the judging panel at the Live and Unsigned Festival this year. Beginning his career at the tender age of 7, Noddy began singing in working men’s clubs and joined a band. He left school at 16 to become a professional musician and after working with several bands, he eventually joined forces with Dave Hill, Don Powell and Jim Lea to form The N’Betweens. The group performed world wide, playing a mixture of RnB, soul and Motown to packed out crowds.

It was in 1969 when Noddy and the band shot to stardom, as they met up with ex-Animals bass player Chas Chandler, who also produced and managed Jimi Hendrix. Changing their name to Slade, the band were catapulted to success during the glam rock era of the 70’s and 80’s.

Noddy’s vocals fronted over 40 hit singles, including six number ones. They released over 20 albums during their career, four reaching the number one spot in the UK and to this date, Slade are the biggest selling UK singles group of the seventies. Noddy composed the majority of the songs, including the hugely successful Merry Xmas Everybody, which was re-released in 2006. It sold over one million copies when it was first released and has been released every decade since 1973.

Although Noddy left the band in 1991, their legacy still lives on as artists today continue to cover their classic tracks including Oasis, James Blunt and Girls Aloud.

A spokesperson for Live and Unsigned commented, “Noddy’s experience in the music industry will undoubtedly be invaluable on the judging panel. He knows exactly what it’s like to be on the road touring and performing to sell out crowds, and he’s enjoyed huge chart success. He has bundles of knowledge on how to make it in the industry, and we’re sure acts in the competition will be excited to hear he’s on the panel!”

Nowadays, Noddy is always popping up on television and radio and recently presented an award at the 2010 Brit Awards. He has his own radio show in Los Angeles and New York and regularly contributes to BBC Radio 2.

For more information on Live and Unsigned please visit Liveandunsigned.uk.com

Rock Star Energy Drink Logo

Drinks giant Rockstar Energy Drink Rockstar Energy Drink Website have confirmed as a sponsor of the Rock category of Live and Unsigned 2010.

They’ll be at the Live and Unsigned Festival in July at the 02 in London to cast their eye over the finalists in the Rock category, and will be awarding one of the bands an exclusive prize!

They’ll be choosing one band to join their prestigious Rockstar UK roster and will be presenting the award on the main stage of the festival.

The band that wins the award will get a host of prizes including; a monthly delivery of Rockstar Enery Drink for one year to keep them energised on tour, in rehearsals or in the studio, Rockstar apparel including t shirts, sweatbands, hats, accessories and stickers, a profile on www.rockstarenergy.co.uk which is visited by thousands each month, a blog section on the website to blog from the road and special perks like tickets to other Rockstar Energy sponsored events (subject to availability)

Gordon Donald, Market Manager for Rockstar Energy, commented, “Rockstar Energy Drink has always supported unsigned musicians and artists and we look forward to adding a new act to our exciting roster through Live and Unsigned 2010″

A spokesperson for Live and Unsigned commented, “This is such great news for all the Rock finalists. We recognise that it’s extremely hard to gain good, high profile coverage for unsigned bands, so we’re really excited to see what doors this opportunity will open. Rockstar are of course a huge brand, and picking a band for the roster is a huge compliment and privilege. Not only do they get merchandise, but they’ll be able to blog from the road on the Rockstar website – we’re sure the winning band will see a lot of benefit from this!”

For more information on Live and Unsigned the UK’s largest Music Competition please vists liveandunsigned.uk.com

RnB mega star Shola Ama has just confirmed her place on the judging panel at the Live and Unsigned Festival!

Billed as one of Britain’s most successful RnB artists, Shola will be taking her place on the judging panel in July and casting her eye over some of the UK’s best unsigned talent. The London based singers debut album Much Love sold over one million copies and she enjoyed chart success with the top five singles You Might Need Somebody and You’re The One I Love.

The culmination of her critical and commercial success resulted in four MOBO nominations with Shola going on to collect two awards for Best Newcomer and Best RnB. She also impressed the industry and her fans when she was nominated for two Brit awards, taking home the title of Best British Female.

Amongst her many achievements within the music industry, Shola has collaborated on the Glamma Kid single Taboo, reworking the Sade classic to make it her own and scoring her another top ten single. She released her sophomore album, the critically acclaimed In Return, co-writing 11 of the 16 tracks with a host of international writers and producers. She’s worked with legendary names like Darkchild, Babyface, Stargate, Ali Shaheed Muhhammed, Angie Stone and Shaun Labelle. Her single Imagine remixed by Asylum, went on to become one of the biggest club singles of the noughties. Shola co-wrote her third album, Supersonic, which is one of her most personal works to date. Chris Grayston, Events Director of Live and Unsigned, commented, It’s very exciting to have one of the UK’s best RnB acts involved in the competition. She’s had huge chart success, spent years in the studio and knows exactly what it’s like to be in the spotlight. I’m confident that her appearance on the judging panel will be popular! I’m sure most of the acts in the Urban category of the competition will want to ask her lots of questions!

Shola is now back in the studio once again, writing tracks for her fourth studio album, due for release on independent label Dirty Canvas. The new single DJ Play has already received great reviews and lots of airplay! And of course, watch out for her at the Live and Unsigned Festival!

With an extensive background in music and a thirst for unsigned, fresh acts in the UK, Vic’s knowledge and experience is sure to be a hit on the panel!

Currently fronting the BBC Introducing show in Scotland, Vic is obsessed with unsigned and established musicians. He was launched into the world of music after he witnessed his first live concert by The Damned, and as his obsession grew so did his record collection!

Vic began his career as a musician himself. He immersed himself in Rock ‘n’ Roll when he left school and set out to form a band, get into recording and perform music. And to prove his dedication, he busked his way around Europe for 6 months.

Vic moved onto to working on the other side of the industry, writing for fanzines, working as a venue lighting director in Edinburgh, helping to set up and develop independent labels and working as a press and radio promoter. It was when he was prompted to make a tape for his new regional Radio 1 show that he moved onto the airwaves.

Hayley Stovold, Press Officer for Live and Unsigned commented, “It’s fantastic news that Vic’s joining us for the 2010 live shows, he’s a very influential name. He’s already so busy with the station and his packed out events! He’ll be joining a few other famous names from the world of unsigned music, so we’re sure lots of bands will want to ask him lots of questions about the industry! And let’s face it; he’s always after new bands so some bands might even get played on his show!”

Nowadays, Vic fronts the Introducing show in Scotland and also writes and produces his own music – he’s currently working with prog-pop pioneers Deaf Mutes and punk band Family Man. You’ll also find Vic co-running a club night at the Glasgow Barfly every Friday, called the Funhouse. He’s been pulling in crowds of over 400 people for the last three years. He also spends a lot of time DJ’ing in clubs and writing a freelance column for The List magazine.

Vic lives in Edinburgh , likes getting tattooed, eats spicy food and wants World peace…

For more information on Live and Unsigned please visit http://www.rocklinks.co.uk/music-competitions/live-and-unsigned-2010-the-largest-national-music-competition-for-band-singers-and-musicians

Music Crowns are proud to announce the launch of the 2010 Rock Music Crown. Entries are now being accepted for the competition that will be judged by some of the biggest names in the industry.

ENTER HERE: Rockmusiccrown.co.uk

Become a fan at the following link – www.facebook.com/rockmusiccrown

PRIZES INCLUDE:

- Appearance in nationwide television advert for Channel 5, Sky One, Channel 4 and Living TV
- £1000 website package
- 1 Year PR & Management Contract
- The ROCK MUSIC CROWN Trophy!
+more

So what does this Music competition have to offer if you win?

How does £50,000 worth of prizes sound? Includes a Recording contract with Future Music and upto £30,000 worth of Investment.

Auditions
Auditions are held around the country. You will perform, infront of our prestigious judging panel, a live piece. Should you be successful you will be put through to your regional final.

The Live Regional Finals
Successful audtions will give you a place in the regional final. You will perform an original track with your band or backed by a backing track in front of a huge live crowd!

You will be battling for a place in the Grand Final and the Live and Unsigned Festival.

LIVE AND UNSIGNED FESTIVAL & NATIONAL SHOWCASE GRAND FINAL

The big one! The climax of the Music competition!

You could be playing at the The Live and Unsigned Festival! A capacity crowd could be cheering you on and applauding your music! If you win, you’ll be offered a record deal on the spot!

The winners will be thrust into the media spotlight! TV, Radio, Print … You’ll be there!

The country’s best talent, best labels, best producers and best everything music will be at The Live and Unsigned Festival … are you good enough to be there too?!

Judging
The expert panel of judges will be looking out for musical ability, originality and performance capability. They will also be looking at the originality of your image and professionalism on stage. The ultimate job of the judges is to find an act that can be launched in the UK as a major recording artist.

Other Live and Unsigned News

Radio 1 Star Greg James has confirmed his place as a judge.

Popular day time presenter and Radio 1 DJ Greg James has just confirmed his place on the judging panel of Live and Unsigned 2010!

Greg is set to join other top celebs and record industry A&R to cast his eye over unsigned talent at the Live and Unsigned Festival at the 02 in London this July.

Kerrang DJ’s Join the Judging panel
Unsigned expert and popular voice of Kerrang Radio, Alex Baker is set to judge the Live and Unsigned Regional shows and will be bringing his wealth of experience of up and coming bands with him! It’s a double whammy for Kerrang as Alex will be judging alongside fellow presenter Christian Stevenson who confirmed his place on the panel last week.

For more information on Live and Unsigned the UK’s largest Unsigned Band Music Competition please visit Liveandunsigned.uk.com