Mayhem winner, CMJ contest, new Mindwalk Blvd single

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We are pleased to announce Once Pure as the winning band of the Rockstar Mayhem Festival contest. With thousands of votes tallied on www.picktheband.com, the metal quintet from Ohio has won a performance at an exclusive Backstage VIP event on the July 31st date in Cleveland.

There was some question about the number of fans each band has on Pick The Band. For the record, it has nothing to do with how the voting happens. We get thousands of votes and some do not add a band as their friend. It’s that simple.

Now PickTheBand.com and CMJ are offering a band the opportunity to be a part of the CMJ Music Marathon. The winning band on PickTheBand.com will win a highly-coveted chance to perform at the CMJ Music Marathon College Day Lunch. The College Day Lunch, presented by PickTheBand.com, brings together leaders from the music biz and college radio. Past performers have included Billy Bragg, Matthew Sweet, Fountains of Wayne, Iggy Pop and more.

Registration has already begun on www.PickTheBand.com and will end August 25th, 2009. The contest will begin on Sept 1st and voting will run through Sept 30th. The performance will take place on Oct. 22nd in NYC.

Once all the submissions are in they will be reviewed by our panel of judges that include top producers, managers, agents and members of Pick The Band. The top bands will proceed to the fan voting competition, where the winner will be chosen.
Bands should go to PickTheBand.com and submit the following:
• An original music video

Selected bands will also be asked to submit:
• 2 original MP3s
• A live performance video
• 15 band photos

Bands will have a chance to win additional prizes as well. Fans wishing to vote can register as well at PickTheBand.com and will win a variety of great prizes.

MINDWALK BLVD NEW SINGLE

Mindwalk Blvd, one of the winning bands to sign with Pick The Band records have just released their new single, “What Do You Say”, produced by Mudrock. The song is already receiving rave reviews and is sure to garner yet more attention for the prog trio from Boston. Check it out on HERE.

Roie

ASCAP “I Create Music” Expo 2009

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This past week was the ASCAP “I Create Music” Expo in Los Angeles. Pick The Band hosted the attendee showcase on Friday night in front of a large crowd of a few hundred people. I was honored to be asked to host the event. Of course Adam Ezra Group won the opportunity to perform. Unfortunately, the band had to honor a prior commitment and was unable to perform. Don’t worry, the band still won the contest and will be heading into the studio very soon. We will keep you posted.
Ghost of Gloria was able to fill in and performed along with Mindwalk Blvd at the event. The bands sounded great and their performances were amazing.
For those who have never attended, the Expo is a great tool for aspiring songwriters and performers. You can meet a lot of accomplished writers and producers and learn quite a bit from the seminars. We hope to host again next year, so make sure to check it out then.
In other news, Mindwalk just finished up some new tracks in the studio that we will be releasing very soon. They are awesome!

The Rockstar Mayhem contest is still accepting registrations. Lots more to come…

Later,
Roie

SXSW, Rockstar Mayhem Festival and the Final Round

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The last week was very busy. Not only were we in the middle of the second round of our current contest on the site but a few of us went to SXSW. For those who have not been, I would highly recommend it. There a thousands of great bands to see and it is a great time. Look for PickTheBand.com to have a showcase or bands featured next year.

We are also pleased to announce our participation with the Rockstar Mayhem Festival for this summer.
Through the Pick The Band website, bands will compete to perform at an exclusive backstage VIP event on the July 31st tour stop in Cleveland, OH. The event will occur after the show and will be attended by tour organizers and the performing bands. This is one band’s great opportunity to perform for their peers in the industry and make a name for themselves. Bands will have a chance to win additional prizes as well. Registration has already begun on the www.PickTheBand.com and will continue through May 25th, 2009.
The contest itself will begin on June 1st and voting will run through June 30th

On to bigger and more important news: THE FINAL ROUND.

After thousands of votes we are down to Adam Ezra Group, Anodize and Chasing Arrows. Not only have these bands done a fantastic job of getting their fans behind them on this contest, but they seem to have won over our thousands of Pick The Band regulars as well. All three bring something different and are really great. We are pleased to have them all involved with out site. Next stop for the winner, the ASCAP Expo.

Bands Announced For Pick The Band-ASCAP Contest

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After months of reviewing submissions, we have selected the 15 bands to compete in our Pick The Band-ASCAP Contest. It is always hard to pick from all the music and videos we get, but I am very pleased with the diverse group we have this time around. This is also our first contest with bands from all over the country from Florida to California.
This is an exciting opportunity for the bands and for us. ASCAP’s “I Create Music” EXPO is the one place where artists can connect face to face with other music creators and industry experts, find out what the future holds for the music business and learn how to develop their craft and make music their career! And for an upcoming artist it is a great opportunity for exposure. The winning band will get the opening slot on the showcase night of April 24th.
In addition, the winning band will be put in the recording studio as is the plan for every contest we do. So far our bands have recorded with Don Gilmore (Linkin Park) and Mudrock (Avenged Sevenfold). That’s a really great track record that we plan on continuing.

The 15 bands are the following:
Adam Ezra Group – Massachusetts (MA)
Anodize – Florida (FL)
Atom Smash – Florida (FL)
Awake! Awake! – Tennessee (TN)
Bhive – New York (NY)
Chasing Arrows – Virginia (VA)
Columbia Fields – Connecticut (CT)
Ericson – Massachusetts (MA)
Evan Spade – Texas (TX)
Heros Last Mission – California (CA)
Hydrosonic – Florida (FL)
in Violent Times – Florida (FL)
Phantods – Ohio (OH)
The Hush Now – Massachusetts (MA)
Wait For Green – Florida (FL)

Good luck to all the bands! Please vote everyday.

Roie
Pick The Band

Welcome to PickTheBand.com

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Welcome to the Pick The Band.com blog.  Since this is the first posting, I thought I would kick it off by saying why I decided to start Pick The Band.  We’ve all heard about the problems in the music industry and how things are getting worse.  What became apparent to me was that there has never been a better time for unsigned bands and new artists to get heard.  There are so many avenues to expose your music and build a fan base.   I am not going to go so far as to say that the labels have become useless.  On the contrary.  To get to that certain point where you are a major artist, you still need a label.  Where the majors get stuck is the overhead and everything that comes with running those businesses.

That’s where we see Pick The Band.com fitting.  The goal of PTB is to offer an alternative to the majors as a label that can offer exactly what the fans want and do it in a way that is more effective and efficient.  As a fan of many underground bands, my thought was that perhaps if these bands got the marketing dollars, maybe they would be big.  Who keeps deciding for all of us which bands we should be listening to?  If this was your average record label, I could pick which bands I like, pump millions into them and be totally wrong on if they were good.  Instead, we are letting our thousands of fans pick for us from our pool of bands.  And so far so good.

With the two previous contests in South Florida and in Boston we were fortunate enough to come away with two fantastic bands.  Ghost of Gloria won our South Florida contest and they are a great rock band with great songs.  We did only sign on to do only one track for them, but we think they have all the potential in the world.  Producer Don Gilmore thought they were fantastic.  Take a listen to “The Evidence.”

Mindwalk Blvd won our Boston contest and frankly, we can’t believe they weren’t signed already.  They already had a huge YouTube presence and a pretty large fan base.  One thing is apparent when seeing these kids perform live…They are amazing.  We did sign them and they are heading into the studio in the next couple of weeks.  Keep an eye on these kids.

So why do we want videos?  Well, as proven on the web, video is what works.  If you want fans to pay attention, vote for you and get to know you as a band, then just playing an mp3 will not accomplish that.  The song is always the most important thing, but the visual gets the point across.  If bands don’t have a video we stress putting something simple together with  pics and footage to an mp3.

The site is growing and we have have tons of bands signing up everyday.    Of course, the downside is not every band can win and get signed.  We do have the best intentions of finding great bands and helping them expand on their careers.   We thank you all for your interest.

Roie

Pick The Band