Caroline & Focusrite Want To Give You A Record Deal

shannon-saunders

Focusrite has teamed up with Caroline Music International, a division of Universal Music Group, to offer one YouTube performer the possibility of a recording contract.

All you need to do to enter is record and upload a YouTube video of yourself singing and performing an original song on an instrument, and submit it through the competition page. There’s no fee to enter. 

Heres the official competition intro video, featuring Caroline recording artist Shannon Saunders:

The competition starts at 9:00 a.m. GMT (5:00 a.m. EDT) on March 10, 2015, and runs through 4:00 p.m. GMT (12:00 p.m. EDT) on June 10, 2015.

At that point, a panel of judges will pick 10 eligible performers that show the most potential. The panel will hand them over to the team at Caroline, who will then pick the winner.

See the contest site for details.

15 thoughts on “Caroline & Focusrite Want To Give You A Record Deal

    1. Oh dear. Another one of those conceited nudniks who denies the importance of anything that happened before his own birth? I will bet you cannot go a day without texting, can you? It may be a cloud based world but you are all alone without a leg up and it can be a slog. Granted, contests are always publicity stunts, but if it works for someone, it is just as valid as anything else.

      1. Chill out, it was a sarcastic comment about the appropriateness of posting something that really amounts to a singer songwriter Youtube pop contest on Synthtopia.

  1. ‘The entrant grants Focusrite a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free, licence to use the Performance as part of promoting the Competition and for any marketing activities in connection with the iTrack Pocket, YouTube or the Competition. ‘

    yes, guys, finally another chance to work for free and give away your creativity!

    at least the winner gets a lot of money. ah, no, sorry. the winner gets a contract with conditions not even mentioned.

  2. A record deal is a worthy thing, if it is a 1980’s style deal – big retainer, years of pay checks while you perfect your music and get quality studio time with a big producer. But this states on the site: “What are the details of the record deal? The record deal will involve marketing, promotion and distribution of a record internationally.” So I guess the deal is they take 90% of your sales for making a few phone calls and maybe the odd advert. Also the details state that you need to be a solo artist, who can sing live while performing an instrument live and play only original material – which is a very narrow remit in today’s world – on that strength they wouldn’t sign someone like Calvin Harris or Rihanna – as they want a 1980’s style artist without giving that artist 1980’s style support. And what is distribution in today’s world? With CD’s on demand and £5 getting a EP on every major online distributor – so you are really talking marketing and promotion, which are the really the same bloody thing. The thing to realize here is that if you are good enough to get a record deal from a youtube video, then you are good enough to be highly successful without a record deal. It just means that you need to place aside a bit of time to do simple PR, setup a few gigs and upload music for sale – or get a partner to manage that stuff for you who is paid on results – they work for you, and not the other way around. Sure they are likely to have a professional team and resources to get you more sales but they are taking all the money for themselves for that – so you only need 1/10 of those sales to get the same money as independent self-supported talent. Anyone can do what that record deal is doing for them from the comfort of their home with a few hours work, with complete creative control and the ability to dynamical adapt to the market. And anyone could setup a record label for little money offering the same level of support – you would need to be a lazy arsed loon to sign a deal of this kind in today’s world. The only upside I can see is bragging rights, I got a record deal – but most people would mock you once they read the details of that deal.

  3. Yeah it’s not the 1980’s anymore, no one cares for a record deal, music is free to make and free to consume – just get a day job.

Leave a Reply to RabidBat Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *