Talent urgency

User-generated competition

What?: The music industry get user-generated. The search is on for DJ’s, unsigned bands, new advertising campaigns and band managers:

* Channel 4 – in conjunction with Sony Ericsson and Orange – is to embark on a new talent search to uncover the best unsigned act in the UK. MobileAct Unsigned will consist of a 12-week show, with the eventual winner earning themselves a major record deal.

* Virgin Radio is launching a ‘talent’ ‘search’ for DJs. The winner of ‘Christian’s Opportunity Knocks’ will get a two-month contract to front a two-hour weekend show.

* Kiss Radio is set to launch a print and TV advertising campaign that has been entirely created by one of its audience. The initiative Kiss Life campaign will see listeners creating a 30 second video themed around ‘What Kiss means to me’.

* VIPbandmanager is recruiting wannabe band managers. 50,000 of them. For a £20 fee managers get to participate in the creative process of raising a band to stardom, from choosing a drummer and producers right through to promotional and touring activities.

So what?: The rise in user-generated content and the won’t-go-away aspect of TV talent shows have given rise to a raft of music industry opportunities.

Band searches and the Virgin Radio DJ are relatively uninspired, and a campaign to create advertising just seems downright desperate. VIPBandmanger, despite being Sellaband under a different guise, at least offers up a way of utilising collective rather than individual talent. However sometimes even one band manager is too many, imagine having 50,000.

There are also some dangers of perception attached to UGC competitions. Malibu Caribbean Rum, had a recent user generated video contest blow up in their faces. The competition offered up a $25k prize and fell foul of many entrants who alleged the contest was rigged. The contestants then went on to use their combined talents to publicly attack the company via user-generated complaints.

www.vipbandmanager.com

www.mobileact.co.uk