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| Hugin is surprised to discover an inter-dimensional portal to Global Rockstardom |
Which is what, precisely? Billed as the world's biggest online music contest, Global Rockstar was founded in Austria in 2013. By 2014, artists from over 140 countries participated and fans cast over 1.5 million votes on the platform.
And I care because...? It's an opportunity to vote for your favourite ambient metal-meister, Hugin in the Austrian National Preliminaries...
As discerning readers of this Blog you will already be fans and advocates of Mr Alexander "Hugin" Wieser, but here's a chance to promote his work and profile to the furthest reaches of the globe!
As you may have spotted on the Uruk Hai Facebook page this project has registered to enter the 2015 Global Rockstar competition!
So what's it all about? Well, Global Rockstar invites musicians around the world to take part in the world's largest online music contest to win great prizes, including $25,000 for the overall winner! Musicians around the world have until October 15, 2015, to upload their original song to globalrockstar.com, where hundreds of thousands of music fans around the world can vote for their favourite artists. Fans vote through shares on social media or with paid votes by purchasing artists' music and merchandise.
As we've discussed in these pages before, in the present digital era music fans enjoy easy access to music through streaming platforms yet the recording artists receive little to no income from these platforms.
"Sadly, the music industry has not responded to the needs of today's emerging musicians" says Christof Straub, CEO and co-founder of Global Rockstar. "We provide artists a global, online stage for their music, a marketplace for selling digital and physical products, and a chance to win some serious cash."
So, this is how it works: During the contest's National Preliminaries, fans from each country elect one local artist to advance to the Global Finals. The artist with the most votes in the Global Finals wins the $25,000 grand prize. The top three finalists also win audio equipment from AKG by Harman, Paiste and ADAM worth $20,000! By offering merchandise to fans who cast votes, each contestant receives up to 90% of the resulting income.
The all-important link to get things going is HERE where you will find the 'Far Away' song from "...And All The Magic& Might He Brought...".
Reviewed back in November 2013 by a tag-team of COI's Nick Diak and Nazgul; Nick's assessment of this song (which features Joe Matera on guitar and Janos Krusenbaum on vocals) read: "If Uruk-Hai is trying to break into the adventure metal genre with the likes of Blind Guardian and Kamelot, the vox from Janos is certainly the way to go. The last minute of the song is back into pure Uruk-Hai territory with a fantasy oriented music-scapes." What the average voter will make of it (outside of the partisan support from Honour and Darkness readers) we can only wait to see...
Hey, if Conchita win Eurovision then Hugin - bearded or otherwise - must be in with a stab of being Austria's