NME.com Launches Music Talent Quest With Sony Walkman
One of Europe’s leading specialist music websites, NME.com, has signed a major deal with Sony Walkman to launch a competition to find new and unknown bands in Britain.
The contest, known as the Walkman NME Breaking Bands competition, is part of NME.com’s 10th anniversary celebrations. Any band with access to the NME.com site will be able to enter, posting their music online at NME.com/newmusic. This unrestricted access makes the competition much more open than most other talent contests.
The partnership with Sony Walkman marks the first new band competition run through the NME website. The winning act, as voted for by readers of NME.com, will perform alongside already established acts at the 10th anniversary celebrations later in the summer.
Breaking Bands will be widely promoted both on NME.com and in the NME magazine. Users of the website will also be encouraged to promote their favourite new bands, and those who contribute the most to this may be invited to the 10th birthday party.
The competition will be launched in conjunction with the release of the Sony Walkman Flash MP3 player, the launch budget of which will be entirely committed to Breaking Bands.
The competition will also be promoted through Club NME nights across the UK, and NME.com will also host a bespoke channel for Sony Walkman on the site dedicated to supporting Breaking Bands.
The partnership has been brokered by IPC ignite! new media ad director, Andrew Sanders; Kevin Heery, director of digital development at IPC ignite!, together with Cate Murden and Chrissie Deakin from Sony media agency OMD.
Heery said: “Everything we do with NME.com is fundamentally about connecting the widest possible range of new music lovers to the music that they love. To be able to host this unique competition – and involve our users not just in voting for, but in promoting, their favourite music – is perfect! And who knows, we could find the next Arctic Monkeys or Panic! At The Disco!”