San Francisco, CA (By Kerry Lauerman/ Salon) - Salon.com is looking to unearth the greatest act in
America - and they're harnessing the power of the Web to find it. On Sept. 25, Salon launched a new music contest, Salon Song Search that looks to find the best song you've never heard, with the help of music artists like
Rob Thomas (Matchbox Twenty), Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie) as well as top music bloggers, and other surprise guest judges.
Salon is soliciting one original song from any unsigned musical act in America - one song that will compete against thousands of others for fame, glory and the $5,000 Salon Song Search grand prize, plus two $1,000 second prizes. Any genre, any style goes. At the end of the submission period, a panel of Salon's critics and the Web's top music bloggers will whittle the hopefuls down to 10. And then the world gets to vote.
"For more than a decade, Salon.com has helped discover some of our best and brightest new writers," says Joan Walsh, Salon's editor in chief. "Now we'd like to help find the next great songwriters."
Beginning Monday, October 30, two new songs will be released every week on Salon for five weeks. Readers (and listeners) will vote online for their favorite, while celebrity judges like Thomas, Wall and other surprise guests will weigh in with their own choices. In the final week, the five winners will face each other in a victor-takes-all round of online voting, with the champion taking home the Song Search crown and the $5,000 grand prize.
To submit a song, visit the Song Search home page at https://salon.com/ent/audiofile/song_search/2006/index.hl/?id=songsearch
Sponsorship for the contest is being provided by Infiniti.
For press inquiries, call: Kerry Lauerman, New York Editorial Director, 212.905.6124