Espoo, Finland (Top40 Charts/ Chris Pfaff Tech Media) AudioDraft, the provider of innovative crowdsourced audio design contests, today announced that it has named the winners of its 'Relief Songs for Japan' contest, at www.audiodraft.com/helpjapan. The ten tracks on 'Relief Songs for Japan' the only crowdsourced charity album for Japan relief, have been published through online music stores, including iTunes, Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Songs-Japan-Various-Artists/dp/B004TS0LBW), and others. The proceeds will go toward earthquake and tsunami relief efforts. AudioDraft aims to raise $100,000 toward Red Cross Japan Aid efforts. The company has contributed $1,000 to launch its campaign and an additional $1 for every song submitted to the contest.
Originally, AudioDraft sought to select five songs for a Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief compilation album by asking its community to vote on submitted songs in a poll, or by "liking" them on Facebook. The featured tracks, in sequence, on the release ARE:
1. "Crumbs And Broken Shells" by Sarah Fimm
2. "Make the World Listen" by Patchers
3. "The Missing" by ADHMusic & Holly
4. "An Obstruction" by Roeland Struijk
5. "Pray For Japan" by Yukibon
6. "Hope To See You Again" by Mihai Sorohan
7. "Japanese Heart" by Julex
8. "Heal" by Monica Blaire
9. "Refugees" by Posthouse Tuomi
10. "Blank Coast" by Animatik
"We want to raise funds and consciences through the 'Relief Songs' project, and also enable our winning artists to become an online version of Bono; someone who can help heal people by rallying a cause to help humanity," said Teemu Yli-Hollo, founder and CEO of AudioDraft. "We have a strong, and growing community of artists who are passionate about their music, and we have found a solid platform for them to help their careers and help those who are in desperate need of relief in Japan."
Listeners can embed the 'Relief Songs for Japan' tracks on their web sites and blogs by using the SoundCloud player.
"The AudioDraft community's response to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan was so powerful, that we couldn't choose just five tracks; we received such varied entries - from instrumental classical music to avant-gardeish electronic soundscapes and melancholic pop songs - that we had to broaden the selections," said Tommi Koskinen, the chief community officer of AudioDraft. "We came away with what we feel is a definitively cool cross-genre album that will appeal to music lovers on many levels. We also have a truly international album - from New York to Lithuania to Japan - so there are many worlds represented in this effort."
AudioDraft, which enables production companies to create sound design contests that activate a worldwide community of talented composers, enabled listeners to each relief song to spread both the musical content and the relief cause across social networks. AudioDraft has also released a banner pack, available at https://www.audiodraft.com/helpjapan/banners.zip, which allows users to link back to the campaign page.
Details on the 'Help Japan' album include:
New York-based singer-songwriter Sarah Fimm
(https://www.sarahfimm.com/) produced the amazingly beautiful track 'Crumbs and Broken Shells.'
Danish indie band Patchers wrote the amazing song 'Make The World Listen,' which garnered the most Facebook votes. https://www.myspace.com/patchersband
The track 'Heal' by Monica Blaire is written and produced by Lithuanian rocker Andrius Mamontovas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrius_Mamontovas and https://www.myspace.com/andriusmamontovas
Avant-garde electronic track 'Pray For Japan' is by Japanese artist Yukibon, who uses modern gadgets to compose spontaneous and improvised electronic music. https://soundcloud.com/brain1-6
AudioDraft community member Andrew Higgins, from the UK, wrote the incredibly powerful and meaningful song 'The Missing'. https://www.adhmusic.co.uk/
Roeland Struijk from Netherlands composed a beautiful piano improvisation called 'An Obstruction' that gives the listeners warmth and hope during the times of despair. https://www.youtube.com/doelman
Lithuanian (originally from Romania) composer and trumpet player Mihai Sorohan (https://www.mihaisorohan.net/) delivers a pleasant, uplifting rock song called 'Hope To See You Again.'
Spanish electro artist Julex delivers a more electronic soundscape with his track 'Japanese Heart.' https://soundcloud.com/julex
Finnish artist Posthouse Tuomi created a beautiful instrumental song called 'Refugees.'
https://www.posthousetuomi.com/
'Blank Coast' by Animatik is a relaxing downtempo electronica track from Budapest/Hungary.
The 'Relief Songs for Japan' campaign is an outgrowth of AudioDraft's business crowdsourcing model, in which companies decide how much they are willing to pay for audio productions, and the selected winners gain cash prizes, acclaim and visibility for their work. The new Affiliate Program enables AudioDraft users to earn a share of prize money by encouraging new companies to source their audio design projects through AudioDraft.
AudioDraft has its roots in Finland's Aalto University and operates in close collaboration with the Aalto Center for Entrepreneurship (ACE). Aalto University and ACE also have a strong role in AudioDraft's entrance in the US market.
About AudioDraft
AudioDraft arranges crowdsourced sound design contests that attract thousands of talented sound designers. With AudioDraft, companies have access to a community of motivated and highly skilled designers, ready to compete with their audio work for monetary prizes, acclaim and visibility.
AudioDraft was founded by a team of music designers and enthusiasts. The project was launched in 2009 at Finland's multidisciplinary Aalto University. AudioDraft was founded as a company in the spring of 2010, and the public beta of the service was unveiled in July of the same year. AudioDraft is one of the winners of the business competition Venture Cup 2010 and took part in Aalto Venture Garage's BootCamp program. AudioDraft's customers include international production companies and game studios, such as GameHouse and Kuuasema. The productions carried out through AudioDraft vary from company audio logos to background music in TV spots. AudioDraft is funded by a group of experienced Finnish angel investors. For more information, please visit the company web site at https://www.audiodraft.com
