MANILA, Philippines – Calling all independent artists! There's a new music competition and aside from a cash prize and a contract, the chance to play at Fusion Philippines 2017 is also at stake.
ALAB: The Independent Musician Rising Awards is a competition that was launched on Wednesday, September 7, by advertising group Carat Philippines, the creators of Fusion, an annual OPM festival.
There are 3 categories artists can join – pop, rock, and hip-hop – and one finalist from each genre will be chosen. The 3 will then battle it out for the title of grand winner.
The finalists will each get:
- P20,000 cash
- Talent and contract management
- Recording label and production
- Artist grooming and exposure
- A spot in Fusion 2017
The grand winner gets the same, except with a P300,000 cash prize and a special spot in Fusion 2017.
The finalists will be the first artists managed by Carat Philippines, but CEO Gladys Basinillo says it won't be a problem. "We've been doing a lot of music marketing. We know how it goes with the music scene," she told Rappler at the end of the ALAB launch.
Basinillo is hoping that, like Fusion, ALAB becomes an annual event. Her group has plans of making including more genres in the future too, so that more finalists can battle it out.
Judging the competition are respected names in the music industry: Filipino Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (FILSCAP) vice president Jim Paredes, international artist and producer Marcus Davis, Gabby Alipe formerly of Urbandub, Soupstar Entertainment founder Darwin Hernandez, music entrepreneur Lizza Nakpil, and Carat Philippines CEO Gladys Basinillo.
Artists will be judged on content, musicality, originality, and audience impact/fan engagement.
Each of the judges are looking for something different. For Paredes, who spoke to Rappler after the launch, it's about the use of the Filipino language: "I'm looking for originality and specifically – and this is my personal taste – I'm looking for songs in Filipino. Because from my experience, and looking at the data we have in FILSCAP, Filipino songs last longer, collect bigger royalties, and they become the repertoire of Philippine life more than English songs written by Filipinos."
On the other hand, Davis is looking for someone fans will really take to: "Somebody that people wanna tweet about, somebody that people want to Instagram, share, like. And that has to do with more than just talent, it also has to do with likeability."
To join, entries can be submitted to the Fusion website at www.fusion.ph/alab from September 8 to November 15. – Rappler.com