NEW YORK, NY – November 23, 2010 – Building on a three-year track record of successfully supporting artists’ career growth, Indaba Music is launching its Opportunity Marketplace, an expanded platform that connects musicians, brands, marketers and others. Available at www.IndabaMusic.com/opportunities beginning on November 23, the marketplace will provide Indaba’s international community of more than 500,000 musicians with greater access to work, income and exposure. Indaba Music members and industry clients alike will have the flexibility to post everything from simple wanted ads to full-blown, sponsored competitions that feature custom branding, voting and widgets. Indaba’s ability to create meaningful opportunities for musicians recently led noted technology outlet Mashable to call it “the LinkedIn of music.”
“Musicians now have even more ways to get discovered and earn a living using Indaba Music,” said Indaba Co-Founder Matthew Siegel. “The core of Indaba is about collaboration and content creation, which can be a recreational activity; but in the case of the Opportunity Marketplace, we can also generate serious recognition and income.”
The Opportunity Marketplace opens the site to an even wider variety of applications. Major artists can run remix contests and collaborate on new works; A&R representatives can discover new songs for signed artists to perform; music supervisors can source content for TV, film and video games; brands can source jingles for new products; and much more.
Initial offerings in the Opportunity Marketplace include:
Acclaimed Canadian band Metric seeks remixes for all 10 songs from their album Fantasies. 10 winning remixers will receive $1,000 each and have their remix included on upcoming remix album.
Marcy Playground seeks a remix of their hit song “Sex & Candy.” The winner will receive over $5,000 in prizing, including royalties on the sale of the song, and an all-expenses-paid trip to Toronto to record and produce a track with John Wozniak, lead singer/songwriter of Marcy Playground.
The Hours are seeking a remixer for “Ali in the Jungle.” The winning remixer will receive a lithograph from famed artist Damien Hirst, valued at $5,000- $8,000.
Sleigh Bells seeks remixes of “Run the Heart” and “Rachel.” Top remixes will be released and distributed to the band’s fans as a holiday gift, while the Top 10 remixers of each tune will be awarded a pair of Skull Candy headphones.
Lucardi Jewelers will invite Indaba users to submit original music to be played in 90 Lucardi Jewelry stores in the Netherlands and receive royalties for the plays.
Indaba members can submit original music to Jango, with eight winners to receive more than 20,000 airplay credits (worth $800) on Jango.com.
Producer/musician Jimmy Tamborello of The Postal Service is auditioning singers for a new project, and is inviting Indaba members to try out. For their time, Jimmy will pay the top 5 musicians $100 each, and will pay $50 to an additional 10 musicians.
Electronic Musician Digital Mixtape Volume 2 will accept submissions of original music, with 10 winners to be included in this digital mixtape series. Winners will also receive premium sample packs, courtesy of Prime Loops.
The winning remix of Gordon Voidwell‘s song “Ivy League Circus” will be released commercially, with the winner receiving 30% of sales and $800 worth of production software from CakeWalk. The winning artist will also have the chance to work with Voidwell and receive 50% of sales from their collaboration.
The Indaba Music Artist Series will feature three different categories–Soundtrack, Electronic and Rock–for which artists can submit original film scores, electronic music or rock songs, respectively. Indaba will work to commercially exploit the top content for each category, with proceeds to be split 50/50 with each musician, while musicians will retain ownership of their music.
To date, 26 recordings sourced through Indaba Music have been released by major and independent record labels; music has been placed in video games and television shows; hundreds of musicians have been awarded cash and other prizes; and others have performed on stage during high-profile tours.
Recent opportunities for Indaba members have included:
Linkin Park included a remix on their album A Thousand Suns, and frontman Mike Shinoda subsequently collaborated with the winner on additional tracks for the album.
Rock Band 3 placed a remix of Ok Go’s “White Knuckles” in the game.
Rivers Cuomo of Weezer hired Indaba members to produce his demos.
Famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma picked two Indaba contest winners to record songs that were released as bonus tracks on his holiday album, Songs of Joy & Peace.
PBS sourced music for their program The Music Instinct.
Marcy Playground sourced an album of remixes exclusively from Indaba members. Indaba Remixes from Wonderland was released by EMI/Capitol Records.
For the latest opportunities and contests, visit http://www.IndabaMusic.com/opportunities.
Indaba Music is offering a “Black Friday Sale” from Nov. 26-29 to celebrate the launch of the Opportunity Marketplace, during which Pro and Platinum memberships will be 50% off. While Indaba remains free to use for recording and networking, the annual Pro membership–on sale for $25–includes unlimited submissions in the Opportunity Marketplace, distribution of 15 songs to iTunes, an embeddable direct-to-consumer store, 15% off purchases of digital sheet music and video lessons, discounts from lifestyle partners and more. Indaba’s Platinum membership–on sale for $125–includes distribution of 50 songs to iTunes, 30% off digital sheet music and online video lessons, deep discounts with Connect by Hertz, Sweetwater and Electronic Musician, and more. For membership details, click here.