Uber.com, in conjunction with A&R Worldwide’s MUSEXPO, Atlantic Records, Peer Music Publishing, Rebel Group/ADA Distribution and The Agency Group, announced the launch of the online music talent search, You Bring The Talent contest.

The winning musician/band will receive:

-An EP deal with Atlantic Records
-A music publishing deal with Peer Music
-A Booking Deal with The Agency Group
-Distribution through ADA from The Rebel Group
-A Showcase at The House of Blues in Hollywood, CA

HOW TO ENTER:

1) Sign up on Uber.com and make sure to check the Musician box on the form (this will allow you to add your music to your page.)

2) Gussy up your page with photos, music, your bio and make it all fancy-like, which is super easy on Uber.

3) Head over to the You Bring the Talent page on Uber and grab the embed code for your Voting Module, so you can pop it on your Uber page, or anywhere else you want people to vote for you.

WHAT TO KNOW:

1) The contest is open until March 31st, 2008 so there’s plenty of time to sign up and get people to vote for you.

2) Your fans can vote ONCE EVERY 24 HOURS. That’s right – all of your friends and fans can vote for you once every day, so let people know at your shows and on your website (where you can definitely put up your Voting Module.)

3) Think about this – If you’ve got 1000 MySpace friends and half of them vote for you three times a week, that’s 15,000 votes. Not too shabby.

4) You can check out the official rules here.

For more information, please visit:

You Bring the Talent Contest on Uber

Uber Official Website

TalentDatase.com was founded by Jimi Beach, an entrepreneurial artist from Orlando, Florida and also a fellow musician, who played in the surf rock band Lo Presher.

At first, there’s a lot to take in on TalentDatabase.com – there’s so much information available on the site. The good thing, though, is that it’s set up nicely and navigation is clear and to the point. I’m actually quite surprised with the number of talent “Channels” (categories) that are available for people to create profiles in.

At the time of this writing, the Channels are:

Art, Body, Comedy, Communication, Computer, Crafts, Dance, Design, DJ, Fashion, Film, Food, Gaming, Magic, Modeling, Music, Photography, Sports, Theater, Unique and Writing.

From what I’ve checked out in the Art, Fashion and Music Channels, there are indeed profiles created by some very talented individuals. It’s funny to see Magic listed, only because I’m not familiar with seeing Magic included on other social networking sites, but for any magicians out there, this would be the place for you!

TalentDatabase.com also includes directories, featured listings, most popular within Channels, the ability to add links to users websites in profiles and to get contacted directly. Musicians can add music, artists can add art etc. There are newsfeeds by genre and relevance which allows users to stay on top of breaking news and ahead of the trends affecting their industry. I’m a news junkie, so this is a handy feature.

The search options are great. Talent can be searched for by location, interests, specialties, tags and popularity. A person’s popularity or “POPfactor” is determined by how active they are on the site. The more you network, the higher your ranking. By connecting with other members, adding portfolios, being acknowledged, bookmarked or viewed by other members, among other things, improves a person’s POPfactor. The benefit to being more popular is that you end up with a higher position in the search rankings, which helps to increase exposure by user profiles getting found easier.

This isn’t “just another social networking site”. The free opportunities available to musicians, artists and more, along with the look and feel of the database, and the art that’s prominent throughout, helps for it to stand out as a quality website with a positive community environment.

For more information and to sign up, go to TalentDatabase.com

By: Jenny May – Band Weblogs

It seems easier than ever before for less talented acts to get record deals. Don’t get me wrong when I bring up talent. There are quite a few new bands cropping up that I really like, but that’s just a small percentage of what’s actually being released each month.

The reason this thought even crossed my mind is because I’ve been listening to the recently released Jeff Buckley CD ‘So Real: Songs from Jeff Buckley’. Now Jeff Buckley had talent. His voice, songwriting and musicianship were superb. He could probably get more out of his 4 track recorder than some engineers can produce in a flash studio.

His voice does to me what not many people today are able to do. He gives me shivers up and down my spine. His father was singer Tim Buckley and his voice does the same thing to me. The musician-like term for this is ‘feel’. I can ‘feel’ Jeff Buckley’s music.

Jeff Buckley’s mother Mary Guibert and Columbia Records have together released ‘So Real: Songs from Jeff Buckley’. The release comes at the 10th anniversary of Jeff Buckley’s tragic death at the age of 30 in Memphis, Tennessee on May 29th, 1997. When listening to the CD, it’s hard to believe that he had only made one full album to his “exacting standards” – which was his 1994 studio debut ‘Grace’.

There are some songs off of ‘So Real: Songs from Jeff Buckley’ that stand out for me though. “Last Goodbye”, “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over”, “Forget Her”, “Dream Brother”, “So Real”, “Mojo Pin”, “Je N’en Connais Pas La Fin”, “Grace” and especially, his version of “Hallelujah” (written by Leonard Cohen). Remember those shivers I was talking about? “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley is up there as one of my all time favorite songs – and I was happy to see it in amongst the fourteen tracks on the album, which includes originals, covers and live performances.

Of course, I know that there are some massive Jeff Buckley fans out there who love EVERYTHING that he did. Nothing wrong with that! Actually, I love the whole album and if you have any interest in Jeff Buckley and his music, then I highly recommend going out and purchasing this gem of a CD. The CD cover photo is gorgeous and the booklet is informative. A perfect addition to anyone’s music collection – especially if you’re just discovering Jeff Buckley and his music.

Watch Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah video (From YouTube: Live on a french TV show called Nulle Part Ailleurs shot in 1996 on channel 4):

Track Listing:

1. Last Goodbye (Grace)
2. Lover, You Should’ve Come Over (Grace)
3. Forget Her (Grace Legacy Edition)
4. Eternal Life (Road Version) (Grace Legacy Edition)
5. Dream Brother (Alternate Take) (Grace Legacy Edition)
6. The Sky Is A Landfill (Sketches)
7. Everybody Here Wants You (Sketches)
8. So Real (Live and Acoustic in Japan – previously only available as a Promo single)
9. Mojo Pin (Live at Sin-e)
10. Vancouver (Sketches)
11. Je N’en Connais Pas La Fin (Live at Sin-e)
12. Grace (Grace)
13. Hallelujah (Grace)
14. I Know It’s Over (Previously unreleased Smith’s cover from Sony Studios Radio session 1995)

More information: Jeff Buckley

By: Jenny May