Red Bull Studios is back for 2014, offering aspiring unsigned bands the chance to take their career to the next level through a professional studio experience, expert mentoring and a slot on stage at the prestigious Download Festival, June 13-15th 2014.
In 2013, 8 promising new acts from all over the UK made it to play at Download in front of thousands: Searching Alaska, Akord, Semperfi, Surrender the Coast, Forever Can Wait, Falling With Style, Press to MECO and Sky Valley Mistress.
Red Bull Studios Live at Download 2014 will officially launch at www.redbullstudios.com/downloadfestival on Monday 24 March. Bands will be invited to upload a video to the site where they will be voted for by the general public and judged by a panel of leading industry experts including Kerrang Radio presenter Katie P, Radio 1’s Huw Stephens, Red Bull Records label manager and music industry aficionado Angie Somerside, plus much revered band and Download Festival veterans Don Broco.
From the bands that enter, 100 will be shortlisted by public vote and put forward to the judges. 15 bands will then be chosen by the panel to head to Red Bull Studios in London for an all-encompassing professional studio experience. Of those, 8 bands will go through to play on the Red Bull Studios Live stage at Download Festival.
What do bands need to do?
Bands have three weeks only, From the 1st April – 21st April to upload a profile to www.redbullstudios.com/downloadfestival. Bands must be unsigned, aged between 16 – 25 and residents of the UK. Once they have uploaded their profile, it will be monitored and ranked in real time on a chart which measures the amount of hype bands are creating across the web, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other sources of online activity. However, good old-fashioned votes will still be the most powerful source to help bands rise up the chart.
Then what?
At 5pm on Monday 21st April the top 100 bands that have promoted themselves best, securing the most hype and votes will go through to the next round to be judged by the panel.
And then lastly
5th – 9th May: From the top 100 hyped bands, our panel of expert judges will choose a final 15 to head down to the state of the art Red Bull Studios in London where they will be given a professional studio experience, getting them ready to take to the festival stage. For unsigned bands it doesn’t come much better than this: to experience the lifestyle of a professional musician, the 15 bands will get to record in the studio with expert producers on hand, be mentored by the music industry panel as well as get practical tips from Don Broco. They will have professional press shots created, media training to help them practice their interview technique, plus other surprises to be unveiled on the day.
What about the festival slot?
On the 16th May short films of each of the 15 finalists performing at Red Bull Studios will then go back online for the public to decide who they think should make it on to the Red Bull Studios Live stage at Download Festival 2014. Six bands will be decided by the public and two will be chosen as wildcards by the judges, with four bands playing across 2 days of the festival.
