New music platform Salute to offer £50,000 to unsigned artist

THE UK’s newest music platform Salute Music Makers has been launched. Fronted by the ex-Undertones lead singer and music industry stalwart Feargal Sharkey, Salute aims to scout of the best new unsigned artists in the UK in the form of an exciting competition with an impressive cash prize.

Unlike other music prizes, Salute promises a “no strings attached” award of £50,000 that will be given to the artist with the best song. Runners up will also receiving a cash reward of £10,000.

The launch held at Omeara in London Bridge hosted a variety of industry guests including SB.TV’s Jamal Edwards, the Mac twins, Feargal Sharkey who all spoke, showing their support and enthusiasm for the new music platform.

Jamal Edwards with the Salute team

The competition which is the brainchild of of entrepreneurs Lars Bylehn, Jean- Claude Charnier, Patrick Butterfield, Minesh Patel and Michael Bylehn aims to target a young audience under the age of 30, and give them an “accessible and fair opportunity for a diverse range of music makers to showcase their talents”.

Artists will need to upload their music to the Salute app via their phones which will then be reviewed and listened to by a select group of curators and the Salute team. After all submissions, the applicants will be narrowed down to a final 100 artists, who will be left in the hands of the public to vote for the final 6 artists.

The final six candidates are the required to perform new music on a weekly basis for the Salute Finals TV show which features a new theme each episode. The show aims to celebrate new original music as opposed to the reality tv styled music shows like X Factor.

Salute launch party

The competition offers the opportunity of a lifetime offering the biggest cash prize than any other music talent show worldwide, as well as celebrating originality in music. The cash prize would allow the winning artists to develop their career in music without relying on a label in order to succeed.

The competition begins April 3rd and will end in July after the top 100 musicians have been announced via the digital platform.

The competition will then go to a live public vote to determine the final six artists, with the live shows beginning in September. The winner of the competition will be announced in October.

by Katrina Mirpuri

For more details visit the Salute website.