Wondering who submits to all those opportunities you see in your email inbox every week? And what happens after submissions close? Our monthly Breaking Artists newsletter, along with this nice, shiny blog post, breaks it down and shows you some of the opportunity winners.
Take a look and a listen, show your support for your fellow musicians and send them kudos in the comments.
Breaking Artists are selected by Reverb staff from opportunity winners. Increase your chances of being one of them by submitting to opportunities here >>
Performed at DIG SOUTH Interactive Festival 2013…
Amythyst Kiah is a powerhouse vocalist who draws on both traditional roots and contemporary music to produce her unique, soulful yet modern sound. This month, Amythyst played the ReverbNation Expo Stage at the 2013 DIG SOUTH festival. More than 2,500 guests came to the festival in Charleston, SC for “a two-day mashup of the Southeast’s finest creative industries.”
“This is my first win, and I almost couldn’t believe it. This was my second big gig outside of my region (the first was in D.C. at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival).
The DIG SOUTH show went well. [I] had a great sound engineer named Phil and a very warm audience, and had a great time on my first trip to the low country!”
-Amythyst Kiah
Shooting a music video with Springwood Productions…
Kelsey K has had quite a bit of success recently. Her song Country Mess was nominated for Best Country Song for the 12th annual Independent Music Awards, she raised $6,950 via a Kickstarter campaign to produce her full-length original album Blue Jean Girl, and she just signed her first production/co-publishing deal with Vision AD Nashville in March of 2013. Oh, and did we mention she’s 13 years old? To add to her growing list of accomplishments, Kelsey won the Springwood Productions’ Expose Yourself 2012 competition through a ReverbNation opportunity and will be flying out to Baltimore to shoot the music video for her original song The One in May. She also secured a spot at the Summerfest music festival in Milwaukee, WI on July 26.
“I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to make a music video for my song The One, perform at Summerfest in Milwaukee, and be featured on ReverbNation. I was really surprised and excited to be chosen!! It was such an honor to be selected by Springwood Productions(…) out of over 6,000 entries. All of the artists in the contest are really talented so it was an honor to be among them.”
-Kelsey K
Played at Dodger Stadium during the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure…
This month, we have the pleasure of featuring not one, but two young emerging country artists. 14-year-old Savannah Lynne, hailing from the West Coast, beat out almost 1,300 other artists to secure a performance slot at a competition during the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure at Dodger Stadium. The event was judged by members of Earth Wind & Fire, Train, and 98 Degrees. She also received a $1,000 gift card to MusiciansFriend.com, the event’s co-sponsor.
Won the Show Me the Music Songwriting Contest 2012…
Los Angeles-based Morgan Taylor Reid won the $10,000 grand prize in the 2012 “Show Me The Music” Songwriting Contest. Founder Al Lopez created the contest to open doors for independent musicians in an industry where few opportunities exist. Listen to the song that won it all for Morgan, Stay Where You Are, in the player below.
“I’m so happy to have won the ‘Show Me The Music’ Songwriting Contest because it’s such a pleasant reminder that there are still people out there who appreciate music from independent artists like me. I’m so very grateful for the prize money because it will give me the time and resources to finally put out a full-length ‘Morgan Taylor Reid’ solo album, which I hope to release by the end of the year. And more importantly, I’m so appreciative that there is a contest out there that acknowledges songwriters. It gives me the motivation to keep pushing on, and creating the ‘art’ in an industry that sometimes can feel like it’s all about the ‘business’.”
-Morgan Taylor Reid
Performed at New Noise Music Festival…
Folk band Indian Trading Furs got the opportunity to play the New Noise Music Festival in Santa Barbara, CA. The non-profit event lasted four days and brought together established and up-and-coming musicians with industry experts to collaborate, foster connections, and discuss the future of the music industry and the role technology will play.
“ReverbNation has been a very useful tool, especially in the beginning stages of the band. Much of our networking and contacts were through ReverbNation (….)
We work hard as a band to promote ourselves the best we can without paying out of our pockets. This can be hard. A festival means that there will be many new eyes on our band we couldn’t have hoped to reach or been able to look for without spending some hard-earned cash. The experience was really rewarding and we as music lovers got to play alongside and be in the crowd for many bands/artists who we love and admire. Overall a great experience!
-Indian Trading Furs
More Winners: Kelly Road, Trey Hawkins Band
Congrats to all of April’s Breaking Artists!
Don’t want to miss out on the next opportunity?
There are four ways you can use to stay up-to-date on the latest gigs (we recommend using all of them to ensure nothing gets missed!):
- Follow our updates on Twitter (@Gigs and @ReverbNation) and Facebook
- Check the email updates we send you
- Check the latest Opportunities on this page
- Go to your Control Room on your Reverb page > click “Opportunities”
So, where’s your next gig?
“Ultimately it was The Carnabys who stood out because of their songwriting, musicianship and performance level. We look forward to welcoming them to our Hard Rock stages!”
