Music Storytelling Archive MUSIC.COM Announces "500 ARTISTS WANTED," Supporting Independent Artist Community Impacted By COVID-19 Venue Closures

LOS ANGELES, May 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, music storytelling upstart MUSIC.COM announces "500 ARTISTS WANTED," a program designed to engage the independent artist community in the United States that has been significantly impacted by COVID-19. Rather than booking performances, MUSIC.COM is booking stay-at-home gigs by asking musicians for user-generated song stories submissions.

Under the open-call program, MUSIC.COM will pay $250 each to a total of 500 US-based artists and bands in exchange for sharing a story about one of their songs to the platform.

Visit Music.com/500-artists-wanted for submissions and complete information, terms & conditions.

Funding for this collaboration will be supported by the "Sony Global Relief Fund for COVID-19" established by Sony Corporation to support those around the world affected by COVID-19, including members of the creative community.

"MUSIC.COM has been exploring ways to support the independent artist community in cooperation with Sony. This is our approach to helping. It's what we can do now," says Robby Wells of MUSIC.COM. "There is something meaningful about working, so if we can hire artists to tell their stories to promote their song, we're happy to be in a position to do so."

"As a company closely connected to creators and the music industry, Sony has been seeking ways to support independent artists impacted by the unprecedented challenges the industry has been facing," says Hiroshi Nakamura, Senior General Manager of Mobile Product Business Division of Sony Home Entertainment & Sound Products, Inc. "This project is the first step that we can take at this time, and we will continue working with MUSIC.COM, and other partners, to make positive contributions to the music community."

"500 ARTISTS WANTED" is launching in association with Sony's 360 Reality Audio immersive audio experience, utilizing Sony's object-based spatial audio technology, available to listeners through streaming services Amazon Music HD, Deezer, nugs.net and TIDAL. As part of the program, Sony's 360 Reality Audio team, together with MUSIC.COM, will select 25 songs from the submissions and convert them into the new format to be made available to experience on MUSIC.COM.

Sony's 360 Reality Audio makes it possible for artists and music creators to produce a music experience by mapping sound sources such as vocals, chorus and instruments with positional information and placing them within a spherical space. When listeners hear content produced in the 360 Reality Audio music format, they experience an immersion into sound that closely mimics the omni-directional soundscape of a live musical performance.

 "Sony's 360 Reality Audio is an ideal partner for this project. In addition to the storytelling opportunity, the fact that Sony has committed to converting 25 of the songs we learn about into a 360 Reality Audio mix is a unique opportunity for many independent artists to engage with truly pioneering technology, as well as providing their fans an entirely new way to listen to their music," adds Wells.

About MUSIC.COM & Song Stories

MUSIC.COM is a new outlet for music-centric, artist-told stories about their own songs and other topics of cultural relevance. The site serves as an aggregator and archive of video song stories from artists directly via upload, label partners and other archival partners. For this program, each of the stories received from artists will be highlighted on the homepage and across social media then archived forever at MUSIC.COM.

"Thoughts and insights from the minds of peak culture-shifting creatives can be powerful," added Wells. "Aside from informing and inspiring music fans, we believe the story about a song – as told by the artist – can work harder than any other medium to connect a fan emotionally to the music. Perhaps harder than a music video." MUSIC.COM links each story to the streaming services for song plays.

Wells and team believe that the song story video is itself a creative expression, just like a music video, albeit typically far less expensive. The goal with MUSIC.COM is to create a place that incentivizes artists to tell their stories as creatively as possible. An emerging artist's story may sit alongside a story from David Bowie or Nirvana or even Kendrick Lamar because they shared a similar inspiration or theme. The platform will make those connections, but the real power is in the storytelling itself.

For more info on the "500 Artists Wanted" visit:  http://www.music.com/500-artists-wanted

For more info on 360 Reality Audio visit:  http://music.com/360RA

News Release from Sony:  https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/202005/20-033E/

SOURCE MUSIC.COM