Online competition for new music bands

Already, the response has been so overwhelming that the 200 teams Global Moguls had hoped for has doubled and, at this rate, that number may even go over 500 bands and creative team collaborations. Being an online competition, there is no limit to the number of bands that can compete for a spot in the limelight, or to the number of fans they can engage with from all over the world.

"The response has been fantastic and the great thing is that the bands and creatives have come from all over South Africa, from cities and small towns," says Global Moguls director Phillip Carlisle. "We all very excited and can't wait to see the content start coming in and for the voting, rating and commenting to start."

Adds fellow director Jade Carlisle, "The response to registrations, and the positive emails we have received, shows that bands are desperate to have a platform to show their work and the most appealing thing for the bands is that the fans get to rate and comment on their work, there are no judges outside the fans."

The public will view and rate the tasks online, which will determine the top six bands that go through to the live finals. "It is not up to one individual music exec to decide if a track flies or dies - the crowd decides," explains Carlisle. "It just makes sense. In any event, the fans will decide if they want the music or not at the end of the day."

Social media to live streaming

In Global Moguls, a band's success or failure will depend largely on how effective their creative "marketers" are at using social media to market and promote their work. "Bands need to be proactive about getting themselves out there, they need to use social media to create demand and build a fan base. Content drives demand and bands and bands need to work with creatives to generate content," adds Carlisle.

Once the public has chosen the six top-rated bands, they will progress through to a live final at Ratanga Junction in Cape Town on 27 November. Their performances will be live-streamed to the broader online community for fans to vote in real-time on the Global Moguls platform. The bands will have the opportunity to perform with Afrikaans rapper Jack Parow if their fans vote them into the top six.

The top-rated creatives in each task will win prizes as well as the opportunity to work on a music video with the winning band and acclaimed music photographer Sacha Waldman, who has been based in NY for the past 15 years working with the likes of JZ, 50 Cent, David Bowie, Eminem and Ludacris.

Winners go gold

As for the winning bands, Global Moguls will manage them and has its sights set on becoming a key gateway for free-to-user music and matching bands to brands and brands to fans. "The big thing for us is touring bands, but we need to build the fan base and this means creating the space for this to happen," says Carlisle.

Klipdrift & Cola is presenting Global Moguls in South Africa and will be sponsoring 20 000 free downloads of the winning track by the victorious band. "This free-to-user sponsorship will mean that the winning band has achieved gold status in the SA music contest."

Carlisle explains further, "After the competition, the individual creatives and bands will have their own profile pages, and the site will become a crowdsourcing platform that can link creatives to brands and advertising agencies all over the world. Crowdsourcing briefs can come from all over and their opportunities are as limitless as the creative pool of talent that we have to tap into."

Go to www.globalmoguls.com to register your band and creative team, sign up as a fan or become a Facebook friend.