Local bands can compete in Hard Rock Rising

In partnership with online music-marketing platform, ReverbNation, this competition will once again provide undiscovered bands with an international stage to jumpstart their careers.

John Galloway, VP and chief marketing officer for Hard Rock International says, "Over the past two years, more than 24 000 artists competed, with more than one million songs from these up and coming artists downloaded by fans. We look forward to discovering more talent in 2014."

The winning band will perform live at the first 'Hard Rock Live' music festival in July 2014 in the heart of Rome, a mere stone's throw from The Spanish Steps and the Roman Colosseum.

Registering

Hopeful bands around the world can visit one of 81 participating Hard Rock Cafe Facebook pages and register. All band members must be 18 years of age or older and listed band member in the entry form at the time of entering the contest. They can only register to participate in one market and must originate from within a 160 km radius in order to compete in a participating city.

Bands not within the approved radius can enter via the 'virtual' opportunity but will not compete live at 'Battle' events. Instead, a panel will review their social content to determine the top five that move into the next round to compete against winners from participating cafes.

Following open registration, fans decide who moves on to the live performance phase of the programme by voting on the Hard Rock city-specific Facebook page and downloading free tracks from bands of their choice.

After fan favourites are chosen, participating locations around the world will then host a series of live competitions featuring the local bands. One winner will be selected from each location by a panel of local industry judges.

Selected local winners will be narrowed down to the top twenty-five bands worldwide following a second round of fan voting on participating Facebook pages.

To enter, 'Like' the Hard Rock Café Johannesburg Facebook page, open a free account on ReverbNation and follow this link www.facebook.com/HRCJohannesburg/app_205164529573076.