Still time to register for Global Moguls

"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," said Global Moguls director Phillip Carlisle. "We are all very excited and can't wait to see the content start coming in and for the voting, rating and commenting to start."

Global Moguls isn't an ordinary talent search. It isn't merely about finding the next big thing on the music scene - it's also looking for the whole creative team behind the band, from graphic designers and photographers to music video filmmakers and editors.

Open to emerging South African bands

Global Moguls is open to emerging South African bands making original music, as well as creative teams. They must be over 18, have Internet access as well as tons of creativity, and be able to complete the required industry-related tasks and upload them onto the Global Moguls web platform.

The public will then be able to 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," explained Jade 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."

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."

A collaborative process

Music making is, after all, a collaborative process, and this is at the heart of the Global Moguls contest - as is the fact that the showcasing, promotion and selling of music online is fast taking over CD sales. Once digital music is bought, it is file-shared, so selling music is fast becoming obsolete, and the music business model is changing.

Once the six top-rated bands have been chosen by the public, they will progress through to a live final at Ratanga Junction in Cape Town on 27 November, 2010. 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 prizes

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 New York for the past 15 years working with the likes of JZ, 50 Cent, David Bowie, Eminem and Ludacris.

As for the winning bands, they will be managed by Global Moguls, which has its sights set on becoming a key gateway for free-to-user music and matching bands to brands and brands to fans.

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 explained further: "After the competition, the individual creatives and bands will have their own profile pages, and the Global Moguls site will become a crowd-sourcing platform that can link creatives to brands and advertising agencies all over the world. Crowd-sourcing 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 before the end of July. Alternatively, go to the website and sign up as a fan or become a Global Moguls Facebook friend.