Top of the Ox was a website that was dedicated to reviewing unsigned artists, music related products and supporting up and coming musicians. Initially it started out as a web-based national music competition and song chart that is generated directly by the vote of the public. [1] The website offers artists, bands and musicians the opportunity to win musical prizes, which have historically including recording and management deals in association with SAE Institute and Crash Records. [2]
The site was created and is run by Oxford Doctorate Mark Hussey, Oxford doctorate student Jamie Tromans and record label director Michele Pethers of Crash Records. Initially the site was founded by Mark and technical wiz John Bosley, who later handed over his responsibilities to Tromans.
Previous winners of the competition include Sarah Warne in 2007 with Stornoway finding themselves runners-up but then went on to achieve great success. [3]
On 21 November 2010, singer-songwriter Ian Edwards won the 2010 Top of the Ox Grand Final held at Camden Underworld. The final was attended by a selected panel of industry professionals including Kaya Burgess from The Times newspaper Ian Wallman and Tim Turan. [4]
The SAE Institute provides creative media programmes at four UK campuses in London, Liverpool, Leamington Spa, and Glasgow, providing industry-focused 2-year degrees validated by the University of Hertfordshire across eight subject areas – Audio, Content Creation & Online Marketing, Film, Game Art Animation, Games Programming, Music Business, Visual Effects, and Web Development. It was founded in 1976 in Sydney by Tom Misner.
An unsigned artist, unsigned band or independent artist is a musician or musical group not under a contract with a record label. The terms are used in the music industry as a marketing technique. Bands that release their own material on self-published CDs can also be considered unsigned bands. Often unsigned bands primarily exist to perform at concerts.
Koopa is a rock band from Sible Hedingham, near Colchester, Essex, England. The band formed in 2000 by the brothers Stuart Cooper (drums) and Oliver "Ollie" Cooper, plus Joe Murphy. The band became the first act to have a Top 40 UK Singles Chart hit based on download sales only, and the first act to have a charting single without being signed to a record label, both facilitated by then-recent changes to rules for eligibility for the singles chart.
Camden Underworld is a music venue in Camden Town, London, England. The venue is a part of the World's End pub, situated in the basement of the building. It has a capacity of 500 people.
Broadjam is a US-based music community website, founded in September 1999. The service is aimed primarily at independent musicians. Users can interact with other artists, enter contests, and collaborate with peers through email, reviews, blogs and other social networking tools. Broadjam also works with related industries to provide various licensing opportunities, including placement in films, TV shows, advertising campaigns and video games, radio play and professional reviews.
Fame Games Radio is a music discovery radio program produced by Meer Music International (MMI) for Envision Radio Network in association with Dial Global Radio Network, since February 2010.
Live and Unsigned is a music competition in the United Kingdom for unsigned bands and vocal groups to perform live for substantial prizes. It was founded 2007, and has attracted over 40,000 entrants annually since its inception. Competitors perform in their own genre and style to a paying audience and judging panel. The competition tours the UK holding auditions and finals in various areas and regions, and the Grand National Final is held in London The O2 in London being the last used.
Sharin Anderson is an Australian singer, guitarist, songwriter, and artist from the outer northern suburbs of Melbourne.
Javier Colon is an American acoustic singer-songwriter. He has referred to his style of music as being "acoustic soul." He was a member of EmcQ and The Derek Trucks Band, and worked with many musicians before going solo. From 2002 to 2006, he was signed to Capitol Records, known as artist Javier. In 2006, however, the contract was terminated and Javier Colon became an independent artist with his own label, Javier Colon Music. In 2011, He was the winner of season 1 of American talent competition show on NBC, The Voice, receiving $100,000 and signing a recording contract with Universal Republic Records. Colon eventually decided to part ways with Universal Republic in 2012.
Must Be the Music is a British television musical talent competition contested by aspiring singers and musicians drawn from public auditions. The show is a music competition and reality show that was broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Auditions were held in Edinburgh, Manchester, London and also held in Ireland. The show began airing in August on Sky1, and was also simulcast in HD. Fearne Cotton presented the show. The first and only series was won by Emma's Imagination, a female singer from Dumfries.
Open Mic UK is a live music competition run by Future Music Management in the UK for singers, vocalists and solo artists. Acts compete at regional auditions to get the chance to perform live at live music showcases to reach an annual national final, which is held at indigo at The O2 complex in London and The National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. The event, which offers a recording contract and investment to the final winner, was described by Joel James of BBC York & North Yorkshire as "one of the toughest competitions in the country."
Kimbra Lee Johnson, known mononymously as Kimbra, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter. Known for mixing pop with R&B, jazz and rock musical elements, her accolades include four ARIA Music Awards, two Grammy Awards and seven New Zealand Music Awards. Her musical influences range from Prince and Minnie Riperton to Björk and Jeff Buckley.
TopHit is an internet service for musicians founded in 2003. It aggregates, tests and promotes new songs, distributes them on radio, sends out video clips to TV channels, collects donations for artists, monitors radio airwaves and publishes music charts. TopHit's regular users and partners include more than 5,700 artists, music groups, DJs and dozens of record labels, including Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, BMG Entertainment, Velvet Music and others. More than 90% of radio hits and more than 60% of YouTube and Spotify hits are currently sent to radio stations through TopHit, along with brand new songs. Services of the platform are available to 1,070 radio stations and 75 TV channels in 38 countries, including Ukraine, CIS and European countries, the Middle East, the United States and Canada. The weekly audience of TopHit partner broadcasters exceeds 200 million listeners and viewers. TopHit is often used as a source of data on the popularity of a particular artist in Ukraine and the CIS. Universal Music called TopHit the most authoritative site that monitors the radio airwaves. Experts point out that TopHit is primarily a professional tool for musicians, publishers and broadcasters, and only then a product for the mass audience. As part of the annual ceremony of its own music awards Top Hit Music Awards, the project celebrates the best performers on radio, YouTube and Spotify, as well as the most popular hits of radio air and the Internet.
The Trinity Band is a five piece musical group founded in 2004 from Derby, England. The band consists of Rukus (rapper), Dwaine Hayden (singer), Craig Dawkins (keyboards), James Dawkins (drums) and Pete Sharpe (bass).
Katie Sullivan, also known as Katie Kim, is an Irish musician, singer-songwriter and composer.
Time2Shine Gospel Talent Search was a UK gospel-based singing and music performance competition featuring auditions and a live final, all of which were recorded for transmission on the Sky platform.
TeenStar is a singing competition in the United Kingdom, it is run by Future Music. The competition is open for singers, vocalists and solo artists to enter either in their teenage or pre teen years. Acts compete at regional auditions to get the chance to perform live at live music showcases to reach an annual national final. The first Grand Final in 2013 was held at the indigo at The O2 in London, and more recently at The NEC in Birmingham, The Beck Theatre in Hayes, and in 2019 the competition returned to The O2.
Chance McKinney is a country music artist from Seattle, Washington. In 2009, while working as a math teacher at Kamiak High School, he entered and won Country Music Television's Music City Madness competition for unsigned artists.
Germany participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Black Smoke", written by Michael Harwood, Ella McMahon and Tonino Speciale. The song was performed by Ann Sophie. The German entry for the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria was selected through the national final Unser Song für Österreich, organised by the German broadcaster ARD in collaboration with Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). The national final included a club concert wildcard round which took place on 19 February 2015 and featured ten undiscovered artists. Gaining 24.1% of the public vote, Ann Sophie was selected to compete in the final alongside seven established acts which took place on 5 March 2015 with the winner being selected through three rounds of public voting. "Heart of Stone" performed by Andreas Kümmert was initially announced as the German entry for Vienna after placing among the top four during the first round of voting, among the top two during the second round of voting and ultimately gaining 78.7% of the vote in the third round, however the artist immediately forfeited his victory upon the announcement. The confirmation of national final runner-up "Black Smoke" performed by Ann Sophie as the German entry occurred during the post-show press conference. The unprecedented withdrawal of Kümmert garnered international media interest.
Pringles Unsung was a music competition in the United Kingdom that ran once from 2006 to 2007. It was sponsored by the Pringles snack brand, and was one of several brand-sponsored music competitions to be launched during this period. The competition invited unsigned artists to upload a song to the official Pringles Unsung website, where they could then be voted on by the general public and a panel of judges. The most popular songs from each of seven regions progressed to regional heats in Newcastle upon Tyne, Birmingham, Ipswich, Kingston upon Thames, Leeds, Bristol and Plymouth. The winners of the regional heats then competed in a grand final, where they each performed in front of the judging panel. The judging panel consisted of producers Kevin Bacon and Jonathan Quarmby, ex-Island Records managing director Marc Marot, journalist Paul Sexton and Echo & the Bunnymen lead singer Ian McCulloch. McCulloch had become involved as he wanted to encourage exciting new music.