SMC | Artist of the Month MAYHEM!

by CA Marshall | Editor 
Starlight Music Chronicles

I am writing this now because it's about to get nuts. REAL nuts in the next couple weeks for all of us at Starlight Music Chronicles. We have our very first inaugural issue Magazine launching in a few short weeks, Photo Shoots, Branding, Interviews, (editing) and THEN...............there's our Artist of the Month Competition which has been growing at break neck speed within the Indie Music Industry as one of the most creative and fun Music Competitions going on Facebook.Best part? NO ONE has to leave their homes to attend! It's all by the click of a button from your computer, laptop, phone or other electronic device: anywhere you can connect to facebook and the Starlight Music Chronicles Page (https://www.facebook.com/starlightmusicchronicles) you can get to the EVENTS section of the page and scroll through each month, past, present, and future (we are always open for submissions at least a month and a half in advance - see above poster for the December 2015 Artist Submissions) (click here to enter) 80% of our monthly global views are coming through facebook via this forum. Exciting! Not just for Starlight Music Chronicles, but for the Artists being Promoted! 

Even today, there are two submissions waiting in cue for the December 2015 Competition! What began as a 'trial' has turned into a phenomenal response from Industry Peers and Musicians from all over the globe. And this is not just a casual statement either because each month, we are checking the stats and we are easily surpassing the previous whole month's visits globally in one WEEK! This is occurring more and more as the competition keeps moving forward and shows no signs of slowing down.

Each Artist that has won the competition so far have been very pleased to be cast as 'Starlight Music Chronicles Artist of the Month Alumni', a 'Class' (for lack of better words) of Indie Artists that are attending a (Music-School of Rock?) event of sorts where at the end of the year, all 12 winners will compete for the Starlight Music Chronicles Artist of the YEAR! This will include YEAR-LONG free promotion for the winning artist which can showcase new music, branding, etc. Considering that we get thousands of views per day globally to the website, this is a great addition to artists wanting promotion on what is becoming one of the Best Music Entertainment websites for Indie & Signed Artists. 

So far, we have Olivia Rose (August 2015 Winner), IAMWARFACE (September 2015 Winner), and Shay Esposito (October 2015 Winner) who have been featured for a month long promo spot for FREE on our site simply by participating in the Competition. (see this months promo spot) Aside from a few glitches here are there (facebook can be a ton of fun to try to get these tech things fixed in a timely manner *sarcasm*!), things have been running pretty smoothly. In addition to being featured for a month long spot on our website, we also include the Artists in our quarterly Magazine (launching later this month) with any new updates and progress that they have made since their win. 

But what is the point of these kinds of competitions? For Starlight Music Chronicles, first and foremost, it's the chance for Indie Artists to be showcased in a small forum (Only 10 Bands/Artists MAX are allowed per month) which allows the fans to digest what they are all about. We post the bands' Biography, Music, Achievements as well as allow the Artists themselves to post banners and info about themselves which ups the ante for the Competition. *Reference the September 2015 Artist of the Month Competition to see what we are talking about here. The Posters and even FAN videos that were submitted on the page was brilliant, encouraged, and interactive.

Another reason for hosting these competitions is for SMC to garner exactly what music the fans want to hear more of or read more about on our site. We have an 'Our Faves' page on the website as well as Spotlight features (www.starlightmusicchroniclesspotlight.com) on featured artists and The Chronicles (www.starlightmusicchronicles.blogspot.ca) where there are many featured Artists on Video as well as Song reviews, Announcements, Behind-the-scenes features, and much, much, more based on the genre and type of Artists our SMC fans want to hear more of.  

What we know so far is that many Indie Artists have been reaching out to us via this Monthly Competition for various reasons, some not even related to the competition (some want photo shoots, branding, etc). It's safe to say that since opening the SMC Artist of the Month Event, we could easily sum up the Competition has amalgamated the Starlight Music Chronicles website (and all social media outlets for that matter) as a sweet combo of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets The Wizard of Oz with a side twist of Rocky Horror Picture show. Yeah, and maybe a little of Alice in Wonderland and The Nightmare Before Christmas in there too for good measure! 

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Editor's Note: It always excites me (like Christmas, one of my favorite times of the year!) when I go to click the 'Submit Now' and launch button for the monthly Voting Poll to OPEN on the event. Something about that 'OPEN' sign that suggests freedom and joy and It isn't much longer after I hit 'Refresh' and the fan votes are off and running....and then the likes.....and then the comments.....(see above photo).

The few snags we have run across are really minor.......other Artists trying to post their fan pages or art on the event wall but it is strictly prohibited as the artists took the time to submit to us all of the requirements PRIOR to the poll launch. Usually when this happens, we encourage all artists that wish to have their music promoted to contact myself at editor@starlightmusicchronicles.com and I will be happy to discuss the event and the requirements. There have been some pretty wild comments on the content in these events as well but that is one thing I AM grateful for with facebook: they block those comments and delete them for us. We try to keep the competitions as clean and fun as possible because at the end of the day all we are trying to do is offer Indie Artists the support that is severely lacking in the Industry. 

We look forward to the next 9 months of competition and talks are already in the work of having an annual festival or 'showcase' of these artists so stay tuned for more information on that when we go to launch the Artist of the Year Competition next July 2016! 

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Starlight Music Chronicles Social Media:

Website: www.starlightmusicchronicles.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/starlightmusicchronicles
Twitter: @StarlightMusicC and @CAMARSHALLSMC 
Google+: +Candice Marshall 
Instagram: www.instagram.com/starlightmusicchronicles/