Austrian Band Contest
The Austrian Band Contest is a competition held in Austria that has been held annually since 1984 and is primarily organized to present Central European newcomer bands on an international level. The competition, which applies to bands of all styles and ages, received more feedback and interest from musicians, the media and the music industry every year. The United Austrian Music Funders are the sponsors of the Austrian Band Contest .
International Live Award
Due to the steadily growing number of requests from foreign bands, the International Live Award was launched in 2007 , where bands from 6 nations compete against each other first in a national preliminary and later in an international final contest. The other nations are Italy , Hungary , the Czech Republic , Slovenia , Slovakia and Austria. Since 2007 the Austrian Band Contest has also been the national preliminary decision for the International Live Award .
The sequence
The national preliminary decision
The national preliminary round begins in August and usually lasts until December of the same year. There are several concerts that represent the preliminary round of the Austrian Band Contest (in Italy the contest is called Italian Band Contest). The best four bands of the preliminary round reach the quarter-finals . The other bands determine the fifth participant of the quarter-finals in the 2nd chance . The quarter-finals are also national and will also be played in several concerts. Here the best three bands qualify for the semi-finals , which take place on an international level.
The International Live Award
In the semifinals, the 40 best bands from the preliminary rounds of the six participating nations determine the ten best bands in one concert. These ten bands will play on May 1st in the Vienna Prater for a cash prize of 14,000 euros and a material prize worth more than 100,000 euros. These include advertisements in well-known music magazines, a professional video shoot, appearances at well-known national and international music festivals as well as equipment prices.
The investigation of the best bands
The bands are determined 50% by the audience and 50% by a jury consisting of well-known musicians, music journalists and record companies in several categories such as performance , melody and song content. The spectators' ballot papers are the entry tickets that may only be filled in during the competition. Everyone has 2 votes, so that not only their own band but also another band has the chance to advance. For bands with geographical disadvantages, there is a special rule that says that the audience rating is doubled and the postcode of the rehearsal room is taken into account. This rule with the postcode will not be considered in the final .
regulate
Each band has to pay a one-time entry fee, which is reimbursed to a band if the band in question cannot take part in the competition due to problems within the band (e.g. due to illness of a band member), whereby the reason for leaving must be proven. Every band has the right to draw attention to itself through advertising and to invite fans to the competition. The band that attracts the most viewers has the right to be the first to choose a season, followed by the other bands. Exceptions are bands with left-handed drums or complex instrumentation, which for technical reasons are given certain starting positions (e.g. first or last starting position). The first band and a second band selected by the jury do a sound check , all others just a line check . Each band has a playing time of 25 minutes, which must not be exceeded. Right -wing extremist , racist or violence-glorifying texts, elements influencing viewers such as pyrotechnics and extremely unsporting behavior are prohibited , which in the worst case leads to exclusion from the competition.
The jury
The jury consists of well-known musicians, music journalists, reporters from radio stations and employees from record companies. The jury of the International Live Awards 2009 consisted of musicians from the bands Rooga (won the International Live Award 2007), Inyou , Before the Fall and Distrust , as well as journalists from Orangemusic , starchat.at , Nolabel and Radio Arabella . Among them was Anna Tschirko, a promoter of Universal Music .
The entry
Half of the entry proceeds from the preliminary rounds, the quarter-finals and the semi-finals go to the organizers and half to the bands. Entry to the finals in Vienna on May 1st is free.
Sponsors and prizes
Sponsored competition from VHS , Planet Music Media , gotv.at , Eutopia Budapest rock'n'roll , band: Union , Project Pop and sms.at . The winner will receive a cash prize of 10,000 euros and material prizes worth over 100,000 euros.