Castle Brands, makers of Boru Vodka, is getting set to launch the second annual “Defend the Bar Band” local music competition, offering $10,000 in music equipment to the winning indie band.
The multi-level competition will launch on Aug. 1 with the rollout of a microsite devoted to the contest, www.borubarband.com. Independent musicians will have until Aug. 28 to submit their original music. A team of judges will winnow that group down to 15 semifinalists by Sept. 15.
At that point, fans will be able to come to the Boru Bar Band site, listen to or download the entrants’ performances and vote once a day for their favorite group. Real-time voting results will be available on the site, and people who vote will be entered into their own sweepstakes for a chance to win a $5,000 prize.
The four bands that receive the most popular votes by Oct. 19 will move to the final round of the competition, getting a professionally shot video from indie music Web site Digital Café Tour. Web site visitors will have one more chance to cast ballots for the top finalist during the week of Oct. 20.
The winning band will be chosen by both that popular vote and a judging panel’s decision and named around Nov. 11.
Digital Café Tour will also carry “Defend the Bar Band” display ads on its Web site www.digitalcafetour.com, which gets visits from a million fans and 500,000 professional musicians a month. DCT will promote the contest in e-mail to their member base.
Another Web site for independent bands, ReverbNation www.reverbnation.com will also send news of the competition out to its users through ads and e-mail. ReverbNation gets about 3 million impressions a month and offers its member bands home pages with video, blog and music download featured that can be shared among fans.
“The ‘Defend the Bar Band’ lineup this year is the major social/viral way to get everybody amped about the competition and sweepstakes and the Boru brand,” Castle Brands Marketing and PR Vice President Roseann Sessa said in a statement. “From www.Boru.com to MySpace and Facebook to band Web sites, it’s Boru gone viral and totally virtual, and the fans and the bands will spread the words and music.”
More than 100 bands entered last year’s initial “Defend the Bar Band” contest and over 800,000 votes were cast. The band winner of that maiden contest, Lloyd Dobler Effect, has become a significant brand ambassador for Boru, traveling in a branded trailer and performing in front of a Boru backdrop at more than 200 venues.
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