GOTTA KEEP IT MOVIN’ :: RIDING THE WAVE WITH FAMECAST

By Ben Tanzer

"Exposure? You’re joking, right? You have a better chance of winning the lottery... and at least with the lottery you don’t have to carry a SWR amp and Zildijian kit through dark alleys at midnight and up two flights of stairs to play for 20 bucks and a bar tab. But this is a street fight for exposure with dozens of bands that already have platinum albums and Grammy awards. FameCast is one way to sucker-punch the industry on its blindside... the Internet."

-Subrosa Union, FameCast rock stage competitors

Did we once live in a world where there was no Internet? A world where hip-hoppers from Florida and San Francisco, comedians from Washington, DC, hard rockers from Texas, and country singers from Australia couldn’t all be in one place, at one time, and yet everywhere at the same time? For artists seeking exposure the Internet promises an instant and uncensored place to call home. It also holds out the promise that at any given moment the right person may find their way to that performer’s work and joyfully pluck them out of obscurity and away from the endless string of rejections, missed opportunities, and dead-end jobs that comprise their efforts to get somewhere.

Of course, even on the Internet, where fame can come quicker, bigger, and faster than on any platform we’ve seen before, the competition to be seen is as fierce as anywhere else. Thank goodness then for FameCast. FameCast is the new Internet-driven talent contest that says musicians and comedians can choose to network on MySpace, download their videos to YouTube, and market themselves on their website, or they can do all of that on FameCast all at once. Plus, if they’re good, really good, they’ll not only get a chance to perform live, maybe win some money, and have their act be seen by the kind of people who can actually make a difference, but they may just find some of that fame they always thought they deserved, but that lay just beyond their fingertips.

FameCast founder and CEO Kent Savage says, "I watched my cousin’s tireless efforts in promoting his work and realized there was a huge void for effective ways for the talented (and starving) artist community to breakout and connect with an audience. The current model for artist discovery is antiquated, inefficient, and tightly controlled by a few established gatekeepers with brass rings. The challenges are even larger in the music world. As we looked into the music industry, it was clear that the traditional music label is losing relevance in the eyes of the artists."

Savage came to believe this based on the opportunities he saw emerging across the Internet. "MySpace rose in popularity largely because musicians saw its value as a promotional tool," he says, "elsewhere in the industry, iTunes exploded because it's simply a better vehicle for music distribution than the traditional models."

Still, soon enough Savage noticed things were changing and he decided to make a move. "MySpace has grown too large as a social networking site to be of much value to bands," he says, "and iTunes has no promotional capabilities for indie musicians. Even American Idol falls short of being truly market-driven—judges decide who gets in the competition, not the public.

And YouTube serves up way too much clutter. FameCast is designed to democratize the talent industry and fill a market gap with its platform dedicated to artist’s discovery and community." And that’s the beauty of the whole thing, while the Internet may offer a platform available to anyone with access, FameCast promises someone will visit. Without an audience a performer still gets to be an artist, but when they lack the transaction that gets created between entertainers and their fans, they will always be missing out on a significant part of the experience. And without the opportunity to perform on larger levels before more and more people, they will never get to do it like they want to.

Jason Kemp, a country singer and FameCast competitor from Australia (jasonkemp.net), says the Internet has changed the way he promotes himself dramatically. "Exposure has been the hardest tool to grasp. Most indie artists are scraping together the funds just to keep their career moving... In the last 18 months though I have seen a huge shift in exposure gain mainly due to the speed of ADSL now being fast enough to deliver your act directly into the living room of an Internet cruiser within seconds. At the end of the day I believe that it is truly leveling the playing field of major versus indie."

FameCast is divided into six "stages" or genres, and these stages are pop, rock, R&B, country, hip-hop, and comedy. Artists upload a video in their stage and compete to move from round one to round five with "fanatics," or registered fans, eligible to vote at each stage. A new video is required for each round, with 50 contestants surviving after round one, 25 after round two, and 10 after round three. After round four, five contestants per stage advance to the fifth round for the "FameCast Five Finale," a live-web cast where the viewing audience selects the ultimate winner in each genre—"The FameCast Fenom," each of whom receive $10,000 and untold opportunities.

One of the things that’s so mind boggling when visiting FameCast’s stages, is seeing not just how many artists are out there looking for a shot, but just how many think they have a shot. Encountering this level of confidence is something to behold, but the fact is, an opportunity has presented itself and whether delusional or not, these competitors think they are the right fit for it.

As Subrosa Union (subrosaunion.com), competitors in the rock stage, say, "We’re not competing. We’re winning. Anyone who listens to our songs on iTunes or comes to a show can see and hear for themselves. We are undeniable inexplicable magical and fantastical." And who can argue with that? No one, well, no one but the voters, of course.

What is also mind boggling though, is just how many new technologies are out there for artists to utilize, and just how many artists understand the implications of doing so. Subrosa Union, for example, was interviewed on the news about competing on FameCast, and then turned around and uploaded the interview onto YouTube (youtube.com/watch?v=SM-Hryx6TdM) immediately enhancing tenfold the exposure the interview was already providing.

Subrosa Union also has a very polished website and MySpace site, as does Matt Kazam (mattkazam.com), a comedian based out of Washington, DC who has made it into the top 25 on the comedy stage. "I am doing the best job I can with MySpace and YouTube," he says, "I have a MySpace page and mention it when I am on stage... I post video and promote my club dates, CD, and website. I do the same with YouTube. Posting four videos on there I have received almost 8,000 views in three months. I am sure I can do a better job and increase the traffic, but I am happy with the results..."

It all seems so magical and yet these artists still have to get out in front of people, tour, perform, hone their act, and build their rapport with the crowd, because there’s no replacing that human connection with their fans. As Kemp says, "I still believe though that at the end of the day people buy the experience, so live shows and touring is just as, if not more, important today than it's ever been."

The competitors also have to recognize that even in this spanking new world of possibility, the potential disappointments loom just as large, because the bigger the dream, and the bigger the opportunity, the harder people crash back to earth.

Kazam has an answer for that as well. "I learned a long time ago not to put all of my eggs in one basket. You never know what thing is going to get you your big break so you keep putting things out there... I made it this far with FameCast so people have seen me so it isn't a disaster if I don't win the whole thing. Don't get me wrong I would love to win, but a lot of people have seen me through the contest and if after it is all said and done a thousand new people know who I am after this it will help me in the future."

Ultimately, Kazam’s answer has nothing to do with technology and everything to do with the reasons anyone with talent is ever successful in the first place—passion and hustle. As Fresh Boogie (myspace.com/itsfreshboogie), competitors on the hip-hop stage, say, "Gotta keep it movin.’ Never time to lose focus if you stay busy."

FameCast is just the latest way to stay busy, but for now it’s looking a lot like the future of entertainment.

For more info, go to: famecast.com