YouBloom to raise €250,000 as its Music Awards attract over 50,000 members, 2,200 artists

Sept. 15, 2011 - PRLog -- The company’s ‘equity crowdfunding’ is aimed at a limited number of investors at a price per share of €0.30 for each €0.01 ordinary share. The minimum investment amount is €2,500.

The purpose of the funding round is to finance the company’s growth during 2012, when a much larger round of funding to support expansion through to 2015 will take place.

The online song contest attracted almost 30,000 members to the site in its first year, and over 1,500 songs were entered. This year the contest has been rebranded as the YouBloom Music Awards and over 50,000 members have signed up. Entries in the third quarter heats have now closed and voting has begun.

Singer-songwriter Neev Kennedy from Loughrea, Co Galway, won the first YouBloom Music Awards in 2010, taking a prize of €10,000. Her video on the YouBloom channel helped drive the latter to 70th place in the Irish YouTube rankings in 2010.

Web analytics show that YouBloom’s Irish penetration, if replicated in Britain, would equate to over a million members, or more than five million in the US. The company believes it has the right expertise and the right team to achieve such growth.

The judges panel for this year is headed once again by Bob Geldof, and two new judges have joined — Sarah Lewitinn, aka Ultragrrrl, former SPIN editor, now a record producer, DJ and blogger in New York; and Conor McNicholas, former editor of the New Musical Express and a cultural commentator in the UK. Nigel Grainge and Rupert Hine continue to bring their expertise to the panel.

Members vote to select the winners in the initial heats and playoffs leading through to the Grand Final at the end of the year, while the international judging panel adjudicates the semifinals of each qualifying round.

YouBloom plans that from 2012 onwards the Awards will include a Grand Final TV series streamed online, with voter and judging participation.

The winning entry takes a cash prize of €10,000.

Having successfully grown the Music Awards from inception a year ago, in the coming 18 months the company will add Seed Money, which allows artists to raise money from their fans for their musical projects (crowdfunding), charts and playlists, radio, song videos, an A&R game and social networking features.

These will generate advertising, transactional and service fees to form the core of the company’s online revenue streams.

YouBloom aims to secure 14,000 artists and 224,000 members by the end of 2012 and 300,000 artists and 7,800,000 members by the end of 2015.

The company’s focus is on developing its core internet activities with a policy of partnering with the majors and independents in the area of music licensing and publishing, with established and disruptive media companies in relation to TV, with live promoters and with other internet companies who provide synergistic services.

Among live events the company is working on is the New Music Conference, which is to be launched in Ireland in September 2012.

For details of this investment opportunity contact CEO Phil Harrington on +353 1 4428111 or email philh@youbloom.com. More information is available at http://www.youbloom.com/frame/wp/crowdfunding


Ultragirrrl talks about YouBloom: http://youtube.com/watch?v=CacE9o1Z4GE


Music Awards judging panel: http://youbloom.com/ybsc/judges
YouBloom on YouTube:  http://youtube.com/user/YouBloomSongContest

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About YouBloom

YouBloom is the brainchild of entrepreneur and musician Phil Harrington.

“My vision and that of everyone involved with YouBloom is to build a new global economy of artists which will change the dynamic of the industry and at last drive the internet to deliver creatively and financially for artists. The current file-sharing and free-download culture makes it almost impossible for unsigned artists to monetize their music and YouBloom seeks to change that.”

“For too long new artists with talent have not been able to get a good listen or a fair deal,” says Phil. “It’s also frustrating that the only music competitions being supported by the media tend to be focused on Karaoke-style contests which ignore the need to encourage and support originality, which is the real core of music.”  

Value Proposition

The recorded music industry is in a state of change. The position of the major record companies has been disrupted by the digital revolution. Revenues now come from a mixture of live performance, online and mobile sales, TV/Film placement as well as traditional retail. Record companies are adjusting their business models. YouBloom aims to work constructively with artists and re- cord labels, publishers and promoters to help address these issues.

Against this background, YouBloom offers artists:

•   Exposure via the YouBloom Music Awards
•   Funding via YouBloom Seed Money
•   Several mechanisms to grow their fan bases
•   Generation of multiple revenues streams
•   The opportunity for major artist development and management

Through partnerships:
•   Live performance and touring opportunities
•   Major and independent artist development and management
•   TV show participation

The Development of YouBloom

In April 2010 YouBloom released the Music Awards (Song Contest). It now has approximately 50,000 members involved in the competition, split 22 to 1 between friends and artists. Seed Money will be added in November 2011. The 2012 Music Awards will commence in January 2012 and are scheduled to include a Grand Final TV series in the third and fourth quarters of 2012. An A&R game, song videos and social networking features will be added in 2012.

The executive team is headed by Phil Harrington, an experienced business executive and musician. The company has a creative & technology team in Ireland and the US and a marketing team in London and Los Angeles. YouBloom has the support of a network of collaborators, many of whom are artists, a key differentiator of YouBloom.

Besides the judges, these include a number of industry insiders, including Mike Bone (President of Mercury, Chrysalis and Island in the US, in his career), Jeff Stewart (CEO, New World Music), Ted Cummings (ran a major music label publicity department for over 20 years) and Jochen Wilms (ex VP of marketing with BMG).

The strength of YouBloom’s network and industry knowledge will enable the company to play a major role in developing the careers of artists. YouBloom offers premium services through YouBloom Services to respond to opportunities for additional business with members.

Conclusions

•   YouBloom offers an innovative business model for the music industry
•   It has the endorsement of key industry players
•   The YouBloom Music Awards are now established and growing
•   It is a game changing model in the new music business
•   YouBloom could be of great interest to both strategic investors and investors in the public equity markets

For further information or photographs or to arrange interviews with Phil Harrington please contact Basil Miller:

T  +353 1 4433494
M +353 86 8182082
E  basilm@youbloom.com

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