"Hajime" has just won third place in the Indie International Songwriting Contest for World music! I am honored to see the song make it up there, and encourage you to check out some of the other winners on the site.
Indie International - third place win!
Contest info, new news...
Hey, thanks to all who came to the PartyLine on Tuesday. :D Before I get to the Origins Remix Contest information, I just wanted to share one bit of news with you. iNewAge.com has just named me Best Futuristic New Age Singer, and described my work as "better than Enya." Pretty nifty! Anywho...
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You have stumbled upon the Origins Remix Contest, sponsored by audioMIDI and Sweetwater.com! This is a competition open to all musicians, producers, and performers who are interested in arranging any of the following three songs from my debut New Age/World album, Origins:
You are free to use as much or as little of the audio material provided for each song, as long as the final result is still recognizable as being derivative of the original work. While use of my vocal parts is obviously encouraged, instrumental submissions will also be accepted. Any and all genres are welcomed, from electronica to acoustic!
Files: http://www.soundtempest.net/jill/contest/
Deadline: September 1st, 2008 at noon EST
All completed remixes must be sent to mail@jilliangoldin.com by the above date and time. Submissions should be in MP3 format only, encoded at 192 kbps or higher. You may enter as many remixes as you want! Just don't kill yourself. ^-^
I will evaluate the remixes based on the following criteria:
- Creativity
- Production & sound quality
- Overall musicality
Within one week of the contest deadline, three winning entries will be announced: one for each song. Of those three, there will also be one grand prize and one second place winner! (Note: in the event that any one song receives a disproportionately low number of submissions, multiple winners could result for the same original track.)
All three winners will receive:
- My upcoming vocal sample library (valued at $99), produced by Impact Soundworks. The product will feature a wide range of detailed, multisampled recordings covering both straight tone and vibrato singing, multiple vowels and consonants, phrases, and special effects!
- Origins, signed with a personal message of your choice
- A copy of my soon-to-be-released music video for the song "Hajime," in high-resolution on DVD
- Promotion (of both the remix and its creator) on my website, MySpace, and newsletter
The grand prize winner will also be the recipient of a $75 gift certificate generously provided by audioMIDI.com, a favorite music gear shop of zircon and myself. With a great selection of unique music gear, excellent customer service and a never-ending supply of blowout items, rebates, and B-stocks, audioMIDI is among the best music equipment retailers on the net.
And the second place winner will receive a $50 gift certificate to Sweetwater.com, another great retailer of music equipment. They have a very wide selection of more traditional instruments and equipment, plus a highly-trained staff of "Sales Engineers" to answer your questions! 
ALL contest entries will be considered for future Jillian Goldin releases! Other prizes may be added as well, so check back regularly for updates. Can't wait to see what you come up with... Have fun!
Origins *live event* & remix contest
The generous folks over at OurStage.com have offered to host a live "PartyLine" event on my behalf this coming week, and I'd love for you to be there! PartyLine is a real-time online chat and media-sharing forum, allowing artists like me the opportunity to host private get-togethers centered around news, releases, and just plain old fun. But this one will be extra special for three reasons:
- EJ Quinn Strassel will be conducting a live interview with myself and zircon (Andrew Aversa) - collaborator and engineer on Origins.
- OurStage will be promoting the event, so hopefully we'll see some new faces there.
- And this is the whopper... By popular request, I have decided to start up an official **Origins Remix Contest**. Those interested in entering will be provided with all of the instrumental and vocal parts on each of three songs from my album, from which they can base their new interpretations. I will be offering some great prizes/exposure to the winners... So I encourage you to try your hand. ^-^ Everything you need to know (and download) to get started will be announced live at the PartyLine... so don't miss it!!!
Who: Jillian Goldin, zircon, EJ Quinn Strassel - and YOU
When: Tuesday, July 15th @ 8:00 pm EST
Where: OurStage.com/partyline/jilliangoldin (note: the link won't be active until this time)
How: To enter the party, you have to register an account at OurStage.com (assuming you don't already have one). Don't worry; it's quick, painless, and of course free. Once you're logged in, just enter the above partyline URL into your browser's navigation bar, and you'll be chatting with the rest of us! It's that easy.
This should be a lot of fun. Hope to see you there! :>
(If you're interested in entering the Origins Remix Contest but unable to make it to my PartyLine, just shoot me an email after the fact.)
Front page story in Boston area newspapers
The Lexington Minuteman and The Woburn Advocate, newspapers from both of my two hometowns in Massachusetts, have just published a very thoughtful story about my music and influences. The article appeared on the front page of the Advocate's most recent issue, and will also be printed in the Minuteman at a near future date. I'm very excited to share this news with some old friends and mentors from home, who may be interested in seeing what I've been up to recently! Hope you enjoy.
Third award-winning track, new projects in store...
The latest news on the Origins front is that "Avalon," track 9, just recently won the OurStage.com New Age/World Prize, as well as placed second in the site-wide Music Finals! This makes three award-winning songs on the album, as "Hajime" and "Red July" also received the same honor (plus a Grand Prize win for the former).
If you visit my homepage, you'll see that I have now added a section for "Awards & Press." Origins has been doing well enough that I felt like it would be good to make that information available all in one place! The album has received some really great reviews - from industry professionals as well as fans on CDBaby. So if you're curious, please check out some of the links.
I have also just signed on with two companies to help spread the word about my music: one for radio promotion, and one for online publicity. Origins will be going out to over 130 radio stations that specifically play my genre of music, and online we will be custom-targeting over 500 blogs, internet radio stations, podcasts, and journalists. Here's hoping the end result is positive!
Loved the album, and want to help out? Telling friends and family by word of mouth, blogging, podcasting, or writing for a local/school newspaper are all wonderful ways to help spread the word. I'd like to shout out to fans Jonathan Tilton, Larry Oji, and Anthony Mangano who have volunteered their time to contribute such efforts. Posting a short review on my CDBaby and/or iTunes pages can make a real difference as well! I can't tell you how much your support means to me. So of you're interested in lending a hand, and would like any advice or information, don't hesitate to shoot me an email! My contact info can be found on the "Contact" page.
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In other news, I have some exciting projects in store this summer that I thought I'd share. First and foremost, I want you to know that I'm going to be making my first MUSIC VIDEO! That's right - visuals to accompany your listening experience. I won't give away any details yet, so there's an element of surprise. But suffice it to say that I'm really looking forward to the experience, and of course I will make the end result freely available for you to view online.
Secondly, and this is especially pertinent to all you composers and OC ReMixers out there... zircon and I have decided to come out with a mini vocal library of pop stacks and other fun stuff. It will be sold for under $50 (price to be determined later in the process), and I will provide demos of course. He and partner Wilbert Roget II have embarked upon a business venture called Impact Soundworks: designed with composers in mind... a sample company! They have some really cool products coming out soon.
So that's a wrap. Check back to follow the progress, and don't hesitate to shoot me an email with any feedback or suggestions - you will always be welcome!
