Djooky Music Awards look to unite the world through music
The still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic made it really difficult for everyone, including musicians who lost their ability to tour and work collaboratively on their music.
The Djooky Music Awards wants to help provide a new platform and community for musicians, encouraging artists from around the world to submit their songs for a chance to win a cash prize or trip to LA to meet with music industry representatives.
“At Djooky, we share a vision of a world where all people with the talent, creativity and passion to make a difference in the world of music will enjoy equal opportunities to get access to the best support available to create and promote their music,” the organization says. “Our mission is to democratise the music industry by enabling creative talent from all corners of the world to harness the networked power of the people in spotting, creating and promoting great music.”
The contest awards a winner each quarter, with the lucky person receiving a trip to record one song at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, California, with Brian Malouf, a multi-platinum producer, or $20,000. If the winner takes the trip, they will receive a round-trip flight for two to LA, hotel accommodations and a daily allowance for transportation and meals for the three-day adventure. The winner will also have access to three coaching sessions with music industry experts. A second place winner will receive $5,000 and a third place winner will receive $2,000, while the top song in each genre receives $1,000.
The contest began in summer 2020, with submissions from 165 artists in 55 countries and six continents, with Gina Brooklyn of Ohio earning $10,000 and a trip to LA. By the Spring 2021 contest, more than 2,500 artists from 129 countries were nominated, and 150,000 music fans from 176 countries joined the platform to support their newfound favorite artists.
Djooky itself is an international effort, with representatives in LA, Berlin, London and Kyiv, along with a presence in New York, Sydney, Lagos, Cologne, Sao Paulo and Bangkok and brand ambassadors in Iran, Tanzania, Namibia, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands.
Curious about Djooky and think you might want to submit a song? The current contest is open for submissions until next Sunday, August 15, at midnight GMT, with national voting opening on Monday, August 16 and ending on August 20 followed by continental voting from August 21 through 25 and global voting between August 26 and 29. A full list of rules and eligible countries can be found here
If you used the pandemic to learn an instrument and want to see how you measure up against other artist from around the world, learn more about Djooky here.