NZ Music 'Competition' goes awry, again

Well, the NZ corporate's are trying at least, but they do seem to muck things up when it comes to helping out local acts. After the debacle that was the Air NZ/Capitol Records competition (where it was revealed that only Capitol Records acts had made the short list of finalists), you'd think other companies might be a bit more careful about who they choose to receive what are some pretty generous prize packages.

This time it's the latest ZMFM promotion - Project nZM - which gives an 'upcoming' NZ band the chance to win...

• your band on the ZM play list 24 hours a day.
• an artist profile on the ZM National Beat Files.
• instore performances at Sounds Music Stores nationwide.
• performances in the ZM Live Lounge.
• $25,000 worth of radio advertising on ZM to help sell your music.
• a web profile on zmonline.com

All fine and dandy, of course, but, as Blink (founder of the excellent A Low Hum nz music zine, and regular nzmusic.com poster) discovered, the first of the four recipients of the award - Evermore - don't actually fulfill the requirements for entry into the competition. It's spelt out pretty simply on the ZM website...

"To enter Project nZM, you just have to be a band or a soloist who hasn't had a previous significant radio hit and you must have a current single or album that can be commercially released - that's it!"

It's pretty easy to find out that Evermore have had a significant radio hit, with their song 'Slipping Away'. Said song received Radio Hit Funding from NZ On Air in June this year (2003). The requirements for receiving Radio Hits funding are pretty clear...

"This is where we [NZ On Air] offer funding to record companies to recover the costs of recording and releasing songs that pick up significant airplay on commercial radio."

Keywords there: significant, radio, hit. And, other than that, Evermore, despite being relatively new on the scene (and I'm not getting at them here, by the way, they are a talented band who write good songs), have also also received NZ On Air grants for video making, new recording, and album production costs.

Ah well, like I say, at least they're trying. And besides, as was pointed out on NZM, who listens to ZMFM anyway?
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