Who needs The Voice, American Idol and all of those other TV-based talent shows? Polk Audio is launching its own nationwide campaign to find the next music great among us. The winner will get to open up for Walk Off The Earth and John Legend at an exclusive Polk-sponsored concert at CES 2014 in Las Vegas.
To celebrate the company's 40 years in the audio business, Polk has launched the "Listen to the Music" campaign. The campaign was named after The Doobie Brothers' song -- and will use that 1972 classic rock hit to fuel a contest. Polk wants to hear what you or your band can do with the song. Any and all genres are welcome!
Polk tapped Walk Off the Earth, the Canadian pop-rock band and YouTube viral video sensation to help with the promotion. As part of the launch event in New York City last week, Polk showed off some of their latest gear, including the 180-watt powered wireless tabletop speaker/soundbar, the Woodbourne. The Woodbourne is an impressive looking and sounding wireless speaker system that offers an optical input for connection to a TV in addition to Bluetooth wireless capabilities. We first saw and heard it at CES 2013 and now it is finally shipping.
After the product demos, the band played a rousing live set of covers and original tunes. Toward the end of the set, the band recreated their famous YouTube video, a cover of the Gotye song, "Somebody That I Used to Know," with five musicians all playing the same guitar. Here's the original version and here's them doing it live at the Delancey. It's not just smoke and mirrors, people. These guys can really sing and play!
Of course, Walk Off the Earth also recorded its own version of "Listen to the Music" to help launch the contest. We saw the video at the show but apparently it hasn't been posted to YouTube yet (stay tuned).
UPDATE (10/15): Walk Off The Earth's video cover of "Listen to the Music" is now on YouTube. You can find it here.
However, Polk is looking for artists and bands to put their own unique spin on "Listen to the Music." Just record your own version of the song and upload it to YouTube. You can also submit an entry through the Polk mobile recording studio (see above), which is currently making its way around the country.
Submissions will be accepted through December 2, 2013. From there, Walk Off the Earth's band members will help to narrow down the entries to 10 finalists. The public will then pick a winner.
The artist or band chosen as the winner of the "Listen to the Music" contest will get the chance to open for Walk Off the Earth and John Legend on January 7, 2014, at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas. Of course, you'll also get a bunch of super-cool Polk products.
Currently, the mobile recording studio is hanging out in New York City, but will soon stop make stops at college football games around the country. The bus will round out the tour next year with stops at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, the Super Bowl and The Daytona 500 in February, and Mardi Gras in New Orleans and SXSW in Austin, Texas, in March. For information on the exact dates and locations of the stops, check out the Polk website.
If you can't make it to the mobile recording studio in time to submit something to the contest, check out all of the "Listen to the Music" entry info on the Polk website.
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