Songwriters Festival Grand Final Showcase
In partnership with “R U OK” in Australia and “CALM – Campaign Against Living Miserably” in the UK, Listen Up Music hosted a music festival inviting homegrown artists and songwriters to showcase their work all working to a theme that raises awareness around mental health. More than 2780 entries were received from the international competitions in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, London, Manchester and Edinburgh. This equates to almost 8 times the amount of entries in comparison to when the competition first started three years ago!
The finals showcase for Australian entries featured 12 artists who performed at the Factory Floor in Marrickville on Thursday 15 November with Leonie Kingdom’s taking home the Grand Final title. Tempus Sun, now featured on Triple J Unearthed, won the Listen Up Songwriter’s Festival in 2016. Last year’s winner, Seb Mont, has gone on to write and produce songs with Alfie Arcuri (The Voice 2016 Winner) and Universal Studios.
The top 12 finalists song entires included:
Abbey Gardner – War Child (NSW)
Ben Leece – Stuck To My Guns (NSW)
Ben Stafford – Breaking Point (WA)
Chelsea Cullen – Edge of Myself (WA)
Jess Stillone – Fall (NSW)
Leonie Kingdom – Night Terrors (QLD)
Old Cities – Again (NSW)
Romisounds – Inclination (NSW)
Seb Mont – Who I Am (VIC)
https://www.facebook.com/SebMontMusic/
SPENCER – Another Girl (NSW)
Sung Loh – Someday (VIC)
Talitha Jae – I’m Right Here (QLD)
The Listen Up Music Songwriters Festival works on the premise of social research reporting up to 70% of musicians have suffered from anxiety and depression. The organisation is devoted to creating a space for independent artists to thrive while demystifying the stigma of mental health not only in the music industry but in the wider community also. As a result the Grand Final showcase realised that vision by unearthing some of the country’s most creative and talented original artists.
The night was MC’d by Listen Up Music Ambassador, Mitch Garling, with judges including The Voice’s Alfie Arcuri, Imogen Clark, TV’s Socratis Otto and Triple J favourite, LANKS to name a few. LANKS will also award his guitar as one of the special prizes on the night, to a finalist of his choosing.
In addition to the festival, Listen Up Music has launched their own music label, recording studio partnerships, mental health training for the music industry and proposed music festival in 2019 expanding their portfolio of services.
The Top 12 Finalists will feature in an album that has been released which you can download and purchase now on I-Tunes and Google Music.
PURCHASE ON I-TUNES: Australian Album and UK Album
PURCHASE ON GOOGLE: Australian Album and UK Album