Meet The Lucky £4000 Promotion Giveaway Winner!

To celebrate the launch of our new artist development and music promotions service, we decided to give away over £4,000 worth of artist development and music promotions! The winner will benefit from a 3-month personalised development campaign, including promotion across streaming, radio and PR, as well as having access to our vast network in the music industry. Our goal is to create opportunities for artists and increase their exposure, so naturally, the competition was 100% free to enter!

Мusic Gateway Artist Development and music promotions competition

The competition has now closed! First of all, we’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone who entered and shared the competition. Now to announce the winner, and that lucky person was JayRar! Read more about JayRar and his experience in the music industry so far, or sign up to see what other ticket giveaways and opportunities we offer!

Thanks for taking the time to have a chat with us, Jay! First of all, how did you get into music?

It depends what you mean by ‘get into’ really. I’ve always enjoyed music since being little and going on long car journeys with my family, changing CDs and singing along to it. At 16 I’d say I truly got ‘into’ music. My year at school was incredibly talented and full of musicians. It was the golden age of emo music, pop punk and alternative music I’d never experienced before. In sixth form, I used to skip class to go hang out in the music practice rooms we had and sing away for hours. I had very supportive classmates who would listen to me humming songs whilst I did my work in Maths and ask me to sing more. It took me until 24 to have the confidence to attempt music as a part-time career in a function band, and I was 26 when I decided to learn guitar properly and finally ‘get into music’ so to speak.

JayRar competition winner artist development

How would you describe your sound in one sentence?

I don’t think I can, I don’t write in a particular genre or style. I sing what I feel and normally write to express myself when motivation arises. My attempt in one sentence would be: music focussing on emotive, soulful vocals that aim to connect with the empathy we all share. I want my music to connect with people. Make them feel like they’re not alone if they’re sad and keep them happy and enjoying themselves if they’re in a great mood.

You used to be in a soul/swing band, how does that influence your sound now?

To be fair swing doesn’t influence me much, even though I enjoy it. My first love was RnB and so my voice takes influence from that. Soul just added another layer to it much like all my other influences.

Why did you decide to enter the competition? What do you hope to get out of it?

I decided to be less pessimistic a couple of years ago and just enter any competitions that I came across. Allowing any luck I get in life to come my way. I’m just going to take things a day at a time with what I’ve won and not get ahead of myself. I’m hoping my social media numbers increase and it gives me the push to release a single over the summer period this year. It would also be pretty awesome to make some new contacts and learn how the industry works from professionals as I actually really enjoy the business side of music.

JayRar, winner of the £4000 artist development and music promotions £4000 competition

How do you get on with the business side of the music industry?

I LOVE the business side of music. Although I never did business or music at school, I find it all fascinating. I think my current success in my local area is down to the hundreds of hours of research I do into marketing and business. I think a lot of artists feel talent will get them the full way, but I feel it’s about 10% talent. The rest comes down to networking, marketing, perseverance and a sprinkle of luck.

What have you been working on recently? Any exciting new music coming out soon?

So, I have about 11 songs that are half finished. They’re the start of my album, and it’s about finding the time to balance finishing them and having to make a living! I have some songs I’m really excited to finish and get out there. I’m just searching for the right producer who can turn the base of the song into something more chart-sounding.

What is the funniest moment in your music career so far?

It’s a tricky one really. It’s between the odd fact that I’m about 4-5x as popular in Brazil as I am in the UK so I now have to do Portuguese subtitles for my YouTube vlogs – that always makes me chuckle. Or when I was with my function band and we were waiting for the ferry to France, we were all in a huge van and started writing an overall emotional song about a seagull that walked in front of the van. I wish I could remember the lyrics but I think I was laughing too hard for my brain to function on taking anything in.

Мusic Gateway Artist development and music promotion £4000 competition winner

Anything else you’d like readers to know? Feel free to give yourself a bit of a shout-out!

I think the one thing I wish everyone would do is to work on their dreams. I made a super risky call to pack in my therapeutic counselling career and my part-time side job so that I could pursue my music career. I’m currently poorer, but I’ve never been happier and felt more motivated and satisfied with what I do. If you have a dream career that you feel is too risky or you’re not sure if you’ll succeed, go for it! Take the jump, work hard and be happier for it. We all feel more restricted in this world than we actually are. I just want people to be happy. If you’d like to join my community then type ‘JayRar’ into google and I’m on the first page. Find me or send me a message on TwitchTv, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube at /JayRarVocals. And stream my music on all platforms by searching for JayRar.

Thanks for that insight into your path down the music industry so far Jay!

We’re looking forward to finding the perfect producer for Jay and getting his tracks out there. If you’d like to achieve this too you can find the perfect person to work within our community of thousands or have a chat with our marketing or artist development and music promotions team!

All you have to do is sign up now and get access to all this and much much more. The best thing? You get the first 14-days free, no strings attached!