From an ourstage.com Press Release OURSTAGE, THE ONLY PURELY DEMOCRATIC ONLINE COMPETITION, MAKES ITS BETA DEBUT Offers the only fair judging process empowering the fans to decide whos the best in emerging entertainment April 10, 2007/ Boston, MA OurStage (www.ourstage.com) came out of private beta yesterday with the most evolved judging technology on the web an un-gameable entertainment alternative which empowers fans to decide whos the best in music, film and video. The OurStage patent-pending judging system harnesses the wisdom of the fans by allowing them a neutral, game-proof way to rank (not rate) online entertainment content. In return, fans get immediate access to great quality entertainment without having to hunt for it. Equally, music and film artists benefit from a growing authentic fan base, over $10,000 in monthly cash prizes, and coveted exposure with industry trailblazers. "We started OurStage with a clear visionto finally deliver on the promise of the Internetallowing creators of great entertainment to find their audience and launch their careers without a middleman hijacking their creativity and income," says Ben Campbell, founder and CEO of OurStage. In the past five weeks of closed beta, OurStage had several thousand users register to participate in the private "sneak peek most of whom found out about the site via word of mouth. This initial user base did over 100,000 voluntary judging battles and by doing so ranked over 3,000 entries from best to worst across 19 channels of music and video entertainment. At the end of each month, final video and music winners are chosen by the fans from among those ranked in the top ten within each music and film channel, based on an SMS text-vote elimination. For the grand prize winner selection, fans texted in over 10,000 SMS votes in the final days of March. Campbell says, "This level of response for a closed site, pre-launch, really caught everyone here by surprise. It looks like weve struck a real vein in the market. Weve been inundated with positive comments from artists and fans alike, all looking for a fair, game-proof way to have their voices heard. In addition to the cash prizes, OurStage offers an impressive breadth of rewards and recognition to artists driven by the fans to the top of the charts – from showcases at major festivals such as Slamdance, the CMJ Music Marathon, the Verge, SceneFirst, and NEMO; to track releases on the coveted Paste, CMJ and Relix CD samplers; to critical exposure through trailblazers such as PLUG, Noise Pop, Videomaker and Urb. "We want to change the arbitrary nature of emerging talent discovery, continues Campbell, "and in the process we are developing a wealth of partner programs to actually help launch the careers of those who did not have a fair shot before. Our March grand prize winners are a great example of what we hope to achieve for all top ranked artists going forward. Besides winning the inaugural grand prize of $5,000 in March, the Boston-based group Oddway, with their hypnotic pop tune "Letter, got OurStages support in receiving the spotlight in the upcoming CMJ New Music Report, plus a track on the CMJ Monthly Music CD sampler. OurStage was also pleased to be able to offer Oddway one of its six guaranteed showcases at the Verge Music Conference this month in Boston, considered one of the premier music events in the US. To see all March winners and for a full list of artist rewards, visit www.ourstage.com/winners About OurStage, Inc. Based in Boston, OurStage is the only purely democratic online competition where the fans decide whos the best in emerging music, film and video. The OurStage mission is to help talented artists achieve critical exposure by solving the greatest challenge on the Internet today: sorting quality content from the sea of mediocrity online. OurStage provides a neutral, trusted, game-free platform, in which the true judgment of the fans drives the best content to the top. Through its wealth of partner programs, including Paste, CMJ, PLUG Awards, Slamdance, Relix, Gen Art, Noise Pop, Videomaker, IFFBoston, and many others, OurStage offers winning artists real opportunities to actually launch their careers. "OurStage is addictiveI have a feeling this one is going to be a big deal. – Eliot Van Buskirk, Wired.com
