Introducing That One Song, Tones and I's competition to boost musicians during COVID

And one of the first winners is a Perth-based favourite whose come-up has been a long time in the making.

Posted By Pile News 4 years ago

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The story behind Tones And I's discovery is well-known at this point, so we're not going to hamper on about it. However, at the end of the day, a lot of Australia's most incredible - and globally-adored - musicians found their feet through busking and casual performances; an industry that due to COVID's effect on nightlife and foot traffic, has all but disappeared. For buskers, incomes relies on tips. Tips, at the end of the day, vary according to how many people you have in front of you. With COVID-19 forcing people inside and slowing rates of tourism and spending locally, there are little people for buskers to entertain, hence small-to-no tips.

Tones is someone that perhaps knows this better than anyone else, which is why she's stepped up to launch That One Song - a month-long competition that aims to showcase 30 different developing musicians across Australia and their respective crafts, with the hopes of giving one - the winner - a career-changing boost that'll push them forwards after many months of being held back by coronavirus.

At the moment, you can enter through uploading a song of your choice - and some information about you, its creator - to a form online (which you can find here), which will go straight to Tones and her team to sort through, listen, and pluck out the best. Each day, one finalist will be posted on the That One Song Instagram account, with the final 30 finalists - one for each day - being voted on to find a winner, which will win a set of prizes essential to any musician in the development phase of their career.

As it stands, the current prize pool for the competition is $5000 cash, a full day booked in the studio with no costs to you and a 30-minute Zoom call with Tones and the teams which have helped her be elevated into one of Australia's most commercially successful new arrivals in history. At the end of the day, however, all the finalists end up with something - having their music shared to the account's quick-growing audience who will follow you on socials and buy your music - if you have any released - to help you thrive during a difficult time for local musicians.

As it stands, a few winners have already come through the woodwork. Shah Infinite is the latest, alongside Catherine Aria, Bendigo musician Tom Harrington, and Perth's own Sydnee Carter - a favourite amongst Perth's music scene who has been featured on Pilerats a few times over the years, with her latest success being the first winner of Tones And I's That One Song competition. It's an incredibly exciting thing for a musician that something like this has been a long time coming; Sydnee being one of the hardest-working people we know.

Also on the Instagram, you'll find some words of wisdom by other Australian musicians who know songwriting better than anyone else - Illy, Kira Puru and Amy Shark thus far - so taking a dive over to the Instagram account and giving it a crack is well worth a shot.

Again, this is a brilliant competition that couldn't come at a better time, so if you're a budding musician struggling to break out - or know anyone in these circumstances - then give it a shot and who knows, you might just be a winner.