London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios is offering aspiring songwriters the chance to win online feedback sessions with a panel of megastar judges and mentors.
For the next seven days, the studio is inviting songwriters to record original songs on its free songwriting app Topline and submit the tracks alongside their name, country and song title.
These submissions will then be shortlisted by a team of Abbey Road Studio engineers who will pick a maximum of 5-8 songs for each judge and mentor to review.
Those engineers are Daniel Hayden (Recordist), Chris Parker (Assistant Engineer), Andy Maxwell (Assistant Engineer), Alex Wharton, (Mastering Engineer) and Oli Morgan, (Mastering Engineer).
The judges are Abbey Road Chief Creative Advisor Nile Rodgers, Jamie Scott (One Direction, Rag’n’Bone Man, Rudimental & Jess Glynne), Giorgio Tuinfort (David Guetta, Rihanna, Sia, Ariana Grande & Whitney Houston) and Poo Bear (Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran, Billie Eilish & Mariah Carey).
Each judge will choose a winner from the shortlist and work with their chosen winner, giving a 30-minute online feedback session.
Abbey Road says that each judge will choose their winner based on the criteria of “originality, invention and artistic values of the submitted song”.
Each of the four winners’ 30-minute feedback sessions will take place via online video conference, organized and provided by Abbey Road.
“Let’s hear some new songs which can pull us through the most difficult times, with lyrics which fade into our dreams, helping us to accept life as it is.”
Dom Dronska, Abbey Road
Abbey Road’s Head of Digital, Dom Dronska, said: “We hear from our fellow musicians and songwriters how they miss the studios and having close contact with their fellow artists.
“While we can’t give them access to our studios just yet, we can share an online space, where they can capture their songs without equipment, and they can share them easily with us, with their producers or topliners.
“We want to give them a reason to write and offer inspiration from some prolific songwriters connected to us, creating a big songwriting momentum.
“Let’s hear some new songs which can pull us through the most difficult times, with lyrics which fade into our dreams, helping us to accept life as it is.”
“We want to be a source of inspiration and support to all creatives navigating this unsettling time, and this competition exemplifies the spirit of collaboration that we see in the house when we are open.”
Mark Robertson, Abbey Road
Abbey Road’s Head of Brand & Communications, Mark Robertson added: “We want to be a source of inspiration and support to all creatives navigating this unsettling time, and this competition exemplifies the spirit of collaboration that we see in the house when we are open.
“Nile’s songwriting at Abbey Road is symbolic of how we are transforming the studios. He’s written over 100 songs with artists including Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, SG Lewis, David Guetta, Jorja Smith and Rudimental.
“His unparalleled body of work and expertise as a producer mean there couldn’t be a better person to guide and lead this competition.
“Thanks to his manager Merck Mercuriadis, we have three more of the biggest writers in the world as mentors in the shape of Poo Bear, Giorgio Tuinfort and Jamie Scott, making this an unmissable chance to learn from the best.”Music Business Worldwide
