Avicii‘s former manager, Arash “Ash” Pournouri is working to find the next big superstar with the launch of his digital talent search.
Ash describes Self Made as “a new digital universe for future talent and their fans” that allows artists to have a presence and voice on social media. People will vote for their favorites, and decide which songs make it as hits, leading to a development stage and final performance for a 50/50 split record deal and management deal worth $225,000 in Swedish kronor.
Right now, the online competition is available to users in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Although Self Made is not available worldwide yet, this concept opens to the door to endless musical possibilities and seems like a great step to diversify the music industry.
“This will be the first international talent show. It is based on the enormous needs of the creators have to be seen and break through the media clutter,” Ash said.
“It’s a song contest, not a DJ contest. So there will be no new Avicii, rather we’re looking for the next Tove Lo. The goal is to find an artist that’s a hit internationally.”
Ash also says that there is a “zero tolerance policy for hate or trolling” on the platform; it will require users to login via their Facebook account so that they can be identified. “We’ll remove anyone who behaves inappropriately.”
After 6 weeks of digital auditions, 21 talents will proceed to the development phase, and from there 12 contestants will be sent to Stockholm for studio sessions, then a semi-final and final in front of an audience.
The final performance will be at Gröna Lund, a large amusement park in Stockholm with a big stage, the 25th of May and the winner gets chosen after that through a final voting.
