TRACE Stars, the first mobile song competition to find new singing talent from South Africa has recently surpassed 325,000 entries. Since 15th September, TRACE Urban, the number one international urban music channel, has been on the search for South Africa’s hottest new musical talent. TRACE understood that thousands of talented singers throughout South Africa can’t register for singing contests given the complicated terms and conditions of typical auditions, such as remoteness of certain areas, high costs and the lack of transparency in selection criteria.
TRACE Stars decided to knock down these barriers by allowing candidates to submit their songs via their mobile phones by calling an advertised number and singing a cappella or with background music for a maximum of 2 minutes. The talented competition winner will receive R100,000 in cash, a VIP trip to the United States to be mentored by Wyclef Jean, a record deal with Universal Music and the production of his/her own music video. TRACE’s panel of judges will select the ten best entries, with the winner being chosen among the ten finalists at a Grand
Finale event on Friday 31st January, in the presence of Wyclef Jean, the President of the jury. The TRACE Stars Mobile Song competition, which is sponsored by Cell C, NOKIA and Universal Music, has proved to be very popular from the beginning with more than 100,000 calls made to the TRACE Stars line during the first 15 days. After two months of successful entries, the TRACE Stars line officially closed on November 22. No late submissions will be accepted, as judges are now in the process of examining recordings submitted on time by successful applicants.
