We are stoked to announce that our Needle In The Hay vinyl competition has returned!
Fresh off the back of Needle In The Hay: The 7-Inch Singles Edition, we wasted no time putting the wheels in motion for the next move. This time it’s going to be bigger than ever.
Just like the inaugural comp, we are opening Needle In The Hay to albums and EPs. Entering will put you in the running to have your record pressed to 12″ vinyl by Zenith Records, and to win a ton of prizes to boot.
Entries close July 26th 2019 at midnight.
The Process
- Paste the URL for your album or EP (either released or unreleased) to the NitH enter page and pay the $10 entry fee via PayPal – please only submit streamable links (Soundcloud or Bandcamp only), any other submissions may be delayed or voided.
- The Happy team will listen to every submission and decide on a set of finalists.
- From the finalists, three guest judges will choose the winner and runners-up.
- All finalists are eligible to play our Finalists’ Party on September 27th at the Marlborough Hotel in Sydney.
Please note that NitH is open only to Australian or New Zealand artists, either signed or independent. You CAN submit multiple albums and EPs, however, these must be separate entries. Demos are a-ok too!
Enter Needle In The Hay Here
The intent of Needle In The Hay is to foster greater awareness of upcoming artists, and offer them the opportunity to release their music on vinyl. We are on the side of new Aussie bands and Happy Mag hopes to play a part of developing the careers of these artists, shining a light on the next wave of emerging talent.
The Prizes
1st Prize: 250 x 12″ vinyl copies of your album or EP pressed by Zenith Records with full colour packaging, one year of beer courtesy of Young Henrys, a high production video with JMC Academy, and 5x customised Zippo lighters.
Runner-Up Prizes: Over $20,000 in prizes from Zenith Records, Audio-Technica, JBL, RØDE Microphones, Korg, Zippo, Polaroid, and Enmore Audio, plus more to be announced.
The Judges
Stuart Coupe: Stuart Coupe is an Australian journalist, author, manager, and promoter with decades of experience. From managing Paul Kelly and the Hoodoo Gurus to his 2018 non-fiction novel Roadies: The Secret History of Australian Rock’n’Roll, if anyone has had an all-access pass to the Australian music industry, it’s Coupe.
Rosie Beaton: Hosting triple j’s evening program Super Request for 10 years and working as an Unearthed presenter for another two, Rosie Beaton has lived amongst a direct feed to Australia’s most exciting new talent. More recently she worked as the Senior Music Curator for Australia and New Zealand at Amazon Music.
Bec Sandridge: Bec Sandridge is an independent recording artist with a string of successful singles and a pair of EPs to her name. Receiving strong national radio airplay and having performed at festivals such as Yours & Owls and The Plot, Sandridge recently toured through Sydney and Melbourne in support of her new single Eyes Wide.
Nathan Sheehy: A highly sought-after producer, mixer and sound engineer, Nathan Sheehy has worked alongside DZ Deathrays, Dune Rats, Bluejuice and many others. Currently he splits his time between A Sharp and The Parliament Studios, as well as his own suite Mighty Ambassador Studios.
Previous Winners
Kardajala Kirridarra – Self-titled
Spacey Jane – Thrills
FAQ
• Only submit Soundcloud or Bandcamp links. All other submissions may be difficult to process. Please check your links are working before you send them.
• Yes, managers and labels can enter on behalf on artists.
• Yes, signed artists can enter the comp.
• Yes, demos are a-ok.
• Yes, your music will stay 100% private.
• Yes, if you’ve already released your album or EP on vinyl, or if it has featured on another release, that’s totally ok.
• Yes, you can enter old albums or EPs.
Thank you to our sponsors Zenith Records, JMC Academy, Young Henrys, RØDE Microphones, Audio-Technica, JBL, Polaroid and Enmore Audio for making Needle In The Hay 2019 awesome.
