Fortune Battle of the Corporate Bands

The FORTUNE Battle of the Corporate Bands is an annual music competition for amateur company-sponsored bands in the United States, Europe and Australia. Created in 2001, the contest's proceeds benefit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH, which also serves as the location for the final round of the competition. The FORTUNE Battle of the Corporate Bands is presented through a partnership with FORTUNE magazine and the Rock Hall, and is sponsored by the NAMM Foundation (National Association of Music Merchants), Gibson Guitars, Marshall Fridge and Fender Premium Audio.

The competition is sometimes billed as a "celebration of musicians with day jobs". As of 2013, a requirement is that all participants must be employees of the submitting company.

The Battle of the Corporate Bands was developed as a joint effort between FORTUNE Magazine and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum to enhance the Museum’s profile in the business community. The two executives most responsible for its creation were Kip Meyer, Director of Integrated Programs for FORTUNE and FORTUNE Small Business magazines, and Steve Dobo, Director of Sponsorships and Promotions at the Rock Hall of Fame.

The competition serves multiple purposes. First, it serves as a fundraiser for the Museum’s Educational Fund. In the 2007 contest, each entrant submitted a $200 entry fee, and each finalist's company donated $7,300 to take part in the final round. The Museum also earns contributions from the competition's corporate sponsors and from ticket sales.

The contest also provides increased exposure to the companies which sponsor the bands, via the media attention generated by the contest, and via recaps of the contest that appear in FORTUNE magazine.

The contest entry process begins early in the year, when bands submit a three-song CD to a panel of judges, typically due in late April. During the first three years of the contest, this panel selected the eight national finalists. For every year since then, the judging panel selects 18 US bands to participate in one of three qualifying US regional "Battles" which are held in the summer. Locations for the US regional contests vary from year to year—the 2007 regionals were held in Nashville, TN, Los Angeles, and Austin, TX. In 2008 a European regional was added for the first time, in London, UK. Six bands from around Europe are selected for the European regional.

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Wikipedia