LONDON, Nov. 23, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — The GSMA has brought together world-leading music bands Muse, Faithless, and upcoming new artists Metric and Eliza Doolittle for the first ever GSMA Band App Audition, an app developer competition calling for innovative mobile app concepts for the artists to engage with their fans throughout the world.

The competition, organised by the GSMA in partnership with the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) and the Music Managers Forum (MMF) is open from 23rd November until January 15th 2011. The finalists and winners will be announced at the App Planet event at the GSMA Mobile World Congress being held 14-17 February, 2011. App developers can download individual mobile app briefs, along with graphics, tracks and other content assets from each of the artists at:  http://www.mobileappchallenge.com/challenges/bands

“The Band App Audition has been created for app developers to showcase innovative and creative new ways that artists can engage and interact with fans around the world, across all mobile OS platforms,” said Michael O’Hara, chief market officer, GSMA. “This is the first competition of its kind, and we are delighted to have such a fantastic line-up of world leading and new artists participating in the contest.”

FAC Co-Chairman and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason adds, “Artists need innovative and compelling ways to maintain and grow the relationships that they have with their fans.  The Band App Audition is a creative way to achieve this by bringing artists and app developers closer together; and importantly all this is being done in a way that artists can direct.”

The competition calls for 3 minute video submissions succinctly outlining the basic concept behind the app entry. The contest will be judged by the artists and their management, and competition prizes range from the opportunity to engage with the participating bands to develop the official mobile app, as well as meet and greets, tour tickets, merchandise and other prizes.

British group Muse has cemented their position as one of the world’s premier rock bands. Their third consecutive number one album in the UK, ‘The Resistance’, released in 2009, went on to top the charts in a further 21 countries. The 2009-10 tour saw the band playing to sold out arenas and stadiums around the world (including two nights at London’s Wembley Stadium and two nights at Paris’ Stade de France) selling 1.5 million tickets along the way.

“As the band head back into the studio, they are looking for a mobile app to keep fans engaged with their activities between album releases,” said Anthony Addis, Manager of Muse. “They are looking forward to seeing what great new ideas developers come up with as a response to the brief.”

Faithless have always been musical movers and shakers as well as icons for the club scene.  First emerging in the mid-1990s, the idea that a dance music act could produce rich full-length albums rather than one-off tracks, pack out live concerts and bring together all kinds of genres and music fans seemed quite revolutionary. Fourteen years, several albums and numerous global tours, festivals and hits later, those Faithless qualities have become benchmarks of the 21st-century music scene.

“Faithless is looking for an app that reflects their pioneering dance ethos through the use of cutting edge technology,” said the band’s manager, Craig Newman.  “The GSMA’s Band App Audition is a great musical experiment that we hope will unearth some new and innovative thinking from the world of mobile app developers.”

Metric is a Canadian indie rock and New Wave band, originally formed in Toronto, Canada. With its 2009 Fantasies release, Metric broke ground by becoming an Alternative sensation without the benefit of ever being signed to a major label. A major factor in that independent success was the band’s innovative use of digital media to market the release and stay close to fans. The band’s latest release: “Eclipse (All Yours)” is featured in the latest movie in The Twilight Saga.

Through its participation in the Band App Audition, Metric looks to break new ground in the type of fan interaction that can be facilitated by a mobile app. “It will not be sufficient to simply replicate or translate a web browser experience to a mobile device,” said Mathieu Drouin, Manager of Metric.  “The winning developer will demonstrate functionality that utilizes the unique marketing and fan interaction possibilities that mobile technology affords.”

Eliza Doolittle is a London based singer songwriter who saw her first self titled release reach Number 3 in the UK charts and go gold in just three weeks this summer.  Still in the early stages of her career, Eliza is certainly an artist to watch.  2011 will be a busy year for her with a tour set to be announced soon that will see her playing shows in the US, Europe, Australia and of course the UK.

George Roberts-Bascombe, Eliza’s manager says, “We are so excited about the Band App Audition.  Social networking has been a key element in helping Eliza achieve the success that she’s seen to-date and as far as apps go, we’re just at the tip of the iceberg as to what is possible, so Eliza is looking forward to seeing just how creative the developer community can be.”