Toyota helps MySpace musicians burst into mainstream scene

Last year, one deserving musician signed a record deal thanks to a co-promotion sponsored by Toyota and MySpace. Once again, the joint venture is banking on the interactive internet to increase traffic and ultimately make another musician’s dreams come true. The exclusive promotion, called “Toyota Music Rock the Space 2”, encourages artists to visit the promotion website at MySpace.com/ToyotaMusic and to upload a demo of their music. As musicians upload their music, fans and MySpace users have the opportunity to vote for their favorite demo, post demos from the Toyota page to their own page, and post comments on Toyota’s page.

As the promotion period comes to an end on June 7^th, ten semifinalists will be selected by a music industry panel. Of the ten semifinalists, MySpace users will vote to narrow the list down to five finalists, all of whom will be delegated a portion of media that is intended to enhance the artist’s presence on MySpace. Of the five finalists, one lucky artist will be voted the final winner of the Toyota Music Rock the Space 2 promotion will receive a recording contract with MySpace records and a musical prize package valued at $10,000.

Perhaps the most valued prize that can be won is the spotlight that the social network will cast on the featured musician. Last years winner, a band named “Call the Cops”, accumulated over 60,000 votes and upward toward 60 million demo listens. The publicity alone of the over 75 million MySpace users is enough to make this year’s winner a household name.

While Toyota’s co-promotion will no doubt drive New Jersey residents to check out local Toyota lease specials NJ dealers have to offer, Toyota’s Senior Media Strategist, Kim Kyaw says that the contest isn’t aimed to promote the Toyota name. In fact, Toyota’s participation in the campaign is purposefully reserved as a means to validate their existence on the site and actually engage in the social networking that MySpace offers.

The real purpose behind the contest is to produce a constructive message associated with Toyota that encourages interaction and gives unsigned musicians a shot at attaining their dreams, all made possible by Toyota. Of course, you won’t hear new Rav4 2010 dealers complaining about the increased traffic their website is generating.