Overview
ENTRY
Before you push that enter button (and you know you want to), first make sure that you are designated as a "country" artist on Music Nation. If you are, wonderful -- you are already halfway there. If you are not, but you think you have a killer country song to submit to the competition, you will have to switch your genre to "country" on your profile page before entering. (And if you don't already have a Music Nation profile to begin with, well, you'll need to start there.) The next step is to simply choose one track that you have uploaded to your profile page to be your official entry into The Next GAC Star, which you do by hitting the select media button (MPEG4 or QuickTime video formats preferred). This song can either be an original composition, or you can pick from a pre-selected list of approved "cover" songs.
VOTING
Though you can enter now, actual head-to-head voting starts May 23 and continues through July 21. Each week, two semifinalists will be selected and set aside for the semifinal round. One weekly semifinalist will be determined based on overall vote totals, while a panel of music industry insiders will select the other. At the start of each new week, the voting resets to zero and we start fresh. So the earlier you enter The Next GAC Star, the more chances you will have to compete to become a semifinalist. At the end of eight weeks of voting, a collection of celebrity judges will narrow 16 semifinalists down to six finalists, and we will announce those six country music hopefuls on August 17. From there, those fortunate six will jet to Nashville for a two-part televised competition on the Great American Country cable network.
PRIZES
One Grand Prize winner, chosen by GAC's audience during the televised finals, will receive a recording contract with Original Signal/Epic. But each of the 16 semifinalists will actually score pretty big. Every week, GAC will spotlight the most recent two semifinalists, giving those budding country stars coveted national TV exposure on a major country music channel. Additionally, all six finalists will enjoy a free trip to Music City and prime airtime during the televised finale to find The Next GAC Star. So tune your guitar, warm up your voice, affix your Stetson – and enter now.
