Voting opens for MTV Brand New featuring Tkay Maidza, Conrad Sewell, Carmada

Voting has officially gone live for MTV Australia’s talent search project MTV Brand New.

In November last year MTV Australia announced via TMN that it had partnered with major and independent labels to highlight ten emerging Australian and New Zealand artists.

The UK series placed artists such as Sam Smith, Florence & the Machine, Charli XCX, Adele, James Bay and Jessie J on the international radar, and now it’s Australia’s turn.

MTV Australia’s inaugural Brand New nominees are: New Zealand artist Thomston, Adelaide MC Tkay Maidza, Brisbane artist Conrad Sewell, Adelaide pop-rock band At Sunset, Sydney duo Carmada, Melbourne artist Chris Watts, Sydney’s twin producers Cosmos Midnight, indie/folk duo from Sydney Winterbourne, Sydney-born London-based Josef Salvat and Sydney house duo Set Mo.

Today kicks off a ten-week competition where the artists go head-to-head in a public vote. Fans can visit mtv.com.au/brandnew to view video clips and interviews with the artists before casting their vote either online or via Twitter using the hashtag #MTVbrandnew followed by the artists’ name.

The MTV channels will feature the artists’ video clips and interviews over the duration of the competition. Each week, TMN will run an artist spotlight to help music fans cast their votes; first up will be pop-rockers At Sunset.

Voting closes September 13 with a grand finale event to be broadcast on-air on both MTV and MTV Music in Australia, and MTV and MTV Hits in New Zealand.

Simon Bates, Vice President of MTV Australia & New Zealand said: “We’re extremely excited to launch MTV Brand New down under in Australia and New Zealand after the huge success that the competition has experienced in the UK.

“We have an absolute killer line-up of talent, which we can’t wait to introduce to our audiences via our MTV platforms online and on-air. With MTV reaching 785 million households globally, and with 2.5 million unique visitors to our website in Australia alone, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to provide support and exposure to these talented artists and watch them achieve huge success in the music industry.”