Hearitfirst.com

hearitfirst.com is an online listening post for Christian music.

hearitfirst.com
Type of site
Online artist interviews, promotion, community, sales, competitions
Available inEnglish
OwnerEMI Christian Music Group
Created byEMI Christian Music Group
URLwww.hearitfirst.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationNone
LaunchedDecember 1998
Current statusActive

Users must create profiles in order to receive newsletters, enter competitions and participate in forums.

History

Based in Brentwood, Tennessee, hearitfirst.com was launched by EMI Christian Music Group in 1998 to promote the Grammy Award winning artists dc talk on the release of their album Supernatural.[1] Over a period of 4 weeks, 2 tracks were streamed from the site for preview. After Supernatural, hearitfirst.com evolved into a listening post for contemporary Christian music, focusing on the rock, pop, worship and indie genres.

The current site was relaunched in December 2005 and has focused on becoming a nexus for fans, spectators and industry partners of contemporary Christian music. the site was acquired by Spinnaker Media, James Ackerman Chairman, in June 2008 and continues to cover artists on all labels are hosted and promoted. The database of artists ranges from Jars of Clay, Switchfoot, tobyMac, Newsboys, Third Day, Casting Crowns to BarlowGirl, Family Force Five, High Flight Society, Aaron Shust, Dizmas and independent artists/bands. Artist promotion includes album reviews, biographies, video clips, full length song audio clips, photos, tour dates and Six degrees,[2] a Flash application that positions a chosen artist with six other related artists by genre.

Exclusive video content, including behind-the-scenes coverage of the 2007 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards,[3] frequent contests [4] and free legal music downloads via newsletter subscriptions,[5] have become a major promotional tool for the site.

Battle of the Bands Competitions

In 2006, Creation Festival and hearitfirst.com partnered to host their first Battle of the Bands competition.[6] The winners were -

Creation East

Creation West
  • Candlefuse
  • Daydreamer
  • Noel McLeary

This was followed by a partnership with the Gospel Music Association for their 2007 Battle of the Bands competition.[7] As of writing, submissions have been closed and voting has begun for the first round of the competition.[8]

WAY-FM Partnership

In May 2007, hearitfirst.com partnered with WAY-FM to begin the "2 minute challenge" [9] over a 12-week period. The competition began on June 19, 2007. According to the rules of the competition listeners of WAY-FM are directed to hearitfirst.com/wayfm[10] where they listen to a 2-minute audio clip. After the completion of the audio clip, participants are offered free music downloads from artists including Chris Tomlin, Casting Crowns, Third Day, Jeremy Camp, MercyMe, Sanctus Real, Hawk Nelson, Kutless, Chris Rice and others. Each week participants can share the promotion with up to five friends and receive an additional bonus download. New downloads are made available each week.

References
  1. "Internet Archive Wayback Machine". Web.archive.org. 1998-12-12. Archived from the original on 1998-12-12. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  2. "Christian Music, Christian Music Video, Christian Music News". Hear It First. Archived from the original on 2008-10-06. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  3. (c) 2006 Design by Visual Inventor Ltd. Co. http://www.VisualInventor.com - Permission must be given for the use of this code. "hearitfirst.com". hearitfirst.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-07. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  4. (c) 2005 Design by Visual Inventor Ltd. Co. http://www.VisualInventor.com - Permission must be given for the use of this code. "Hear It First". Hear It First. Archived from the original on 2011-11-16. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  5. (c) 2005 Design by Visual Inventor Ltd. Co. http://www.VisualInventor.com - Permission must be given for the use of this code. "hearitfirst.com". hearitfirst.com. Archived from the original on 2011-09-29. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  6. "Gospel Music Association". Gospelmusic.org. 2006-01-31. Archived from the original on 2012-02-06. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  7. "Gospel Music Association". Gospelmusic.org. 2007-06-06. Archived from the original on 2012-02-06. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  9. Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  10. Archived May 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
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