With so many music reality TV series out there right now, it’s hard to pick a favorite. Between old favorites like FOX‘s American Idol and NBC‘s runaway hit, The Voice, there are seemingly hundreds of opportunities out there for talented young artists just waiting to be discovered. The latest music reality TV competition to hook me in happens to live on Bravo TV, my personal favorite basic cable channel of all time – Platinum Hit.
Platinum Hit, which now airs Fridays at 8 PM ET (previously Monday’s at 10 PM) is a competition totally geared towards songwriters. Hosted by singer/songwriter Jewel, the format of the show is very similar to that of other Bravo TV shows (past and present) including Project Runway, Shear Genius, and Top Chef, in that the contestants start out doing a the equivalent of a Top Chef “Quick Fire” challenge (called a “Hook Challenge” on Platinum Hit) writing a hook based on a topic provided by Jewel. Contestants then take that winning hook and craft a song around it with sometimes brilliant, sometimes dreadful results. One of the many things I like about this show is that it forces the songwriters to co-write together, something that is seen all too often in the music industry today. Drama ensues when contestants are pitted against one another, forced to make music within the confines of a small, stuffy recording studio. BRILLIANT television!
Each week the contestants are thrown numerous curve balls, and asked to step outside of their comfort zones time and time again, all in the hopes of winning that coveted prize. The “ultimate hitmaker” crowned at the end of the series will win a $100,000 cash prize, a publishing deal with Sony and BMI Songwriters, The Writing Camp, and a recording deal with RCA/Jive. That’s HUGE! Another favorite aspect of the show is the extremely talented panel of judges and mentors. In addition to host Jewel (who also serves as a judge) we have singer/songwriter/producer/music publisher/A&R executive/composer Kara DioGuardi (American Idol), Keith Naftaly (Senior Vice President of A&R for RCA/Jive Label Group) and a rotating panel of guest judges including Leona Lewis, Natasha Bedingfield, Donna Summer, Jermaine Dupri, Taio Cruz and Ryan Tedder. Take a look at those names people! Yet another thing I love about Platinum Hit, is the fact that so many different genres of music are represented here, a true testament to the diversity seen in today’s music landscape.
Another cool aspect about
Platinum Hit is how
IMMEDIATELY AFTER every show, viewers can purchase the mastered versions of the songs heard on that last episode and put them onto their iPods, computers, or other portable listening devices. As with any good music reality series nowadays, it’s all about the immediacy factor – how fast can they make those songs available for download. All you have to do is visit
Platinum Hit on
iTunes:
iTunes.com/PlatinumHit and
BAM. In addition to the original tracks (and episodes themselves) fans can now download
Platinum Hit: The Winning Songs Live (Live Performances from Episodes 1-5), which was digitally released on
July 5th. The five track digital EP features live renditions of the winning track from each of the shows first five episodes. Check out the tracklisting below and download it on U.S.
iTunes HERE or over on
BravoTV.com.
Tracklisting:
01. My City (Live) (Nick Nittoli, Jes Hudak, Karen Waldrup)
02. Paint This Club (Live) (Nick Nittoli, Sonyae Elise, Scotty Granger, Melissa Rapp)
03. Where I Need To Be (Live) (Johnny Marnell, Brian Judah, Scotty Granger)
04. Walk Through Walls (Live) (Johnny Marnell, Scotty Granger, Jes Hudak)
05. Love Me To Life (Live) (Scotty Granger, Sonyae Elise, Brian Judah)
Tune in and watch Platinum Hit on Bravo TV every Friday. It’s a fresh, new kind of talent competition, that puts the spotlight on a talent that really deserves a whole helluva lot more attention than it gets.
The Platinum Hit Bravotv.com showsite, mobile site and BravoNow application available on iPad or iPhone will have access to contestant bios, photos, episode recaps, blogs and videos. Fans can also join the series Mobile Fan Club to receive Music 101 trivia and tune-in alerts directly to their phones by texting MUSIC to 27286 or visiting m.bravotv.com for more information. As always, fans using the BravoNow application can share these videos on social networks.
Check out Platinum Hit on the web: Official Site//iTunes
