Press Releases
Dec 9th, 2011
Amnesty International and UJAM invite you to create and spread your custom Anthem to Amnesty's 50th Anniversary
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Academy Award®-Winning Composer Hans Zimmer Honors Amnesty International on 50th Anniversary, Composing Human Rights Anthem "One More Voice for Freedom"
UJAM, Music Creation Platform, Hosts Online Contest Inviting People Worldwide to Rejam (Remix) Anthem
Listen to the anthem: http://www.ujam.com/amnesty
(New York) -- Hans Zimmer, the Academy and Grammy Award®-winning composer, and film score collaborator Lorne Balfe have composed an anthem to salute Amnesty International’s 50th anniversary titled "One More Voice for Freedom," to be released in the lead up to Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day, and during Amnesty's annual "Write for Rights" global events. As part of this celebration, Zimmer and UJAM are inviting people to rejam (remix) the anthem in a special online contest starting December 9.
"It was a privilege to create this piece of music for a cause which is so close to our hearts," said Zimmer and Balfe, long-time supporters of human rights causes. "Our hope is that the anthem will inspire people to support Amnesty's vision of a world where fundamental rights are protected for everyone. We should all join Amnesty in standing up for justice, freedom and human rights."
Zimmer has scored more than 100 films, from socially conscious dramas like "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Rain Man" to blockbusters like "The Dark Knight" and "Inception" as well as the upcoming "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows."
Thanks to UJAM's unique technology, contest participants don't need a studio – a laptop is fine. Contestants simply sign up online at http://www.ujam.com, listen to the anthem, and then begin creating their own remix or rejam. Some of the options include adding or recording vocals, lyrics, or instruments. Once a contestant submits their rejam, the online voting component begins where other users and fans will "like" the rejam with the goal of making it to the top 10 on the UJAM leader board.
The contest closes on February 5, 2012. The final top 10 rejam entries will be judged by Zimmer, Balfe and musician Pharrell Williams. The winner will be announced on Feb. 10, 2012. UJAM, is sponsoring a $1,000 cash prize, and other gifts, to the winner. The contest is open to all people from the U.S., Canada (excluding Quebec), UK and Germany, 18 years and older.
For more details, please visit: http://www.amnestyusa.org/about-us/music-and-the-arts
A version of the music was used as the score for the award-winning animated video, Standing Up for Freedom, released last May as one of Amnesty International's anniversary year events. It was then re-orchestrated and Amnesty gratefully accepted the new music as a 50th anniversary anthem.
The 2:05 minute anthem will also be featured in a second forthcoming public service announcement series for Amnesty International called "One More Voice for Freedom." The project is being created by Citizen Group, the global social marketing, design and brand agency.
Helen Garrett, special projects director at Amnesty International USA, said: "Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe have created a deeply moving composition that pays tribute to generations of human rights activists whose achievements have meant the difference between life and death, freedom and terror, justice or repression for people around the world. Amnesty International is grateful to Hans for donating this beautiful anthem. We encourage people around the world – whether musicians or novices – to contribute lyrics or vocals. We also urge people to take action in our Write for Rights program."
"Write for Rights" is the world's biggest human rights event, this year taking place Dec. 3-11. People all over the world send letters, emails and faxes to help free people who are unjustly imprisoned because of their beliefs, writings, gender, sexual orientation, race or ethnicity. Many are held without charge or trial and are at risk of torture or execution, or have been tortured. For more information or to participate, please visit: http://www.amnestyusa.org/writeathon
For 50 years, Amnesty International has successfully campaigned to free tens of thousands of these "prisoners of conscience" by pressuring governments through letters and emails written by activists.
Many well known prisoners were among those who Amnesty activists worked to free, including Liberia President and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who was an activist for peaceful change when her political activism put her at odds with the ruling powers and she was jailed in the mid-1980s.
The forthcoming public service announcements, "One More Voice for Freedom," features contributions from new and established directors worldwide. Filming took place in more than 20 countries including Abu Dhabi, Australia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Kenya, Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa and the United States.
The film clips were largely contributed through a partnership with the International Quorum of Motion Picture Producers. With representation in more than 45 countries, it is the only global organization of film production company owners.
Media Contacts:
For Amnesty International:
Suzanne Trimel, (+1) 212-633-4150,
strimel@aiusa.org
For Hans Zimmer:
Jeff Sanderson at Chasen & Company, (+1) 310-274-4400
jeff@chasenpr.com
For UJAM:
Carolyn Prousky, (+1) 323-656-8047,
Carolyn@prouskypr.com
Dec 2nd, 2011
Love christmas songs?
Then UJAM's "Be Our Christmas Star" is your game changer this holiday season. Create your own christmas classics with a chance to win prizes.
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UJAM, the online music creation platform, is celebrating the holidays with "Be Our Christmas Star", a special Christmas campaign for the holiday music lover in all of us. From December 2 through December 21, users can log on to ujam.com and create their own – beautiful or quirky – versions of Christmas classics, like "Deck the Halls" and "Jingle Bells". The top 10 submissions, ranked by the public, will be part of UJAM's first downloadable and shareable Christmas album. Avid, the company that creates the technology that people use to make the most listened to, most watched and most loved media in the world, is the official sponsor. Top winners will be receiving Avid studio and recording bundles.
Thanks to UJAM's unique platform, participants don't need a studio or any musical experience to rejam – just a laptop and a passion for music will work wonders. Users simply sign up on ujam.com, select their favorite Christmas carol and then begin to rejam using UJAM's proprietary technology to change the musical style, it's a cool new way to remix – anything from Hollywood soundtrack to Heavy Rock or HipHop is possible – or even record their own vocals or favorite instrument. In addition to "Deck the Halls" and "Jingle Bells", the other holiday favorites include: "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "O Come All Ye Faithful," and "O Holy Night."
UJAM is also offering some yuletide prizes in the form of a fun contest where users can submit their
songs to UJAM's leader board. The top 10 songs will be determined by the most "likes", and be included
in the "Be Our Christmas Star" album. All top 10 winners will win special prizes, with the top
winner receiving an Avid studio bundle, and runner-up winners an Avid recording bundle. For more
information go to
About UJAM
UJAM is a unique cloud-based music creation platform that aims to change the way music is made and experienced – by supplying technology that makes creating great music easy, ubiquitous and free, and by providing a rich social experience to help people get listened to and discovered by a worldwide community.
Press Contact
Carolyn Prousky/CPPR
Carolyn@prouskypr.com
(+1) 323.656.8047
Sep 21st, 2011
Which brand will choose UJAM next?
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Download the print version of this press release (German)
UJAM, the free cloud based music platform, has just concluded its first cross-promotional brand building initiative to overwhelming success, proving that its service can offer unique experiences to brands looking for original audience engagement opportunities.
Having launched and run a 10 day crowdsourcing contest to find a talented vocalist to complete the new theme song for gaming giant Ubisoft’s acclaimed Assassin's Creed® franchise, hundreds of thousands of people interacted with the UJAM and Assassin's Creed® brands by voting for their favorite singer using Facebook Likes, extending reach by sharing their votes and checking the contest leaderboard on UJAM's website.
With strategically placed PR on MTV's multiplayer blog and the Eurogamer site to drive traction in the gaming community, the contest was picked up by over 70 game sites and blogs attracting 349 passionate fans from the USA, Canada, UK and Germany to submit their take on the theme song using UJAM's gaming engine.
On 21st September, UJAM, Remote Control Productions and Ubisoft announced the winner – 18 year old Madeline Bell from Moraga, California, USA was chosen from the Top 20 as voted by the public, by a jury composed of film-score composer Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe from Remote Control Productions and Simon Landry from Ubisoft.
Hans Zimmer, the mastermind behind the contest, comments, "We were overwhelmed by the passion and dedication of those who entered and the hundreds of thousands of people who got involved to support them in the contest. It proves our contest approach was the right one – there is so much great talent out there, waiting for a chance to be heard and UJAM is the platform they have been looking for to make their musical ideas happen."
"With no professional voice training Madeline is the ideal winner of the contest", adds Simon Landry from Ubisoft, "we hoped to find a natural talent that loved the Assassin's Creed® brand as much as singing and we're thrilled that Madeline was chosen from the many fantastic entries."
Madeline has picked up a $1000 prize and wowed everyone when recording the theme song in Hans Zimmer's studio to become a lasting part of an amazing gaming legacy. As UJAM's Making Of video on YouTube proves in an amazing way:
Axel Hensen, General Manager of UJAM says: "The UJAM Assassin's Creed® contest has been overwhelmingly successful. With hundreds of thousands of supporters voting for their favorite singer, the leaderboard saw massive action right up until the contest closed. It proves how effectively the UJAM platform integrates with social media platforms to enable both the artist to create great music and the audience to participate in the voting to the benefit of all partners involved." During the contest, there was over 100,000 unique visits to the site and a equally dramatic increase in interactions across social media.
Having just launched the Beta version on June 15th 2011, this contest is a fantastic endorsement of UJAM's future as a powerful vehicle to attract brand engagement and the company is in talks with several other high profile brands to devise unique contests appealing to a wide audience.
About UJAM
UJAM is a unique cloud-based music creation platform that aims to change the way music is made and experienced – by supplying technology that makes creating great music easy, ubiquitous and free, and by providing a rich social experience to help people get listened to and discovered by a worldwide community.
About Hans Zimmer
Composer Hans Zimmer has scored over 100 films and been honored with an Academy Award®, two Golden Globes® and four Grammys®. In 2003, ASCAP presented him the prestigious Henry Mancini award for Lifetime Achievement for his impressive and influential body of work.
Founder and owner of film score company Remote Control Productions, in 2010 Hans Zimmer also became one of the key founders of the innovative cloud-based music platform UJAM, developed out of a passion to democratize music creation and production by enabling anyone to sign up and begin to use the unique service to realize their musical ideas.
About Ubisoft
Ubisoft is a leading producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products worldwide and has grown considerably through a strong and diversified line-up of products and partnerships. Ubisoft has offices in 26 countries and has sales in more than 55 countries around the globe. It is committed to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles to consumers. For the 2010-11 fiscal year Ubisoft generated sales of €1.039 billion.
UJAM contact:
Axel Hensen, General Manager & Co-founder
Tel. +49 421 89809707
Email. press@ujam.com
Sep 7th, 2011
UJAM gives every aspiring singer the chance to become part of the new Assassin's Creed® theme song
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UJAM launches international online casting competition to find the singer for the iconic game's theme song
Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer and UJAM, the free music creation service online, kick off an international hunt for a voice to star in the theme song for Ubisoft's long awaited new game.
Between September 8th and 19th, anyone who can sing is invited to submit their entries on UJAM and compete to become part of the new Assassin's Creed's theme song and win a US $ 1,000 cash prize.
Zimmer's Remote Control Productions is looking for a voice to personify the epic drama and tension of this compelling gaming adventure, matching the hauntingly stirring theme score composed by Lorne Balfe.
The contest is open to all people from the US, Canada, UK and Germany, 18 years and older – talent is key, not experience!
The producers have opened the casting to the public in the belief that emotion and passion are more powerful than professional vocal skills.
This is an amazing chance for undiscovered talents to show what their voices can do. The final track will become synonymous with one of the most successful platform games in history.
Thanks to UJAM's unique technology, participants don't need a studio or a producer – a laptop is fine. Contestants simply sign up on UJAM, listen to the theme song, record a vocal performance on top of the playback, submit it to the contest and get fans to vote the song into the Top 20.
UJAM's social music platform gives the power to the people: The Top 20 entries will be shortlisted by the international voting public, and tracks will be dynamically ranked on UJAM's leader board for daily updates on who's in the lead.
When the contest closes on September 19th, a finalist will be chosen from the Top 20 by our Jury, lead by Hans Zimmer. The winner will receive the US $ 1,000 cash prize and be invited to record the track in a professional studio with full credits on the Revelations game and soundtrack, which will be available worldwide on November 15, 2011.
The jury includes
Hans Zimmer, Remote Control Productions
Lorne Balfe, Revelations theme composer, Remote Control Productions
Simon Landry, Assassin's Creed Music Supervisor, Ubisoft
About Hans Zimmer
Composer Hans Zimmer has scored over 100 films and been honored with an Academy Award®, two Golden Globes® and four Grammys®. In 2003, ASCAP presented him the prestigious Henry Mancini award for Lifetime Achievement for his impressive and influential body of work.
Founder and owner of film score company Remote Control Productions, in 2010 Hans Zimmer also became one of the key founders of the innovative cloud-based music platform UJAM, developed out of a passion to democratize music creation and production by enabling anyone to sign up and begin to use the unique service to realize their musical ideas.
About UJAM
UJAM is a unique cloud-based music creation platform that aims to change the way music is made and experienced – by supplying technology that makes creating great music easy, ubiquitous and free, and by providing a rich social experience to help people get listened to and discovered by a worldwide community.
About Ubisoft
Ubisoft is a leading producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products worldwide and has grown considerably through a strong and diversified line-up of products and partnerships. Ubisoft has offices in 26 countries and has sales in more than 55 countries around the globe. It is committed to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles to consumers. For the 2010-11 fiscal year Ubisoft generated sales of €1.039 billion.
® 2011 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft, and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries.
Links
UJAM ACR page: http://www.ujam.com/revelations
UJAM http://www.ujam.com
Ubisoft http://www.ubi.com
Assassin's Creed http://assassinscreed.ubi.com/revelations
UJAM contact
Axel Hensen, General Manager & Co-founder
Tel. +49 421 89809707
Email. press@ujam.com
Contact
Kathryn Moreadith
Public Relations
E kmoreadith@ujam.com
W www.ujam.com
Sep 7th, 2011
UJAM hosts contest to crowdsource a voice to star in "Assassin’s Creed® Revelations" new theme song
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Oscar winning composer Hans Zimmer teams up with UJAM, the free music creation platform, to hold a unique international casting contest online.
In what may be a unique online event, Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Productions is due to open a casting contest to the public online – only made possible by UJAM's innovative cloud-based music creation platform.
The contest to find a vocalist to star in the new theme song of Ubisoft®'s "Assassin's Creed Revelations" video game is scheduled to kick off on September 8, 2011 and end on September 19, 2011. The winner's voice will be featured in the new theme song of "Assassin's Creed Revelations", which will be available worldwide on November 15, 2011.
Remote Control Productions is looking for a soft melodic voice to personify the epic drama and tension of this compelling gaming adventure and it's hauntingly stirring theme score, composed by Lorne Balfe.
"Hans Zimmer and UJAM believe that there is an untapped pool of talented vocalists out there waiting for a chance to be heard," says UJAM's founder Peter Gorges. "With UJAM's unique music creation platform, contestants simply need a passion for singing; there is no need to have any professional experience, and thanks to UJAM's cloud-based technology, anyone with a laptop can participate – this is as democratic as it can get."
Aspiring singers from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany are invited to sign up on UJAM, listen to the theme track, record their vocal on top of the existing music, submit it to the contest and share it with their friends.
The winning entry will be chosen by a jury from the top 20 songs as shortlisted by the online-voting public. The winner will receive a US $ 1,000 cash prize and be invited to record their contribution in a professional studio with credits on the Revelations game soundtrack.
The jury includes
Hans Zimmer, Remote Control Productions
Lorne Balfe, Revelations theme composer, Remote Control Productions
Simon Landry, Assassin's Creed Music Supervisor, Ubisoft
About Hans Zimmer
Composer Hans Zimmer has scored over 100 films and been honored with an Academy Award®, two Golden Globes® and four Grammys®. In 2003, ASCAP presented him the prestigious Henry Mancini award for Lifetime Achievement for his impressive and influential body of work.
About UJAM
UJAM is a unique cloud-based music creation platform that aims to change the way music is made and experienced – by supplying technology that makes creating great music easy, ubiquitous and free, and by providing a rich social experience to help people get listened to and discovered by a worldwide community.
About Ubisoft
Ubisoft is a leading producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products worldwide and has grown considerably through a strong and diversified line-up of products and partnerships. Ubisoft has offices in 26 countries and has sales in more than 55 countries around the globe. It is committed to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles to consumers. For the 2010-11 fiscal year Ubisoft generated sales of €1.039 billion.
® 2011 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft, and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries.
Links
UJAM ACR page: http://www.ujam.com/revelations
UJAM http://www.ujam.com
Ubisoft http://www.ubi.com
Assassin's Creed http://assassinscreed.ubi.com/revelations
UJAM contact
Axel Hensen, General Manager & Co-founder
Tel. +49 421 89809707
Email. press@ujam.com
Contact
Kathryn Moreadith
Public Relations
E kmoreadith@ujam.com
W www.ujam.com
Dec 16th, 2010
UJAM, a cloud-based platform for music creation, announces its grand opening for public alpha
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UJAM allows every music lover, from the novice to the professional, to create professional-quality music. Its proprietary “Song DNA” technology interprets input even from non-musicians and renders songs using the same technology that professional studios use, and its sleek User Interface makes it easy for everyone to create and share their songs.
(Bremen, Germany, & San Francisco, California) December 16, 2010 – UJAM, the cloud-based platform for music creation and sharing that earned winning recognition at the 2010 TechCrunch Disrupt in New York City, announced today its launch to Public Alpha. New users can now register for accounts on the site, which offers its basic service for free to everyone.
UJAM’s founding team represents some of the brightest minds in the music and technology worlds: Academy Award winning composer Hans Zimmer and GRAMMY Award winning musician and producer Pharrell Williams. Music technology pioneers Peter Gorges, Axel Hensen and Paul Kellett represent the core team behind the technology of UJAM.
UJAM was founded on the principle that everyone who has a melody in their head should be able to express it, even if they don’t have any musical skills. UJAM aims to become the go-to place for the creative musical crowd, and ultimately to provide a platform for music creation that can be integrat- ed with and embedded into many other areas, such as mobile and gaming.
“UJAM is like the point-and-shoot camera for music,” says co-founder Peter Gorges. Many users in the UJAM community have attested to UJAM’s ease-of-use, capabilities, and potential. A particular focus right now is on the potential of UJAM as an educational tool; the team expects to have more valuable feedback during the Public Alpha phase and to continue updating the community with new features based on demand.
UJAM recently accomplished significant growth of its cloud-based server infrastructure and tech- nology, which the team agrees made this public launch possible. “Our new, Linux-based architecture has already created a much smoother system for us,” says Axel Hensen, “and it will allow UJAM to scale much more easily.” UJAM’s plan for monetization includes premium accounts, pay-per-stream, and pay-per-song options.
UJAM offers a truly innovative approach to music creation. It either starts with what you sing, or its technology helps you shape your own ideas, seemingly by magic – in neither case, though, does it require years of musical training. So, for all of you with music in your head, a new realm of musical possibilities is opened. Are you jamming yet?
Contact
Kathryn Moreadith
Public Relations
E kmoreadith@ujam.com
W www.ujam.com
June 30, 2010
UJAM welcomes 1000th „alpha“ tester
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(UJAM, Bremen/Los Angeles) June 30, 2010 – UJAM, the cloud-based platform for music creation, production and sharing, just welcomed it’s 1000th user to the alpha test. The company was runner-up at the renowned TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York City on May 24th and has since received tremendous interest from "new" musicians, skilled musicians and the technology and music press.
UJAM allows everyone from novice to skilled musicians to easily create and produce real music. UJAMs proprietary "Song DNA" (p.p.) technology interprets any musical input (from humming to singing to playing an instrument) to create complex compositions, and by employing the same technology used in digital audio workstations for studio-quality results.
UJAM started their limited release program at the Techcrunch conference. While the alpha version shown in NY is a web application, UJAM aims to deploy itservice on any internet- enabled platform including mobile devices and game consoles. The company will shortly be adding social and collaboration features to allow everyone to work with their friends and share their compositions. UJAM will also launch an API for easy integration of music creation into other applications that require music creation or production to enhance their user experience.
UJAM was founded by several pioneers from the professional music technology industry, Academy award winning composer Hans Zimmer and GRAMMY award winning musician and producer Pharrell Williams. The founders believe that everyone has a melody in their head that is worth listening too – it has just been too hard to create, produce and play it until UJAM. At the same time, professional musicians and producers rave about the ad-hoc-ity of UJAM – it’s never been easier and faster to map out a musical idea for demoing or pre-production, saving thousands of dollars on studio time and production cost.
About UJAM
UJAM is a cloud-based platform empowering everyone from novice to skilled musician to easily create and produce real music. UJAMs proprietary "Song DNA" (p.p.) technology interprets any musical input (from humming or singing a tune to playing an instrument) to create complex compositions, and employs the same technology used in digital audio workstations for studio-quality results. Long-term, UJAM can be integrated and embedded with other services on any platform and aims to become a go-to-place for all music-lovers to create and share their music.
Contact
Kathryn Moreadith
Public Relations
E kmoreadith@ujam.com
W www.ujam.com