Fusion Entertainment & MAINZ Present
the Fusion Soundrise Project
FUSION Entertainment is giving New Zealand musicians the opportunity to showcase their music to the world. In
collaboration with the Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand (MAINZ), the organisation launched the FUSION Soundrise
Project last year.
The project sees two well-established, homegrown Kiwi brands partnering to connect the arts with the commercial world.
Students from all areas of the institute are given the opportunity to create original music, representing one of five
genres, that fits a corporate creative brief provided by FUSION Entertainment.
The competition, now in its second year has received submissions from students of both MAINZ Auckland and Christchurch.
A panel of judges select a finalist for each genre, as well as an overall winner. The five finalist tracks are mastered
and loaded onto FUSION’s Stereo Active - a portable, purpose-built marine stereo – and distributed to FUSION’s
salespeople and retailers worldwide, to be played in stores and at tradeshows. Completing the loop, students enjoy real
world feedback from the market place and global exposure along the way. A “track of the year” is selected, based on this
market feedback, which then sees the winning student receive an award and cash prize.
“Our best guess is that these students’ music will be heard in at least 42 countries,” Marcus Hamilton, Marketing
Manager for FUSION Electronics.
“The initial idea was just to run a competition, but when we teamed up with MAINZ, we were really able to give the
project heart and we’ve now developed an ongoing programme around it with the intention of showcasing New Zealand music
to the world.
“The New Zealand music industry is healthy and our creative industries now generate about as much for the economy as
forestry, so there are real jobs. The students that choose to take part in this project are going to learn valuable new
skills around what it means to produce music to a corporate brief”.
“It’s also going to bring all the parts of the school together and encourage collaboration. A talented songstress will
need audio engineers for mastering, and management students to get the legal and promotional boxes ticked. Creating
these tracks will be a team effort.” MAINZ Programme Manager Kingsley Mulhuish
-ENDS-
MAINZ is a New Zealand Government Tertiary Institution that delivers quality education focused on the music, audio and
related industries. All qualifications taught at MAINZ are registered with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority
(NQZA) and are on the New Zealand Qualifications framework.
For more information about MAINZ please visit: www.mainz.ac.nz