About Music City Madness

For the third year in a row, CMT.com will scour the nation in search of the best unsigned country acts when Music City Madness launches Tuesday, July 15. Country music’s first user-generated talent search, the competition offers undiscovered singer/songwriters a chance to showcase their talent and let fans decide who takes home the prize in the online battle of the bands. Warner Bros. Records has joined as the official record label, while Chevrolet returns for a second year as the official online and on-air sponsor.

In addition, CMT and Comcast have partnered to bring live auditions to the cities of Nashville, Knoxville, Tenn., Pittsburgh and Atlanta. The local auditions, which will be held in August, offer contestants a chance to record and enter their video-taped submission on site. The events will also include a competition element, and one local entrant from each audition will automatically be entered into the top 64 finalists and receive a Comcast/CMT-sponsored showcase in their hometown, along with other prizes. Participating Comcast markets can sell sponsorships to the audition events which will be taped and packaged for Comcast's local video on demand channels.

The grand prize winner of CMT.com's Music City Madness will receive an all-expenses paid trip to Nashville to record an episode of the CMT online series Unplugged at Studio 330, a private audition with Warner Bros. Records A&R department and a mentoring session with country superstar Randy Travis. Music City Madness will also again be featured in a half-hour TV special that highlights the best and worst submissions.

CMT will accept submissions for Music City Madness July 15 through Oct. 6. Entrants can submit their original video performance entry online or via mail to compete against the nation's best undiscovered talent. All styles of country music are welcome including bluegrass, folk, Southern rock and Americana, among others. The top 64 finalists will be chosen by CMT and revealed on Oct. 21 where they will compete in single-elimination, tournament-style fan voting over a period of eight weeks. CMT.com visitors narrow the field week by week by voting for their favorite act, and the grand prize winner will be revealed Dec. 16.