Jim Beam presents
Back Room Sessions
If you’re reading Unsung Hero, chances are good that some of your favorite experiences with live music happened at a club show, nights that you’ve spent just feet away from your favorite band, or discovered a new group that changed your life. Sponsors like Jim Beam make those nights possible.
Every month, Unsung Hero partners with some of the Mid-Atlantic’s premier clubs to bring you the best in live music. The Unsung Hero Concert Series presents breaking acts, established talent and unsigned sensations. Many of these shows are Jim Beam Back Room Sessions — for music fans, an opportunity to see great live shows in intimate venues. These shows are just one part of Jim Beam’s nationwide program to help sponsor and promote music and musicians.
The B.E.A.M. (Benefiting Emerging Artists in Music) program is a unique collection of initiatives that recognizes and rewards up-and-coming musicians of all genres. For almost a decade, bands and solo artists from various music backgrounds have received support from Jim Beam. The B.E.A.M. program continues to support emerging artists and local music scenes through band searches, music-related financial grants and sponsorship of live music nights in local clubs.
“It allows so many bands to have the opportunity to get that exposure,” says Jim Maksymiu, Group Product Director, Jim Beam Bourbon. “We see it as just one of the many important ways for emerging artists to help get involved, to hopefully help them to get discovered. It’s been extremely successful, and it continues to grow.”
This year, Jim Beam will award $100,000 in grant money to unsigned musicians through B.E.A.M. Grants. The grants are no-strings-attached money given to artists like Pittsburgh singer-songwriter Brad Yoder. In exchange for a short series of interviews and brief essays, Yoder was awarded $2,000 to help finish his album and launch an advertising campaign following its release.
Now in its fifth year, the Jim Beam Back Room Sessions program gives unsigned musicians the opportunity to perform at local-music nights across the country. Back Room Sessions enable bands of all genres to gain exposure through print, radio and a live performance in their local market.
Jim Beam is dedicated to helping emerging artists and believes the exposure provided by programs including Jim Beam Back Room Sessions will help them take their careers to the next level. B.E.A.M. gives unsigned modern musicians the opportunity to compete and be judged on the basis of originality, musicianship, song writing, overall appeal and most potential to succeed as a band.
“When people see that a show is a Back Room Session, they know it’s going to be a cool band,” says Maksymiu. “And we’re such a strong supporter of local music. So the bands are happy because we’re fully supporting them. And people are happy because they know they’re going to see a quality act.”
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for more information, visit www.JimBeam.com
Bands interested in participating in the Jim Beam Back Room Sessions program can send music and press kits to:
Jim Beam Back Room Sessions
1721 Linden Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21217
