Wellington act wins Muso Challenge Scholarship

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Up and coming Wellington solo act wins $5,000 Visa Entertainment Muso Challenge Scholarship

Auckland, New Zealand, 6 April 2009 – Visa Entertainment and MySpace have announced Tony Wilson as the winner of the second Visa Entertainment Muso Challenge Scholarship, established to help local musicians break into the New Zealand music scene.

When the Wellington-based singer/songwriter first heard he had won a NZ$5,000 scholarship, he knew exactly what he would do with the prize money.

“I’m going to use the funding from Visa Entertainment to record an album – it’s been a dream of mine since I was nine years old,” Tony said.

Tony, an IT support analyst by day and a musician by night, has also been part of heavy metal band, Civilian Down, for the past five years. However, his solo style could not be more different from his heavy metal roots, as Tony cites his influences as John Butler, Dave Matthews Band and Death Cab for a Cutie.

The Visa Entertainment Muso Challenge Scholarship, part of Visa Entertainment’s partnership with MySpace, challenges budding artists to submit a song in MP3 format, the best of which receives $5,000 to be put towards a music-related project.

Visa’s New Zealand Country Manager, Sean Preston, says “We recognise that funding for emerging artists is limited and set up this scholarship as part of our Visa Entertainment platform, to foster up and coming musical talent in New Zealand.”

Tony Wilson’s winning song, ‘Summer Lust – Bottom of the Glass’, was chosen by the MySpace community who voted on the songs submitted.

Tony says winning the Visa Entertainment Muso Challenge Scholarship is the boost he needed to further a career in the music industry. “I’m overwhelmed with this accolade,” he says.

Tony was chosen as the winner after the finalists were put in front of a judging panel including Chairman of the Independent Music Association, Mark Kneebone.

To find out more and listen to Tony’s winning song visit www.myspace.com/musochallenge.

ENDS

About Visa: Visa operates the world’s largest retail electronic payments network providing processing services and payment product platforms. This includes consumer credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments, which are offered under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS brands. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world and Visa/PLUS is one of the world's largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in more than 170 countries. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.

About Visa Entertainment’s MySpace Secret Shows: MySpace Secret Shows are free, exclusive concerts held throughout the world featuring some of the biggest international artists. New Zealand artists who have participated in the Secret Shows programme, have included some of New Zealand’s hottest acts; Evermore, Elemeno P, The Checks, and Coco Solid. The only way MySpace users can get in on the “secret” and find out specific details about the concerts is by adding www.myspace.com/secretshowsnz as a 'friend' to their profile. Globally MySpace Secret Show acts have included; The Vines, The Cure, Gnarls Barkley, Silverchair, Powderfinger, Jet and Air.

About MySpace: MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular culture, and making a positive impact on the world. MySpace has created a connected global community by integrating web profiles, blogs, instant messaging, e-mail, music streaming, music videos, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups, college communities, and member forums. MySpace's international network includes more than 20 localized community sites in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Latin America, Mexico, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, India, Japan, and New Zealand. Fox Interactive Media is a division of News Corp. (NYSE:NWS - News, NWS.A - News; ASX:NWS - News, NWSLV - News).

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