Music Competition Fosters Growth And Connection
A music competition on campus has allowed students to connect with influential figures in the fields they want to pursue in post-graduation, creating original songs in the process.
The Greatest Hits Remix Project, which has been happening since the spring 2021 semester, offers student artists a chance to work with successful professionals, most recently this past fall with Tommee Profitt, who is a major player in creating music for television and film. Profitt has worked with names like NF to produce hits.
Winners of the competition have fulfilled dreams as their music has gone on to popular success. They have also made serious relationships in the music industry. The competition welcomes any aspiring Liberty student willing to put in the time to see their music career take off.
Normally, each competition’s list of contestants is narrowed down to a top six, then to a top three, and a winner is chosen from there. However, in the most recent competition, which was Dec. 10, 2021, all top three contestants were so impressive that they were all chosen as winners: DJ Gravitt, Richie Hall and Joseph Brown and Parker Robinson (Brown and Robinson worked on a song together).
Gravitt’s song was the first to be released on Jan. 7. The other two songs by Hall and Brown and Robinson were released a week later on Jan. 14.
All of the contestants worked tirelessly on their music. For some of them, the process is ongoing.
“I could probably put 30-40 hours into (one) production alone … but I don’t know if I’d ever consider a song finished,” Gravitt said.
The competition is less a form of elimination to find the best and more of a way to discover talent and offer opportunities to amateur artists looking for a platform. While the project is looking for the best, that doesn’t mean there can be only one “best” in music.
With how much available technology there is today, the jump from amateur to professional is not as far as it may seem.
Hall, one of last semester’s winners, did not start his music career until his senior year of high school. He then began looking into producing and engineering his own music. The process intrigued him enough for him to start pursuing it professionally.
DJ Gravitt did not get involved with electronic music until 2017, proving that becoming an artist does not require a lifetime of experience.
The Remix Project takes that into account and has its winners working alongside major producers to get their careers off the ground.
“The big advantages a record label provides are the resources, opportunities, relationships, tours, marketing and distribution,” John Forystek, the competition coordinator, said.
The Greatest Hits Remix Project is a great way to learn and experience how to make music. The competition is held on campus every semester with each event evolving and attracting bigger and bigger names.
“I would consider the Greatest Hits Remix Project a huge success. At Liberty, our students are now producing alongside the best of the best artists on real projects,” Forystek said.
engel is a feature reporter.