Amateur Guitarist Wins NOTION Music's Be a Rock Star Contest

Greensboro, NC (Vocus) August 19, 2008 -- When NOTION Music, Inc. (www.notionmusic.com) announced the winning video in the first annual Be a Rock Star contest, the prize went to an unlikely candidate: Randy Pate, who holds a button-down job in the Washington, D.C. area. As an attorney for the Health Care industry, Randy normally exhibits little in common with his more edgy competitors in NOTION's guitar-lead competition. But with an electric guitar in his hands and a video camera capturing his licks and bends, Randy walked away with top honors and prizes worth over $2000.

Submitters to the Be a Rock Star contest provided YouTube links to NOTION Music to videos of themselves playing guitar leads to their choice of four background tracks created in NOTION Music's PROGRESSION (http://products.notionmusic.com/progression/) software. Would-be rock stars as far away as England, Japan, and Australia participated in the competition by capturing on video their lead solo to a tune based on blues, modern rock, classic rock, or Pachelbel's Canon.

From his home in Virginia, Randy says, "This is a great feather in my musical cap. I had a blast playing along with the track. I'm already working to up my game next year to defend my title."

"He is really an average dude," says Mark Urmos of NOTION Music's marketing department, "But he can really rock out." Mark, and the other NOTION Music judges, enjoyed the straight-out performance from this left-handed guitarist with no knowledge of his more pedestrian day job.

For his efforts, Randy received a full complement of NOTION Music software (PROGRESSION, NOTION, and all expansion sound kits), a year's subscription to Guitar World magazine, and an endorsement on the NOTION Music web site. Three other finalists were also selected for their musical achievement:

?    Blues winner: Scott Smith of Ayrshire, Scotland

?    Modern rock winner: Joe Pluff of Merriam, Kansas, U.S.

?    Pachelbel's Canon winner: Ben Tinker of Crows Nest, Australia

The next Be a Rock Star contest is currently scheduled to be launched in early 2009.

NOTION Music, Inc. creates intuitive software where music can be seen, heard, and edited with immediate, realistic feedback. With PROGRESSION software, guitarists at all levels can simultaneously work in tablature or standard notation with thousands of actual electric and acoustic guitar samples from Neil Zaza, and electric bass and drums samples from Grammy® Award winners Victor Wooten and Roy "FutureMan" Wooten. Also included are upright bass and keyboards, along with built-in guitar effects and amp simulators. Along with NOTION and PROTÉGÉ software - featuring the sounds of the London Symphony Orchestra recorded at Abbey Road Studios - all NOTION Music software products enable anyone, anywhere to play, learn, and create music as if working with a full ensemble of musicians. Established in 1998 in Greensboro, NC, NOTION Music is headquartered in the United States and has an office in the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.notionmusic.com.

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