New Site Showcases Emerging Talent

Online, November 19, 2013 (Newswire.com) - The advent of social media has brought with it an entirely new and effective way to market musical talent. It is a concept with which Drazen Alcocer and Artin Afsharjavan of iFederated are quite familiar.

Panafan.com is the latest brainchild of the aforementioned iFederated - a company founded with the purpose of creating places on the Web for where people are able to interact and discover new and unique products and services. In this instance, it also gives new artists the chance to promote their talents, grow their audience and interact in a social media environment dedicated especially to them.

"With the right exposure, some of these up-and-coming artists could get their big break," said Panafan.com founder Drazen Alcocer. "We are excited to have the chance to be part of that process." Alcocer also wanted to stress the unique nature of Panafan.com. "This is not like your average 'tube' site," he said. "The artists on this site aren't competing with hundreds of thousands of content providers every day. This is much different."

IFederated Chairman Artin Afsharjavan elaborated. "The videos that are featured here are each hand-selected and screened for quality and content," he said. "Not every video submitted will make it onto the site. The ones that do make it represent the best of the submissions we receive." Afsharjavan went on to explain that each week a featured artist will be selected from the pool of submissions. "The video with the most likes at the end of the week will be showcased on the front page.

But what about those videos that are not-so-popular? "We've done what people have been begging Facebook to do for ages," Alcocer said. "We have included a 'dislike' button for those users who aren't afraid to be brutally honest." When asked if he felt this was doing a disservice to the artists who find themselves in the site's Hall of Shame, Alcocer shrugged and said, "Every artist on shows like American Idol and X-Factor are shamelessly critiqued before a national audience by the likes of Simon Cowell and other judges every time they take the stage. Criticism comes with the territory."

"Our goal is to discover real up-and-coming talent," Afsharjavan said, "and that means figuring out if these artists have the look, sound and presence to make it in the industry. Our rating system is designed to bring out the best in these artists in terms of both talent and character."

Artists who are up for the challenge and are looking for the opportunity for some valuable exposure are encouraged to submit content to [email protected]. Video files and URL links to videos on the web are welcomed and encouraged.