I'm proud to announce the launch of a dream that I've been working on for the past 40 years!

This web page marks the world premiere release of The TEAM Top 100! (A "Billboard" type chart for Independent Musicians - Celebrating Unsung Home Studio Heroes!)

The idea was born in Hollywood back in the '80s when I was the Advertising & Promotion Manager for Music Connection Magazine by day and playing drums for Motown Records by night. 

Being a researcher and philosopher underneath it all, I put a LOT of thought into this golden opportunity for independent musicians who do not necessarily have lots of streams, or sales, or likes, or downloads, or fans, or ANY of the "typical" sought-after recognition metrics that you're "supposed" to chase these days. Of course, it's GREAT if you DO have a lot of ethically and organically earned streams and sales and likes and downloads and fans! My opinion about paying for streams and sales and likes and fans is very simple - I don't think it's a good thing to do.  

And, in actual fact, many of the A-List executives I work with in the music industry, like me, are super excited when they hear great new music that they love - regardless of the online metrics connected with that artist and/or band. It's fascinating that these executives pride themselves more on finding an incredible artist/band that is NOT connected with huge numbers online, than an artist/band that already has huge numbers. Their "trophy" is finding an unknown, undiscovered talent and being responsible for discovering that artist or band and helping to launch their career. THAT'S when they REALLY start bragging!

With that spirit in mind, and with a lot of research and beta-testing, I came up with a way of creating what I consider a fair and realistic way to create charts celebrating you - the Unsung Home Studio Hero - whether your online footprint is huge or completely non-existent! In other words, it's not based on QUANTITY of fans or sales or streams or likes - it's based simply on the QUALITY of the music and the recording. 

I chose a group of assistants that I have been training on music production, licensing, and the music business -- and had them each, independently and in secret, cast their ballots using a scale of 1 to 10 (with decimal fractions allowed) based on the following four criteria:

1. On a scale of 1 to 10, the emotional impact they experienced based on the production value of the recording. How they felt by simply experiencing the SOUND of the recording and its QUALITY.

2. On a scale of 1 to 10, the emotional impact they experienced based on the composition (for instrumental recordings) or songwriting (for songs). How they felt by simply experiencing the melody, harmony, and overall composition/songwriting skills of the creator. 

3. On a scale of 1 to 10, the emotional impact they experienced based on the lyrics (for songs with vocals). How they felt by simply experiencing the words of a song. 

4. Something I call "The Goosebump Factor". Simply: Did they literally experience goosebumps while listening to the recording? And if so, how much on a scale of 1 to 10. 

Notice that the above four criteria do not touch upon TECHNICAL considerations. The power of music is not how it's technically put together in my opinion, the power of music is how it impacts the listener EMOTIONALLY! If advanced music production skills and music theory knowledge and sound design prowess as tools are used to create goosebumps - EXCELLENT! But it's the goosebumps I'm focusing on - NOT the technical tools! (And know that I DO teach and mentor advanced music production techniques, deep music theory knowledge and application, and state-of-the-art sound design workflows - but for one reason only - to create a strong emotional impact in the listener!) 

For songs with lyrics, the voters' scores were divided by 4 and that number was the total score for that song. For instrumental recordings, since there were no lyrics, their total scores were divided by the number of criteria voted on (three) and that number was the total score for that recording. For cover song recordings, scores were divided by the number of criteria voted on (the composition/songwriting category was skipped). 

They then totaled up every voter's score for each song and divided by the number of voters. THAT number was used to create the final tally of The TEAM Top 100! I was not involved in the voting process. 

Since music is an invisible subjective art form, it would be impossible to come up with a fully objective system of rating. However, after having critiqued thousands of tracks during the course of my career, being a Voting Member of the Grammy® Recording Academy, a Judge for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Rock-Off, a Judge of the International Blues Festival and a Judge of the Telly Awards -- and with my own work in my own home studio having been heard by over 100 million people just this year alone (Amazon Super Bowl Commercial and 46 tracks in the Disney film The Little Mermaid), I felt it was time for me to launch the dream I have been working on for the last 40 years!

SEE THE RESULTS BELOW!!!!

Gary Gray

[email protected]

Founder & CEO of Transcend Entertainment and Music (TEAM)