IFC and McCoury Music have launched a competition aimed at blending traditional and contemporary roots music, passion for democracy and social justice and an appreciation for the power of grassroots creativity. The competition calls on music fans to create their own short film interpretations of the songs from McCoury Music's new album, Moneyland. Fans of the new album are invited to enter into the short-form film competition at www.LivinginMoneyLand.com. The winning film for each song will be awarded cash prizes and a grand prize winner chosen among each of the song finalists will be aired on IFC and IFC.com. For details on the film competition including entry information, visit www.LivinginMoneyLand.com.

CMJ recently named the launch of CDBaby.com as #1 on the "Top Ten Most Important Moments In Indie Music."Just yesterday, CDBaby founder and Indie music guru Derek Sivers announced the sale of the company to fellow Indie music giant, Disc Makers. "My new projects are exciting me so much that I decided to hand over CD Baby to someone that's going to make itbetter than ever for you," says Sivers. "I chose Disc Makers as the new owner because their president, Tony Van Veen, has been one of my favorite people for years, and I always felt they'd do a better job of running CD Baby than I could. The CD Baby staff, location, name, and everything else will stay the same, but I think you'll start to notice more attention given to improvements that help you sell more music."  Keep up with Derek Sivers' ever fascinating and inspiring comments and projects meant to help musicians achieve their goals at www.sivers.org.

Submit your best work in over 50 design and music genre categories including Cover tunes & Social Action songs - to the Independent Music Awards - a results-oriented program that helps indie artists and releases reach millions of music fans and industry movers & shakers. The IMAs broadens the definition of what is commercial and represent the diversity of the indie scene by supporting artists with previous major label releases as well as artists that have only self-released or appeared on indie labels. IMA artists receive yearlong print, online & broadcast promotions plus distribution & performance opportunities - including an IMA CMJ showcase. Past winners & finalists include: The Mooney Suzuki, Lacuna Coil, The Dollyrots, Joan As Police Woman, Sweet Honey In The Rock, Richard Julian, Dan Bern, Chris Whitely, Mary Gauthier, and Jonah Smith. Judges for the 8th annual IMAs include: Peter Gabriel, Roger Daltrey, Suzanne Vega, Paquito D'Rivera, Keith Urban, Clint Black, Butch Walker, Ice-T, Josh Madden (DCMA Clothing), Joe Cuello & Carrie Hughes (MTV Networks), Jason Olaine (Festival Network) and Stefan Goldby (ManiaTV). August 22 is the Deadline: Get more at IndependentMusicAwards.com.

Every Friday, Music Connection partners up with one of our many advertisers to give away a musical product to a lucky musical person. Last week's "Friday Freebie" winner Sara Skelton from Los Angeles won the PreSonus AudioBox. There's still time to enter this week's Friday Freebie, so go to www.musicconnection.com and look up in the right hand corner.

From now through September 21, 2008, bands across the United States are invited to submit their music at www.makerockhistory.com for a chance to win a prize package that includes an opening slot on Mötley Crüe's 2009 U.S. tour, $25,000 cash, $20,000 in exclusive new gear from Gibson Guitar, management from Tenth St. Entertainment, and a recording deal from Eleven Seven Music, Mötley's management and record label. A judging panel including Tenth St. Entertainment and Eleven Seven Records will then review the top bands, selecting 30 bands to advance to regional evaluation events held in mid-October at Guitar Center locations in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Saturday, August 9, 2008 from 11am to 4pm D'Addario and Guitar Showcase in San Jose, California are doing their part to help the Second Harvest Food Bank. Bring two cans of food and get your guitar restrung for free! Bring 5 cans for 12 string, nylon string guitars and guitars with locking trems. Suggested Foods: stew, chili, soup, Tuna/canned meat; Peanut butter;Canned foods w/pop-top lids; Low sugar cereals; 100% fruit juices in singleserving boxes; Canned fruit packed in juice; Canned vegetables (low salt). Musicians can also sign up for the AMP Network and receive Music Connection Magazine for 3 months for free. See www.guitarshowcase.com.

The contest offers prizes designed to help unsigned songwriters on the road to becoming professional hit-makers. This years prizes boast of mentoring sessions with Kenny Alphin (Big Kenny from the duo Big & Rich) and Regie Hamm, 2008 American Idol Songwriter as well as recording session and a single-song publishing contracts from a major Music Row publisher like Cal IV Entertainment, Curb Music, Hearts Bluff Music, Melrose Entertainment , Montage Music Group, Skyline Music Publishing. NSAI members receive discounts on submission fees. All genres of music are accepted. For more information www.nsai.cmt.com or www.nashvillesongwriters.com. Proceeds benefit the NSAI Legislative Fund, working to serve the rights of songwriters everywhere.Entries accepted through midnight Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008.

Cincinnati Bengals four-time Pro Bowl Offensive Tackle, Willie Anderson, takes his prowess from the field to the entertainment industry by starting Think Big Entertainment, a full fledged Entertainment Company that focuses on both music and film. Think Big's first release will be an album for 19-year-old rapper, G-Fiive, out of Anderson's hometown, Mobile, Al. The game plan for Think Big is to start small, one project at a time, with the initial focus on G-Fiive. For more information on Willie Anderson and G-Fiive please contact: Tremedia, Lisa McCall, 678-293-5826, lgmccall@gmail.com.

Guitar Center is currently hosting its 20thGuitar Center Drum-Off. Drummers can sign up for their chance to win more than $45,000 in cash, prizes and endorsements, joining over 5,000 drummers from across the country to compete for the title of Guitar Center's Drum-Off Champion '08.Sign-ups for the preliminary rounds of the Drum-Off  are currently underway, and run on a first-come, first-serve basis with a maximum of 30 registrants per store. Contestants must sign up with a Guitar Center drum department associate at their local store. Local competitions start Sept. 23 in all 214 Guitar Center locations nationwide, followed by district competitions and regional semi-finals. The final championship Drum-Off will be held in Los Angeles in January of 2009. For more details visit gc.guitarcenter.com/drum-off-2008.

Truetone Music in Santa Monica, CA will host Gretsch Night Out on Thurs., Aug, 7 at 6p.m. The event will be your chance to meet Gretsch Company President Fred W. Gretsch, check out new, limited-edition Gretsch 125th anniversary guitars and enjoy a performance by world-renowned fingerstyle guitar player Bobby Gibson. This free event, which will take place at Truetone Music, is open to guitarists, musicians and music lovers of all ages and will feature personal insights on the colorful history of Gretsch Guitars from the man himself, Fred W. Gretsch, who will be available for photographs, a question-and-answer session and will autograph your Gretsch instrument. Everyone who attends will receive a free Gretsch gift. For more visit www.truetonemusic.com.

The Digital Music Forum West will happen from October 2-3, 2008 at The Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. Keynotes speakers will include Jac Holzman founder of Elektra Record. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a popular event for music industry decision-makers. This has been a sold out event for the past two   years, so organizers are advising advanced registration. For more information, speaker list and registration details, please visit www.digitalmusicforum.com/west or call 310-855-0033 ext. 0.