ALPINE launches ‘ROCK THE DASH 2’ online music contest to support emerging musical talent, mobilize fans

Contest Offers Prizes for Artists and Voters

TORRANCE, Calif. – Alpine Electronics of America, Inc., the industry-leading manufacturer of automotive mobile media solutions, today announced that its online music contest, “Rock the Dash,” is back by popular demand. The contest gives emerging music artists of all genres the chance to be seen and heard in a highly engaging online competition, where they post their top songs and fans discover, listen and vote for their favorites. “Rock the Dash 2” is part of the upcoming “Alpine Underground” social community, an online destination for consumers to connect, interact and get informed about cars, music and car audio. The “Rock the Dash 2” contest kicks off today at 1 p.m. PDT and will run through July 28, 2009. The contest can be accessed at www.rockthedash.com.

This year’s contest boasts several new features to help music artists in the U.S. and Canada promote their music, mobilize their fan base and reach out to new fans. In addition to posting up to five songs to the “Rock the Dash 2” site, artists now can also upload their music videos, giving them an additional opportunity to show off their talents. Alpine provides musicians with various tools like linked banners to post to their Web sites and social networking pages, to encourage friends and fans to vote for their songs and get involved in the contest.

Fans play an important role in this year’s contest. Anyone can listen to songs, rate the songs on a 1 to 5 star scale, or vote once a day for their favorite artist. However, fans are encouraged to register in the contest, allowing them to cast two votes per day, per artist, and making them eligible to win prizes on a monthly basis.

The prizes for the highest-ranked music artists were designed to help the winners further pursue their musical interests. The grand prize package, for the top-ranked artist or band at the end of the contest, is worth up to $6,750 and consists of:

* A $5,000 Guitar Center gift card
* Up to five Alpine iDA-X305 Digital Media Receivers (one for each group member if the winner is a band, up to five members)
* A main feature on the homepage of music site PureVolume.com up for two days



Alpine will award a second-place artist prize (worth up to $3,750) and a third-place artist prize (worth up to $2,750), both of which consist of a combination of Guitar Center gift cards, Alpine products and exposure on PureVolume.com. There also will be a random artist prize (worth up to $1,250), where the winner will be selected by a random drawing.

In addition, the contest expands this year to include prizes for registered voters. At the end of every contest month, five registered voters will be randomly selected as winners. The first-place voter-of-the-month winner will receive one Alpine iDA-X303 Digital Media Receiver and a $40 iTunes gift card; the four remaining voter-of-the-month winners will each receive a $25 iTunes gift card. Overall, more than $16,000 in prizes will be awarded to artists and voters during the duration of the contest.