DOVER - One more slot has opened in this year’s Firefly Music Festival lineup, and festival organizers are looking to fill it with regional talent. Red Frog Events, producers of Firefly, and REC Philly are partnering to bring Big Break to life. The inaugural contest and showcase is a regional addition to Firefly’s national Big Break contest. By submitting an online application, regional artists will have the chance to play a set on a Firefly Music Festival stage.

Musicians will go through three rounds in order to win: round one to help discover the top 25 acts from all the submissions, round two fans will vote online to narrow it down to the final five, and in round three, the final five will compete in a live showcase in Philadelphia. One winner will join the other 135-plus artists and bands at The Woodlands in June to play on one of Firefly’s seven stages.

From March now until April 8, Big Break Live will be accepting applications from artists of all genres that live in states within a 150-mile radius of The Woodlands. This includes Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, New York, Connecticut, and Washington D.C.

From April 9 to April 15, online polls will open and fans will have three chances each day to vote for their favorite artists. The first round of voting will serve as a discovery platform for Red Frog and REC Philly to find the final 25 contestants. Once the top 25 are chosen, online voting re-opens and the results will rely on the fans. Voting does matter to get selected as a top 25 contestant, but is not the only qualification.

Starting April 19, fans will have the opportunity to vote for one act every 24 hours until it is narrowed down to the top 10. Then voting continues, and by May 1, the top five contestants will be announced.

The final five will move on to play a live showcase in front of a panel of judges on June 2nd at Philadelphia music venue, Live! At William Street Common. After calculating online fan votes, live fan votes, and judges votes, the winner will be announced.

The winner of Big Break Live will then go on to play on an official Firefly stage. Benefits for the winner include a content piece created by REC Philly (which will be promoted on Firefly’s social media platforms), a travel and food stipend, and artist credentials for the duration of Firefly Music Festival.

Thirteen local acts are also on deck to play Firefly’s first Northeast Rising Showcase.

To help musicians with the Big Break Live application process and create the content they need to fuel their campaigns, REC Philly will be hosting an open house at their “REC Room” studio in Philadelphia from Saturday to Tuesday. For more details, contact REC Philly here.

To learn more and apply for Big Break Live, click here.

The Firefly Music Festival will be held June 15-18 in Dover.