HOMELESS CHOIRS TO RELEASE ‘THIS IS ME’ SINGLE ON WORLD HOMELESS DAY

Kobalt and the Choir with No Name (CWNN), a UK charity running choirs for homeless and marginalised people, are releasing a very special version of ‘This Is Me’, to coincide with World Homeless Day on 10 October 2019.

The Choir with No Name currently run choirs in four cities in England, with over 170 members from the homeless community singing with them every week. Thanks to funding from Arts Council England and Ocorian Trustees, and their partnership with global music services company, Kobalt, they were able to offer their choir members the experience of a lifetime by taking them into professional studios to record a single. The resulting uplifting version of The Greatest Showman’s global hit, ‘This is Me’, will be released on October 10^th 2019 with an accompanying video shot at the studio sessions in Liverpool, London and Birmingham (Director: Alpha Barrie, Producer: Dave Graham, Crossfire Productions).

To further raise awareness, the charity will launch an accompanying digital #ThisIsMeinthree campaign, asking followers and influencers to describe themselves in three words, as well as highlight the three words chosen by homeless choir members and their accompanying stories.

Thanks to the support of AWAL & Kobalt, all money raised through global distribution of the single will fund CWNN’s work offering a supportive, life changing choir community to over 1000 people affected by homelessness and marginalisation every year.

Choir member Sandra says of the recording day:

‘[It was] an incredible experience that I can say eclipses being homeless. This is a sign of things to come - I will be back on my feet! I feel so blessed and humbled to be part of a project that gives people hope. CWNN has saved my life.’

CWNN CEO & Founder, Marie Benton, says:

‘This Is Me is a song about stepping out of the shadows and being proud of who you are. At the Choir with No Name, we celebrate our diversity, individuality and potential. We are mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, grandmas and grandads. We are football fans, dog lovers, students and musicians. We’re not a nameless, homogenous mass of ‘the homeless’. We want the world to see homelessness as a systemic problem, not a personal affliction, and get engaged in the fight to end it.’

Kobalt Founder & CEO, Willard Ahdritz, says:

“I am touched by what the Choir with No Name does. It brings me enormous happiness to see how music can have such a positive impact on people in need. Our support is part of an effort to bring more attention to this issue and a testament to the work The Choir with No Name is doing. I encourage everyone to see for themselves what can be done, and to help.”

The single, video and #ThisIsMe stories can be found at: www.thisisme.org.uk

The single can be pre-saved and pre-ordered at https://awal.ffm.to/thisisme

The Choir with No Name’s choirs will be performing ‘This Is Me’ in Birmingham, London, Liverpool & Brighton on or around World Homelessness Day 10^th Oct 2019. Further details will be announced via the www.choirwithnoname.org website.

There will also be an exclusive preview screening of the video as part of a discussion event about challenging perceptions of homelessness, hosted by the National Theatre on 2^nd October. Further details via the National Theatre website.

Follow the #ThisIsMe campaign at @choirwithnoname (Twitter/Instagram) and facebook.com/choirwithnoname

‘I am brave, I am bruised, I am who I'm meant to be, THIS IS ME’

NOTES TO EDITORS
Contact at the Choir with No Name: Marie Benton | marie@choirwithnoname.org |m: 07941 260874

About The Choir with No Name:

The Choir with No Name (CWNN) runs choirs for homeless and marginalised people. Our aim is to enable our members to make friends, build their confidence and skills and move away from homelessness long term. Whether they have been homeless, have a mental health problem or are otherwise struggling, we give them a safe, positive and supportive environment in which to sing away their worries, have fun and flourish as individuals.

For more info visit www.choirwithnoname.org

About Kobalt

Kobalt is a music and technology company built for artists, songwriters, publishers and labels as an alternative to the traditional music business model. Kobalt’s commitment to technology, transparency, and creators’ rights has driven tremendous growth year-over-year for the company and its clients. Today, Kobalt’s Music Publishing, Neighbouring Rights, and Recordings/AWAL divisions serve over 25,000 songwriters, 600 publishers, and 20,000 independent artists, including Childish Gambino, Miles Davis, Dave Grohl, Enrique Iglesias, Lauv, Lorde, Zayn Malik, Bob Marley, Marshmello, Max Martin, Paul McCartney, Elvis Presley, The Weeknd, and many more. Kobalt represents on average over 40% of the top 100 songs and albums in both the US and UK.

Kobalt’s global technology platform uniquely tracks and collects royalties for the billions of micro-payments per song in digital music today. Kobalt offers its clients a variety of services, including creative services, synch & brand partnerships, global licensing management, neighboring rights, works and rights distribution, royalty collection and processing, the Kobalt and AWAL Portals and Apps, YouTube monetization, record release management, digital distribution and marketing. For more information on Kobalt, please contact: info@kobaltmusic.com, or visit us at www.kobaltmusic.com