This article is from page 14 of the 2012-12-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
AN unsigned Clare singer/songwriter is celebrating her very own Christmas miracle this week as she will be the iTunes featured artist of the week over the Christmas period.
Killaloe’s Siobhan O’Brien will be one of six musicians to feature on the iTunes Store during the busiest week of the year for music downloads. While the full lineup of artists is not yet known, these positions are usually reserved for multi-million Euro record artists – with major industry backing behind them.
This opportunity was offered to Siobhan after a senior iTunes executive happened to hear her singing live at a gig in West Clare.
“This means that every time that someone logs onto the iTunes Store, I will be one of the featured artists that scrolls across the top of the screen. It is incredible profile for me – this means that I’m going to be subjected to a much wider audience than I ever thought possible,” said Siobhan.
“I suppose this came about through a combination of perseverance and luck. I was singing live in Doonbeg and a major iTunes executive heard me. I don’t want to mention his name but he loved my voice and he said that he wanted to help me out. I couldn’t believe it.”
Everyone who logs into the iTunes Store over the Christmas period will be given a link to downloading Siobhan’s self titled “Siobhán O’Brien”. As a result of being featured by iTunes, Siobhan has also decided to relaunch the album on March 8, 2013, at Dolan’s in Limerick.
“The album came out last year and it was well received and got some very favourable reviews but U just didn’t have the profile to push it properly at that time,” said Siobhan.
“I’m also now in a position to tour in America so I’m going to tour the West Coast of America in January and then I’ll go back to tour the East Coast in March, after the album launch. So it’s exciting times.
“It is really great to get this kickstart [from iTunes]. It is very hard to get promotion as a musician and to get your foot in the door. It can be a luck thing as much as anything else and hopefully this is my time to get lucky.”
The album is produced by Siobhan’s long time friend and collaborator Eamon Hehir. Eamon has also co-written three of the songs on the album alongside Siobhan.
For more about Siobhan’s music visit www.siobhanobrien.com.