Win £1000 worth of Yamaha music gear!

Yamaha has unveiled a new online resource for anyone serious about playing and producing music. Yamaha Download features artist interviews, news, reviews and tutorials, and by signing up (and voting - more on that in a sec) you'll get the chance to win £1000 worth of Yamaha music-making swag.

Among the live footage, gear demos, gig guides and advice from leading sound engineers, managers and broadcasters, you'll also find contributions from the likes of Editors, Paolo Nutini, Elbow, Dave Weckl, Troy Miller and Jamie Cullum.

The site also makes it easy for you to get involved in one of Yamaha's acclaimed programmes including Childline Rocks free music lesson fundraiser, the Make It Break It Songwriting Awards and (this is where the voting comes in) the Band For Grand Competition. Now in its final stages, you can vote for your favourite unsigned band (hear them all here) and get automatically entered into a free prize draw to win £1000 worth of Yamaha equipment.

The five most popular bands will be invited to perform at the Stables in Milton Keynes on 7 December in front of an audience of industry professionals. The overall winner will be given time in a world class recording studio with full technical and production support.

You can check out the all new site, vote for your favourite act and enter the free prize draw at Yamahadownload.com.

Tom Porter worked on MusicRadar from its mid-2007 launch date to 2011, covering a range of music and music making topics, across features, gear news, reviews, interviews and more. A regular NAMM-goer back in the day, Tom now resides permanently in Los Angeles, where he's doing rather well at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB).