From Justin Bieber to Shawn Mendes, cover songs have helped spark the careers of many great artists. Now, MTV International is announcing a competition to find amazingly talented fans by asking them to cover great songs and then spotlighting their talent to audiences around the world. Introducing: MTV Cover of the Month. 
 
The MTV Cover Of The Month competition calls on fans across 120+ international markets to cover a specific song each month, with the opportunity to highlight their talent on MTV. The fan who claims the title of winner of the year, selected by a panel of MTV International judges, will get their own music video produced with and promoted by MTV, which will be rotated across the network’s worldwide music hours.  The campaign’s inaugural submissions call kicks off with Mike Posner inviting fans to submit covers for his Video Music Award-nominated hit, ‘I Took a Pill in Ibiza.'
 
"I’m all about anything that supports creativity and self-expression,” said Mike Posner. “So to kick off Cover of the Month, I challenge you all to submit your cover of ‘I Took a Pill in Ibiza’ and I’ll pick my favorite, announce it on MTV myself. Can’t wait to see your takes on it."
 
To submit for Cover Of The Month, fans must cover the chosen song of the month, upload it to YouTube, then submit to coverofthemonth.MTV.com for a chance to be part of MTV’s core channel DNA over the next year. Highlighted covers will be regularly sprinkled throughout MTV’s international programming and commercial breaks. Each monthly winner will receive a trophy, recurring on-air spot that month, potential shout-out from the original artist of that month’s challenge, and will be featured broadly across MTV’s international social platforms and websites.
 
“We’re thrilled to offer our audience the platform to showcase their musical talent,” said Bruce Gillmer, executive vice president of talent and music programming for MTV International. “Cover of the Month drives the unique connection between fans and MTV’s core artists.  It fits in perfectly with our wide array of unique music properties.”
 
“As part of our international rebrand, we opened up the channel to our audience and brought them on-air with #MTVbump.  Cover of the Month continues that spirit as we spotlight and celebrate our audience’s incredible talent in a way only MTV can,” said Kerry Taylor, SVP of MTV International. 
 
In 2015, MTV International rebranded, taking on a new look and feel while evolving from “I want my MTV” to “I am my MTV.”  As part of this, the network partnered with B-Reel Creative to launch #MTVbump, allowing fans social media videos on Instagram or Vines shared on Twitter to be on-air in as little as two hours.  On average, MTV International spotlights its audience on-air more than 8,000 times a week with #MTVbump.  In November 2015, the network unveiled the limited-time initiative, MTV Canvas, which was created with To.Be and acted as an online sticker book, giving the audience freedom to create and play with the brand, making their own visual art with music, backdrops and more.  Additionally, MTV International continues to celebrate visual culture by spotlighting experimental video art, music and storytelling from emerging artists around the world with Art Breaks.
 
For more on MTV’s Cover of the Month competition, including the Official Rules of the competition, go to coverofthemonth.MTV.com.