Taco Bell today named 100 artists to its 2008 Feed the Beat lineup as it once again hooks up America’s up-and-coming rock acts as they hit the road. Bands from across the nation, hailing from music hotbeds like Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York, and Seattle will receive $500 in free Fourthmeal, the late-night meal between dinner and breakfast, and vie for an important next career-building step: marketing support for their music.

Feed the Beat bands each have a dedicated page on Taco Bell’s recently launched Virtual Music Festival Web site (www.feedthebeat.com) which showcases their music, photos, bios, and tour schedules. Music fans can listen to bands they know or discover new tunes as they stream music via the Feed the Beat Music Player. If they discover a band they like and want to purchase music, they are directed to the band’s iTunes page, where they can purchase the song.

All 100 bands including 3OH!3, Cobra Starship, Hit The Lights, Senses Fail, The Academy Is…, The Gaslight Anthem, and Thursday will also have the opportunity to compete in Feed the Beat’s “Best of the Beat” contest for the chance to be one of three winning bands to have a single produced and promoted by Taco Bell. Bands will need support from their fans, and build loyal new followers who can discover their music, as the public can vote and have the ultimate say in which three bands will be crowned “Best of the Beat.”

These three winning bands will work with Taco Bell to identify and hire a well-known producer to record a single for them. The singles will then be promoted on www.feedthebeat.com and through online advertising and in-store efforts in the Spring of 2009, as the Web site address will be featured on Taco Bell’s iconic Sauce Packet, which reaches more than 208 million people in about a month. More than 36.8 million customers come through Taco Bell’s 5,600 restaurants every week.

“We’re blown away by the response, feedback and connection that bands have with Feed the Beat,” says David Ovens, chief marketing officer, Taco Bell Corp. “The outset of this program three years ago was to reward bands that love our brand with free Fourthmeals. Today, we’re expanding that appreciation to include marketing support via online and in-store to help expose Feed the Beat bands and their music to an even larger fan base. Simply put, we are music fans here at Taco Bell and we want to see these artists succeed.”

Feed the Beat bands were chosen by a panel of judges based on performance and musicianship, originality, and material selection and overall appeal and personality. Bands also had the opportunity to express their passion for Taco Bell and share stories about eating Fourthmeal while touring.

Fans can nominate a band by visiting www.feedthebeat.com and clicking on the “Nominate” button located on each band’s profile page. Voters can vote for as many bands as they like, but can only vote for each individual band once-per-day. Voting for bands in the nomination phase is from October 9 through October 23, 2008.

After Round One, the 24 bands with the most votes will continue on to the next round. In Round Two, participating bands will be seeded based on the total number of votes received in Round One and will compete in a head-to-head format from October 24 through October 30, 2008. The 12 bands that win their individual battles will move on to Round Three. The same format will be used in Round Three, public voting from October 31 through November 6, 2008 and Round Four, public voting occurs from November 7 through November 13, narrowing the finalists down to 6 and 3, respectively. The final three bands will be deemed the winners of the contest and be announced by November 18, 2008.

The three winning bands will work with Taco Bell to identify and hire a well-known producer to record a single for them. The singles will then be promoted on www.feedthebeat.com and through online advertising and in-store efforts in the Spring of 2009, as the Web site address will be featured on Taco Bell’s iconic Sauce Packet, which reaches more than 208 million people in about a month.