competitions

[alancurson]

are there any song writing competitions worth entering?

[ido1957]

There's going to be a winner so I suppose there's a slim chance if your material is good. With (for example) 35,000 entries you have to wonder if they actually listen to all the submissions or, if they take a random sampling and pick from the reduced number of songs. I think with today's cheap technology they'd expect a pretty good recording also.

[Stackabones]

If they are free to enter, then they are worth it. Otherwise, please send your entry fee to The Stackabones Songwriting Contest. First prize is a trip to Penury.

[Lee Knight]

Im in!

 

http://www.penuryhall.com/

[Stackabones]

[blue2blue]

That Penury B and B is located on "...the quiet side of Mount Desert Island in Southwest Harbor."

Them Maine folks sure have a flair for imaginative names.

 

______________

 

 

On to the topic at hand...

 

You like lotteries?

 

Most songwriting contests are not much better. Even when they're straight up sincere.

 

The problem is -- as anyone who has hung out contributing feedback in songwriting forums knows all too well -- listening to songs in order to gauge their weaknesses and strengths is hard, time-consuming work.

 

Now, of course, that would presume that the people doing the listening are actually songwriters themselves and that they care and that they have the time.

 

But in reality, they are probably just interns and low pay temps hired to sort through buckets of CDs (servers full of uploads, more likely, we should hope).

 

So, you pay anyplace from $25 to $100, pour many score hours into getting your track perfect -- even though they claim recording quality doesn't matter but when you go to listen to previous winners you are struck by two things: the winning songs often are not too good and the winning songs have really slick, professional production, with presumably hired studio back up singers and musicians and a pro singing lead. But, of course, recording quality doesn't count.

 

So, you've got a lot of time effort and money in this project.

 

And who is the screener? Some kid with an absurd haircut that would have been considered laughably out of style 5 years ago who couldn't get a job at McDonalds. He listens to the first 20 seconds of your track, doesn't hear anything that grabs him and you're done.

 

 

If that sounds good to you...

[GtrProductions]

I would say no. Instead, a better use of time would be to get reputable music reviewers to write about your album. Getting publicity is the most important goal of a musician, and your work likely won't even get listened to in a contest since there are seemingly limitless submissions.

[blue2blue]

I'm not sure it's the most important goal...

 

But it's certainly important if you want people to find your music!

[alancurson]

ok... contests are pretty bogus then... what's Taxi like?

[blue2blue]

 

Taxi's a whole different thing, more of a service. But what you get is sort of hard to pin down. On one level, it's my understanding that members who submit songs (a small fee per song in addition to annual dues) get some 'professional feedback' on helping to make them more commercial -- although it seems to be pretty minimal and, like anything of this nature, highly dependent on who is giving the feedback/advice.

 

They also make opportunities they have been apprised of known to their members and promise, after screening, to forward any material that fits the requirements and has a shot to the pertinent parties.

 

I've known a few folks who've been on them but almost no one who's ever earned their money back. But I've never really talked to anyone who felt cheated or abused by them. (Possibly because they don't really promise very much. More people should be so realistic in what they promise and maybe there would be less bitter ex-customers of various services and products out there.)

[Stackabones]

Competitions and Taxi are all get-rich-quick schemes. They dangle the sit-in-my-room-and-become-a-world-famous-songwriter carrot in your face, but you never reach it. All sizzle, no steak. If you want something to happen with your songs, leave your hometown and move to a songtown. Otherwise, just be cool with obscurity. YMMV.

 

Or move to Japan. Nothing's better than being big in Japan.

[Marshal]

Well I've entered a bunch. To no avail. And I'll do a few more. They are ones that I think somebody might recognize; Telluride; Merle Fest; Mountain Stage; to name a few. I'm not sure I'd go to the festival if I was chosen. Though, that'd be the point; to say I was a finalist and performed at blankety-blank. Just something to put on a musical bio-sheet. Gain some credibility.

 

But I don't expect to get discovered by any of the affairs.

 

The entry fees are usually $30/song (max 2 songs). So, I throw a few bucks at a few chances. (the musical lottery?). But I have been using the simple one-take Zoom H2 recordings, so I enter contests that say they are not looking for finished product. ("The quality of production will not be a criteria. We want great songs that can be performed by a person or duo on stage.")

 

That being said, I think my simple recordings aren't good enough. (Why else would I not be chosen ? ? ? ? :confused: ). So, I've started a recording project with a local engineer. And just now have a couple decent recordings of 2 of my recent tunes. No harmony and additional instrumentation on the tracks, yet. But they are nicely recorded and massaged renditions of what I am musically. And I'm even stuffing a disc in an envelope today (with a check) to send off to another lucky contest.

 

Let the games begin, gladiators.

 

[Chicken Monkey]

Almost all of them are moneymaking ventures for some organization. If you find one that is backed by an organization you don't mind sending your money to, then go for it. A bunch of festivals (as noted by Marshal) raise money by having the contest--bring in more entry fees than you pay out in prizes, and you can put in that new sound system, and so on. It's kind of like a charity raffle, but there's a small chance you'll succeed on merit rather than just getting your ticket pulled.