Check out the International Songwriting Competition

This looks pretty awesome. Grand prize is $25,000 and I think there are 18 different categories to choose from. Past and present judges include B.B. King, Frank Black, Robert Smith, Tom Waits, Steve Vai and John Mayall. Check it out at http://songwritingcompetition.com/

ooow and only 30 bucks to enter; I think I'll get 10 gallons of gas instead:freak:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=481684

from all the research i've done, there seems to be a lot of rigging going on in songwriting comps. i bet some bona fide acts get thru and do great, but i don't know if it's worth it - might be a big let-down. also, Bela Bartok said "competitions are for horses, not artists." i tend to agree. if you want to compete, join the track team!

also, you have to wonder how some acts that are hitting right now and whose validity is being proven thru record sales would fare in some of these comps - or older acts with a great song, for that matter. there's not room to acknowledge the non-market artist, either. for that reason alone, i've always found them a bit ridiculous.

(oooh...he quoted Bela Bartok! how worldly and cultured!)

ps - call me crazy, but i haven't heard many 'good songs' coming out of steve vai! lol

many of these competitions are a scam, plain and simple. this one seems "official" - meaning that it's endorsed by all these named companies. still, let's say there will be 5,000 poor souls entering this contest, each paying $40 on average: $200K (entry fees alone) + whatever the cash all these sponsers give them. the process is done over the net - they have a set of "pre-screeners" that go through the submissions (if you are being optimistic, ALL submissions - but you never know what really goes on), choose a few songs for the "celebrity judges" to listen to. i'd say that's a nice little side business someone's running once a year.

if anyone's interested, try to at least listen to the previous winning entries on the site; if you think the "grand winner" song and the rest of the winning entries from the previous year are good and you would like your song to be listed besides them, by all means give it a go.

(i'll save the comment on what i thought of these previous winners)

i love how {censored} seeps to the surface once numbers get crunched!

this is a nice revenue builder for a group of guys in cK suits with bleached teeth and bluetooth headsets who understand the creativity behind songcraft and writing to be tantamount to everyday business strategy and decisions.

it does, however, point out the painful irony that no matter how much study you do or how obsessed and dedicated you become to your art, it's still art; and, therefore, available to all who choose to admire it.

it's not like medicine, where if i speak about some new prescription medication i read about in the newspaper in front of doctors, they could very justifiably say that i'm over my head in trying to develop an opinion on it due to my lack of education on the subject. the same thing goes for all specialties, except the arts. art is for people, not exclusively the 'experts' who get degrees or study it independently, and no matter how much i learn about music and the theory behind it, my opinion is just as valid as [ insert businessman name here ]'s.

Originally posted by bluesway

from all the research i've done, there seems to be a lot of rigging going on in songwriting comps.

+1000 i went to see the taping of "america has talent" and the best acts got jerked off while they let some real stinkers thur

It's definetly a legit competition. I don't think $30 is too much if you have some really great material, and besides they have got to raise money for all of the prizes for 18 different categories.