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Journeyman
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Journeyman
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Hello; I happened upon another website that many of you may be interested in. This is a music contest. They are taking submissions for 2013. The entry fee is $30.00 per song. The deadline is March 14, 2013. The name of the website is Unsigned Only Music Contest
Music is an expression that is a universal language, Never criticize anybody to harshly. They need time to grow but when they do, they do. Always be kind in what you say and do because the man upstairs is watching.
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A couple of thoughts which spring to mind-
7500 entries (2012) x $30 = $225,000
A celebrity judge listening to 7500 entries at say 3min 30sec average and working a 35 hour week, would need over three months solid to complete the task.
Just sayin ...
ROG.
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Journeyman
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Thanks for that little bit of information. I was going to enter a song; now that you point that out that would be compared to a fool and his money will soon part. I didn't think of that thank you very much.
Music is an expression that is a universal language, Never criticize anybody to harshly. They need time to grow but when they do, they do. Always be kind in what you say and do because the man upstairs is watching.
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There is a long list of celebrity judges. Your song could be heard by any one of them. They are not all listened to by one judge.. Each judge probably gets handed a bundle of about an hour of music and they each whittle it down.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Expert
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Expert
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The celebrity judges don't come into play until the songs are whittled way down (at least that is what I have heard). So in the first round maybe all of the songs are listened to by staff (maybe 30 seconds a song, maybe more) to weed out the first 90%. Heck the celebrity judges might only hear 20-50 songs (I am just guessing, though).
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Yeah, I'm guessing the celebrity judges only listen to a few seconds of some songs too. The luck comes in having your song get to the one judge that may like it. I think the number of songs per celebrity judge is a little high in your guesstimate above. I'm thinking it's closer to a dozen or less.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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My guess is along the lines as what has been stated already. The songs are likely prescreened, then prescreened again and maybe a 3rd time until they get it down to a handful in each category and then they get assigned to a judge. I can't imagine Neon Trees and Cyndi Lauper are going to be judging much country and Brandi Carlile giving the thumbs up to thrash. And this is where "hook" comes in. MAYBE in the early rounds will your whole song get heard, but by the time you get to that last cut, you better grab them fast.
From the contest FAQ:
DO THE JUDGES LISTEN TO ALL THE ENTRIES, OR IS THERE A SCREENING PROCESS?
There is a screening committee that listens to all entries and selects the group of finalists which are then sent to the judges. The judges then select the winners from this group of finalists. The screening process is carefully and respectfully implemented with the goal of selecting the best songs to send on to the judges.
What gets me is when you go listen to the songs that DIDN'T win they are often better than what DID. Visit the ISC page from last year and listen to the country category. The 2nd place song was SO MUCH BETTER than what won.... and I found that to be true is several categories.
At $30 a song, someone is cleaning up. Are there really a lot of expenses in bringing in judges to sit and listen to songs? Raw material costs? Labor?
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Quote:
At $30 a song, someone is cleaning up.
Exactly, Eddie.
The celebrity judges probably get paid for about an hours work. The rest of it is down to the screening panel, about which we know very little. Basically, it's a lottery. (Unless you're the promoter and then it looks like a winner.)
ROG.
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Praying on the foolhardy is easy!!! In general people like to dream that they have talent when its not even talent that counts to the guys who organize this type of thing, all that counts is a young girl or boy that will please teenagers, no talent needed
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Quote:
Quote:
At $30 a song, someone is cleaning up.
Exactly, Eddie.
The celebrity judges probably get paid for about an hours work. The rest of it is down to the screening panel, about which we know very little. Basically, it's a lottery. (Unless you're the promoter and then it looks like a winner.)
ROG.
Good eye, ROG and Eddie! It's a modern twist on a very old scam.
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I dunno if I'd call it a scam, thinking about the cost ..
Maybe three guys running the contest at 40k a year each, 30k in celebrity/judging fees (remember even the pre-judges will likely be paid), another 20k in prizes; up to 170k invested already. Advertising, lawyer fees, etc not figured in yet. Making money is expensive.
And on the flip side, last years winner seems to be doing alright for herself. Booked next weekend at The Foundation Room at the House of Blues in west hollywood ($12 a seat). Couple weeks from now shes at a music festival with "the Doobie Brothers, Buddy Guy, The Turtles, Scars on 45, and more", she's doing alright for herself.
I'm guessing she thinks that $30 wasn't much money now.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Quote:
I'm guessing she thinks that $30 wasn't much money now.
But what about all the people who didn't win? I wonder what they're thinking?
ROG.
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It's a bit like buying a lottry ticket every week hoping to win squillions, you have to be in it to win it. Good points tho'
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Then you get into wondering how much these are rigged. Go to last year's ISC results and listen to the country category 1st thru 3rd. Tell me if the #1 is stronger than the other 2. The song that was 2nd was the best of the bunch. Do we know that the winner wasn't a judge's brother in law?
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Journeyman
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Who knows how straight these con- tests are?
I know a kid who won a poetry contest. I forget what the registration fee was but it was substantial.
Of course she won an award and was published in their book of poetry which she and her family could purchase copies at around 50 bucks a shot.
WSS
Last edited by Westside Steve; 09/24/12 06:30 AM.
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Hmmm... so if some label would pick up one of my songs for a compilation CD they would allow me to purchase them at $14.99 a copy?
Where do I sign?!?!?!?
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At least with the FAWM.org songwriting challenge, when I contributed to one of the 14 songs selected (out of thousands written during that year's challenge), I got a copy of the nice Digipak-type CD for free!
These contests are generally a con. Save your money and join Taxi instead. If you have quality songwriting chops, there's at least a remote chance of them doing something with it. It's not cheap.
-Scott
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