SONG CONTEST BLOG

Exactly a year ago, I contacted a successful and influential music business professional (I won’t reveal his name) and invited him to join our panel of song contest judges.

In the spirit of full transparency, I wanted to share his response with you:

Sorry if this offends, but I’m afraid I’m not a big fan of song contests.  While I know they provide a platform for a few; they provide disappointment and false hope to many.  So I’m not sure that I’d be an appropriate judge or partner.

Feel free to add your comments >>

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The Truth About Our Song Contest

Can You handle The Truth?

4 Qualified Song Contest Perspectives

What A Song Contest Can Do For You

Radically Improve Your Odds Of Winning A Song Contest

Look For Clues

Gaining a significant edge in a song contest is sometimes as simple as knowing where to look.  Most song contests publish a wealth of information about their contest judges right on their websites.  Each judge’s professional profile may contain clues as to what type of music is most likely to draw his or her attention.  You can use the data to accurately assess your chances and formulate a strategy by looking at which artist, publisher, label or music supervisors the judge is presently working with, then use that information as a guide to crafting a song that is ‘in demand’.

Look For Patterns

Most song contest websites stream previous winners’ songs.  Take time and listen to a few winning songs and you will probably be able to see a pattern – a songwriting style, genre or topic – that appears to capture the judges’ attention time and time again.  Use this valuable information to your advantage when deciding on which song you’re going to submit for a song contest.

Write Like A Pro

If you’re including a lyric with your song contest entry, it should not read like a page from a book.  Format your lyric so that each section of your song is clearly labeled (e.g. Verse, Chorus, Bridge).  Use a line space to separate each section of the song, upper case letters to highlight hooks and new sections only, and never include chord changes, notes, or copyright information unless they are specifically asked for.

Clean Up Your Act

Though your song contest submission doesn’t need to be professionally produced, you will be marked down if you’re not hitting your notes, your instruments are out of tune, the band’s not in the pocket, or the recording is inaudible.  Make it easy for the song contest judges to truly enjoy your songwriting by eliminating poor performance and unprofessional presentation.  Be masterful and your music will shine.

Focus On The Song

Song contest judges are professionals and won’t be swayed by awesome production centered around a mediocre song.  When choosing which song to submit for a song contest, focus on the song itself, not the bells and whistles.

Put Your Best Foot Forward

A song contest is not a science experiment.  If you want to improve your songwriting, purchase a critique first.  Otherwise, participate in a song contest as if you’re pitching your best material to a label, publisher, music supervisor or event by submitting only your most polished songs.

H. Jay Carney, winner of Round 4 of the 2009 Lyric Writer Awards, has completed his professional co-writing prize with the distinguished songwriting duo, Pete and Pat Luboff.

Listen to the result:

“Soul On Strings”
by Pete & Pat Luboff and H. Jay Carney

© Pea Pod Music and The Carney Company, Inc.

The song contest prize for the Lyric Writer Awards was designed to put aspiring lyricists in the hot seat with the music industry’s top songwriting professionals.  The song contest prize includes an intimate co-writing session, a complete overhaul of the winning lyric (if necessary), and a publisher-ready demo of the song performed and recorded by some of Nashville’s most sought after musicians.

Congratulations to Jay, Pete and Pat for writing an outstanding song together!

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since I published the Song Contest Score Card post.

Your feedback has been tremendously valuable.  Thank you!

We’re pushing ahead with the Song Contest Score Card concept and it will look something like this:

Considering that each score card will require our judges to do a little extra administrative work, I wanted to ask you this:

In addition to your song contest entry fee, would you be willing to pay a fee for an accompanying Song Contest Score Card?

And if so, how much?

Leave me your comments please…

This is just a tiny update − but I marks a major milestone:

Now, when you enter The Singer/Songwriter Awards, our flagship international song contest, you can include the lyric to each of the songs that you enter for The Lyric Writer Awards, our lyrics-only song contest… in one click!

When you’re filling out the song contest entry form, below the lyric field of the song you’re submitting, you’ll see this:

For an additional $20, would you like enter the lyric to song #1 for our lyric writing contest?

Hit YES if you do.  NO if you don’t.  It’s that simple.  And so much more convenient than before.

Related Posts:
9 Must-Read Posts About Song Contests
What A Song Contest Can Do For You
Song Contest and Critique Status Manager

Three months ago, we launched the Song Contest and Critique Status Manager.

For the first time, when you entered one of our song contests or purchased a song critique, you had total control over your entry and insight into the review process.

No other song contest provides this kind of data, security and functionality to view, edit and store your most valuable assets: your songs.

Now, I want to take things one step further.  And I need your help.

When you receive your Final Status (i.e. Winner, Finalist, Runner Up, Not Selected), I want to include a Score Card.

At the moment, we don’t have a standardized method for “scoring” entries.  I want to change that.

What are the individual elements of a song that you think we should score?

Leave a comment

The USA Songwriting Competition announced yesterday the launch of their 15th annual song contest.

In the email announcement and on their blog, they celebrated a decade of success stories by their song contest winners.

Among the Top 10 USA Songwriting Winners Of The Decade, the likes of Kate Voegele, Ari Gold and Darrel Scott were mentioned.  I’ve never heard of them either but check this out:

Kate Voegele (2005 song contest winner) appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien performing her song “99 Times”, a Billboard Adult Top 40 Hit, peaking at #24.  Her album, “A Fine Mess”, was released on Interscope/MySpace records and made the Top 10 on The Billboard 200 Albums Chart.

Ari Gold (2007 song contest winner) hit #10 on the Billboard Charts and #1 on Sirius OutQ with his winning entry.

Darrell Scott (2005 song contest winner) pitched his song and got it cut by Faith Hill in 2006.  Wow!

Do you think these artists would have achieved such success had they not entered The USA Songwriting Competition?

Leave your comment

According to many songwriters, song contests are inherently deceptive.

They are designed to raise expectations in order to collect high submission fees while buffering the disappointment of losing with months of anticipation of the results.

The individuals that run them are masters of persuasion.  If we weren’t, our song contests would buckle under the popular consensus that song contests should be free or, at least, much cheaper.

So how persuasive, even manipulative am I?

According to the “Q Test” which I discovered in an article published by the Guardian, not very.

Try the Q Test for yourself:

Using the first finger of your dominant hand, draw a capital letter Q on your forehead.

Some people draw the letter Q in such a way that they themselves can read it.  That is, they place the tail of the Q on the right-hand side of their forehead.  Other people draw the letter in a way that can be read by someone facing them, with the tail of the Q on the left side of their forehead.

This quick test provides a rough measure of a concept known as “self-monitoring”.  High self-monitors tend to draw the letter Q in a way in which it could be seen by someone facing them.  Low self-monitors tend to draw the letter Q in a way in which it could be read by themselves.

High self-monitors tend to be concerned with how other people see them.  They are happy being the centre of attention, can easily adapt their behaviour to suit the situation in which they find themselves, and are skilled at manipulating the way in which others see them.  As a result, they tend to be good at lying.

In contrast, low self-monitors come across as being the “same person” in different situations.  Their behaviour is guided more by their inner feelings and values, and they are less aware of their impact on those around them.  They also tend to lie less in life, and so not be so skilled at deceit.

Which one are you?

Leave a comment

8 Reasons Not To Enter A Song Contest

10 Most Popular Song Contests

7 Reasons To Enter A Song Contest

10 Reasons To Enter A Song Contest Again

Free Song Contest

Community Funded Song Contest

The Truth About Our Song Contest

4 Qualified Song Contest Perspectives

Can You Handle The Truth?