It will have a similar schedule to Song Fu. There will be 4 rounds. You will have 8-11 days to write, record & send in your song. There will be a short break between each round. During this time the song will be voted on, reviewed & prep for the next round will be made. For more info click: HERE.
Voting:
The voting will be done like Nur Ein. There will be 5 judges who are not participating in the contest. Each round they will individually rate all the songs from favorite to least favorite. Then the judges scores will be posted & added up. Popular vote only counts in a tie. Here's an example of what the scoring would look like:
Eliminations:Each round people will be eliminated from the competition. The number of eliminations each round will not be known until after the round 1 songs are turned in. I want the number of people eliminated in rounds 1-3 to be the same (or close to the same), and 4 people left for the final round. So if 25 people submit songs for round 1: 7 people would be eliminated in round 1, 2 & 3....leaving 4 people in the final round. More details to be posted when the round 1 deadline has passed.
This is not a head to head contest, each round the competitors with the lowest vote totals are eliminated. After the eliminations all the point totals goes back to 0. You don't get to keep points from previous rounds.
Ties are settled by a popular vote in the form of a poll I'll start for each round. If somehow that is a tie as well, the point totals from the previous round will decide the winner. The final deciding factor is me if by some miracle everything is tied.
Final Round:
In the last round, everyone who has been eliminated (who also submitted at least 1 song) will be allowed to rank the songs. This round the judges have no say in matters, but they will still be required to review each song. Rules for a tie are altered just a bit. Popular vote is the first deciding factor, and then the judges are the last deciding factor.
Challenges:
The challenges will be similar to the old Song Fu & "Non Optional" Nur Ein challenges. If you go through the old challenges you'll see that they could be anything. You could be given a theme, restrictions, a technical challenge and hopefully you're forced to do things you've never done before. The challenges will be created by myself & the other judges.
Submitting Entries:
- Entries must be received by the given deadline. Otherwise it'll be posted as a shadow. Received means that it has to appear in my e-mail inbox by the given deadline. I will be going by the time stamp on the e-mail in my inbox.
- Send your file in a format that Bandcamp accepts. (.aiff, .wav or .flac) (at least 16-bit/44.1kHz) You can find the specific requirements for Bandcamp files HERE.
- Name your file the song's title, but without spaces & punctuation.
- Title of the e-mail should be the title of the Challenge & your band's name.
- Include the song lyrics in the body of the e-mail. (If your song doesn't have lyrics...consider yourself eliminated. Instrumentals can be pretty, but SpinTunes does require lyrics.)
- Include information on anyone that needs credited if you collabed with someone.
- File sharing options if you need them: YouSendIt, RapidShare, ZShare & MediaFire. Please send an e-mail as I already stated, but with the download link if you need one of these services. Please follow directions so your file doesn't wind up in my spam or trash folder accidentally.
- If you have a BandCamp account, you can just send me a link to your song on BandCamp if you include all the info I mentioned above. Make sure you have it set as a free download, and have it set so that I don't have to put in an e-mail to download it if you pick this option.
Hosting:
Each round I'll be uploading the songs onto BandCamp as an album. The songs will be set for free download only. BandCamp will make it easy to download songs, share 1 song individually or the album as a whole.
Prize:
I didn't plan on there being a prize. No trophy. No cash. I wouldn't be against someone designing & donating a T-shirt for the winner. But the real prize is knowing you won & the music itself. If you need gifts & hundreds of popular votes to motivate you to write songs in this competiton...it ain't for you. Nothing against those things, we just ain't having it. (aside from tie breakers)
The winner will be allowed to be a judge in the next competition, unless they wish to compete.
Listening Party:
I'm planning on hosting a listening party for each round. Hopefully much like Song Fu we can all get together in one virtual place while the songs are played for the very first time for people. Usually this took place shortly after the submission deadline, and the songs were posted onto the site after the listening party.
I plan on holding the listening parties HERE, and the date & times for the listening parties can be found on the schedule.
Meet The Judges:
Here's a list of the people that will be making the challenges, reviewing your work & of course voting on the songs:
1. Kevin Savino-Riker - The current champion of SpinTunes.
2. Dr. Lindyke - Runner up in Masters Of Song Fu #6.
3. Jeff MacDougall - Runner up in Masters Of Song Fu #1 & TMA co-founder. (He lost to some nobody named Jonathan Coulton)
4. Zack Scott - YouTuber & amateur musician.
5. Glenn Phillips - I was part of the Nur Ein 3 winning band The Worldly Self Assurance, and I was a judge for Nur Ein 4. I have 15 Song Fight/Nur Ein wins under my belt as well (8 different bands).
* I am the alternate judge. If a judge is unable to do his/her job, I'll step in and take over. If the judge has to withdraw from the contest totally, I'll fill in until I can find a replacement. If I happen to have a guest judge lined up already, there will be no need for me to step in as alternate. (Buck stops with me, but then I blame Heather.)
* There could be "Guest Judges" who drop by from time to time. A guest judge has to be approved by me ahead of time. I'm not promising anything, but if I can swing something cool for you all I want to leave that open as a possibility. When a guest judge ranks & reviews a round, it does count toward the scores for the round. If a song is disqualified by the regular judges, the guest judge's rankings will be edited to stay in line with the judges decision.
* If judges want me to post a short bio or links to Twitter, YouTube or a band web site just send me the info and I will. Make it 500 characters or less like the competitors have to do though.
Judge Responsibilities:
- Reviewing entries each round. Shadow entries don't have to be reviewed, but it would be nice if you found the time. You can type up your review or you can vlog it on YouTube. If you decide to Vlog your review on YouTube, it needs to be kept private until after I post the reviews on the blog. You can even send a video review to me, and I'll upload it onto the SpinTunesMusic YouTube channel.
- Making the challenges via a super secret website I set up, and maybe attending 1 meeting in TinyChat.
- After the songs get posted each round the judges will be allowed to post their thoughts on who failed to met the challenge. (in the super secret location) 48 hours after the songs get posted we need to have a decision on what songs did or didn't meet the challenge. If you don't speak up in that window of time you'll have to live with a decision I make on my own. More details will be shared in the super secret location when the time comes.
Twitter:
For those of you that don't want to check this blog every day, but also use Twitter, I'll be posting updates on Twitter as well. @SpinTunes was created just for this contest. You can unfollow it right after the contest if you want, my ego can take it. There is a Twitter list that includes all the judges & competitors (SpinTunes List). Well, at least all the ones I know that are on Twitter.
Song Sharing:
You are allowed to share your songs before the LP. In my opinion the songs will be better if you can go to another musician in this contest, share what you've got & get feedback. So if you want to share with a few friends or fellow competitors before the listening party feel free to do so.
However...
I would prefer it if you kept it low key, and not pimp it all over the net (via Twitter, YouTube, etc...) until after the LP, but that's up to you as well. It does take a little excitement away from the LP if people have already heard the songs. Common sense. Just don't try to get feedback from a judge, or from me since I'm an alternate.
Rerecording & Remixes:
In the previous contest some people sent their song in ON TIME, but then after the deadline wanted me to post an updated version onto the album (they added bells & whistles). My response to that is ok, BUT you will be judged by what you turned in before the deadline. So anyone who decides they want to make a better mix of their song, and have it replace the one they sent before...that's fine. Send me the info, and I'll switch the files out. I might not do it instantly, but it will be done. Now I'm not going to have someone send me a new mix every month because they like remixing their own stuff all the time, but I'll allow 1 update of each song down the road. These songs are something you should be proud of, and some people are bugged by not being able to add everything they want in that small window I give them...so hopefully this helps...while still being fair.
Wrap Up:
I can't promise there won't be a bump or two as this competition goes along, but I can promise that I'll be more open & reachable than a certain someone who's name sounds like doom. This is the 2nd go around, and I still expect mistakes. My goal is to not repeat the same mistakes from SpinTunes #1. You can ask questions on Twitter, here by leaving a comment or even on Formspring. (links in sidebar) I would rather people didn't use my e-mail UNLESS you're a judge or competitor.
Oh and remember, if anything does go wrong...it's Heather's fault.
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