SpinTunes 18 Round 2 Challenge

While we wait for the judges to complete the difficult task of ranking 32 excellent Round 1 songs, you get a head start on your Round 2 challenge.

In Round 1, we primed you with a lyrical challenge. This time, the lyrical possibilities are wide open. Your challenge for Round 2 is music-based. Here it is:

Escape the Grid: Write a song that makes creative use of one or more tempo changes.

Tempo is the underlying musical pace of your song, usually measured in beats per minute and often maintained by a click track or metronome. Tempo changes can be used to mark sectional transitions, change the energy level, or highlight important moments in a song. Various ways to change tempo include: 

• Shifting abruptly to a new tempo, e.g. between musical sections
• Accelerando: gradually increasing tempo (speeding up) over the course of a passage
• Ritardando: gradually decreasing tempo (slowing down) over the course of a passage
• Rubato: tempo that increases and decreases freely and expressively throughout a musical phrase
• Fermata: a pause in tempo while a note or rest is stretched for an extended period 

A few examples of songs that feature tempo changes:

• "Pasta" by Angie McMahon
• "Evermore" by Taylor Swift
• "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys
• "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen
• "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
• "Come On Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners
• "Proud Mary" by Tina Turner
• "Mrs. Train" by They Might Be Giants

Though we don't have specific lyric challenge, lyrics are still required. Your song will be judged as usual on your creativity and skill in composition, performance and recording, and we'll be considering how your use of tempo plays into the quality and impact of your song.

Submitting Entries:

• Your entry must be received by Sunday, October 17rd, 2021 @ 11:59 PM EDT. Otherwise it'll be posted as a shadow. Received means that it has to appear in my e-mail inbox (spintunescontest@gmail.com) by the given deadline. I will be going by the time stamp on the e-mail. One minute late is too late.
• You are allowed and encouraged to submit a draft of your song early just in case something horrible happens and you miss the deadline. Then you can add polish to your song and send in a better version closer to the deadline. The last version received prior to the deadline is your official entry. 
• Lyrics are mandatory. No instrumentals. Having no lyrics will get you disqualified.
• SUBMITTING BY EMAIL: Send your file in a format that BandCamp accepts. (.aiff, .wav or .flac) (at least 16-bit/44.1kHz) Do not send MP3s.
• Name your file the song's title + your band name, without punctuation.
• The subject line of the e-mail should identify the challenge and your band's name. Something like this would be fine: "ST18R2 - All the Robots".
• Include the song lyrics in the body of the e-mail.
• Include information on anyone that needs credited if you collaborated with someone.
• ALTERNATE FILE SHARING OPTIONS: If your file is too big for an email attachment, you may email me a link to where I can download the song. The email still needs to land in my inbox by the deadline.
• If you have a Bandcamp account you can just send me a link to your song if you include all the info I mentioned for emails. Info such as lyrics and song credits can be included in the email or on the song's Bandcamp page. 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.
• You may also use a file sharing service such as DropBox, WeTransfer, Google Drive, etc. Include in the email any required information (such as lyrics) that you couldn't include in the file. Make sure I have permission to download the file, and please follow directions so your file doesn't wind up in my spam or trash folder accidentally.
• SONG BIOS: In addition to lyrics and any necessary credits, you are welcome to include a "song bio", with any information you feel is useful. This could include your inspiration for the song, citations for any obscure references within the lyrics, an explanation of how your song met the challenge, etc. Some challenges may require you to supply certain info in your song bio. Since the judges are volunteers with lives outside of SpinTunes, song bios can help them zero in on aspects of the song you feel are important. However, if your song requires a multi-paragraph explanation in order to understand and appreciate it, this is probably a sign that it doesn't stand up well on its own, and its ranking may reflect that.
• COVER ART: If you wish, you may submit cover art for your entry, which will be included on the SpinTunes Bandcamp page for your song. This is not required. (The album itself will have cover art from our excellent graphic designer Matt "Shoobs" Schubbe.)
• If you choose to submit cover art, it must be at least 1400 x 1400 pixels. Please include it as an email attachment or via one of the file transfer services listed above. Bandcamp requires cover art to be at least 1400 x 1400, but displays it at 1200 x 1200, meaning if you include it in the Bandcamp link to your song, I have to download it and resize it before uploading it again! This results in a lower quality photo and also makes me cranky, both of which we want to avoid.

Side Notes:

• You can send in an entry to SpinTunes 18 without competing. Just tell me it's a "Shadow Song". It will be played at the listening party, but won't be ranked and you might not receive feedback from the judges. Check the FAQ if you don't know what that means. You can even complete past challenges from previous contests. It's a nice way of playing along if you can't commit to the schedule or you just want to get your feet wet.
• The only other way to get your music played at the LP is to cover "Today's The Day" by Inverse T. Clown or "Right Again" by Mandibles.

Feel free to leave any questions in the comments.