Everybody loves a great song. Everybody loves a great contest too! I think that’s why The Price Is Right has been on the air for so long. Great theme song, great contests, and “Fabulous Prizes!” (That was my Rod Roddy impression, by the way. Better in person.).
Well, there’s a new host on that show now, and a new contest that I just heard about. It’s called Songbird West, and if you’re a tunesmith, you’ll want to check it out. It’s presented by the good people at Music BC, and it’s a chance for songwriters to win some hefty prize packs including writing sessions with award-winning producers, studio time, CD pressing, a photo shoot, and a whole Showcase Showdown more!! Act fast! The deadline is January 18th!!
Being a nosy person, I decided to snoop around a bit and see what I could come up with. The list of prizes was on the website (www.musicbc.org), and like a kid in a candy store, I just had to ask “Is this too good to be true? All for me?” I do love candy, but hate coming down from the sugar high, so I wanted to check with the organizers to see if it’s not just visions of sugarplums dancing in my head again. Here’s what the good people at
Right off the top, let's talk about the prizes. What is their overall value?
All together we will be giving away over $42,000 worth of prizes for this contest.
How did you decide how to split the prizes up? Are the packages genre specific?
They’re not that different from each other. We tried to get three of everything, or three similar prizes from each sponsor. In terms of being genre specific, the prize package with Banana Toons best applies to the pop/rock artists, the prize package with Tom McKillip would work best for country/folk artists, and the third prize package could work for any genre.
I notice you have some heavyweight producers lined up for the prizes. What would it mean for a new artist to work with these guys?
An amazing opportunity to work with premiere songwriters and producers. Just to name a few, Sean and Dane from Banana Toons have worked with Kelly Rowland, Hedley, and The Corrs, while Tom McKillip has worked with Lisa Brokop, and Aaron Pritchett. The song you write together could be that next big hit.
On your site, I saw something about being "discovered or re-discovered". Explain.
This contest is open to artists just beginning their career, as well as artists who are wanting to break back into the music industry. We’re all for second chances, and thirds, and fourths.
As a whole, do you think BC has a wide array of songwriters who would submit to this contest? I mean different genres, ages, experience levels, and do you have a screening process? The song I wrote about clipping my toenails this morning - would it make it to the judges?
BC definitely has an amazing pool of songwriters, many of whom might not even know about this contest yet. We received 100 applications for last year’s Songbird West deadline. As for who is going to get noticed by the jury reviewing the applications, they’re looking for potential, talent, dedication, someone who would be able to take their career to the next level, as well as a great song. As for your song about clipping toenails, we don’t pre-screen the applications before they’re sent to a jury, so yes the judges would hear it. While we’re fans of your “odes”, Nathan, I gotta say, toenails gross me out.
This is the second Songbird West Contest, correct? Are there any changes to the format this time around?
You are correct. No changes to the format, we’ve just added the option to apply through Sonicbids this year. (www.sonicbids.com/songbirdwest)
All the instructions are on your fabulous new website (www.musicbc.org), but do you have any tips for someone who is new at applying for contests like this? Basically how can I win? I love shortcuts. See, usually there's a space between short and cut, but me I like saving time. Anyway, I digress. Any tips?
First and foremost, double check your application is complete before sending it in. If you have a question, just call us, and we’d be happy to walk you through the application process. Send in your bio, photo, any press you’ve received. Your application has to speak for you to the judges, and some of them might not know of your work, so make sure your support materials can make a good impression for you. As for the song, pick your best song. It’s different for every genre and style to determine the best, but take a look at the arrangement, how long it takes to get to the chorus, etc. And make sure you submit a recording that is clear, and not recorded too quietly. You can submit a song with just you singing the lyrics, and playing the guitar or piano. It can be a bare bones recording, but we do advise that you at least have some instrumentation, and not just you singing. And no Nathan, by instrumentation, we don’t mean just a cowbell or tambourine. But I bet you do play a mean cowbell.
What can winners do with their prize pack?
After the prize recipients write their songs with the producers, they can go ahead and record them, then release the song, shop it around etc. You will own the masters to the recording of this song. As for allowing the song to be used on compilations or in film/tv/video games, etc, permission will have to be granted by Sean & Dane or Tom, if you work with them on it.
Do you have to be a member of
Yes, this program is only open for
Thanks Amanda! If there's anything we didn't cover, now's your chance to let my dozen of readers know.
Don’t be so modest Nathan, I’m sure there’s more than a dozen. We’ve also got a MITAP deadline coming up on February 15th for tour grants and business travel grants. The MITAP applications are available on our website. We’ve also got our Career Development Series seminars starting up in January. We’re bringing in some great speakers, along with some new topics. First up on January 12th, we’re having a seminar on “Starting Your Own Record Label or Publishing Company” with Lydia Popovich, the GM from Quannum Projects in California, Shannon Martin of File Under:Music, Kyle Kraft of Battle Axe Music, Vincent Degiorgio of Chapter 2 Productions, and Ryder Havdale of White Whale Records. These seminars are FREE for
And finally, would you like to hear a 'clip' of my new song? (pun intended, very intended)
Nathan, we don’t get it… as usual. But if you have a song, yeah, we’d love to hear it.
For all the details on Songbird West as well as
Nathan Stafford is an independent musician and marketing consultant based in Vancouver, BC. For more information, and archived materials, visit www.nathanstafford.blogspot.com
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