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A cynic finds it easy to dismiss the plethora of songwriting competitions with the idea that art isn’t a competitive sport.

Unfortunately, that isn’t true. It might not be a sport, but art is very competitive.

On the other hand, it is easy to see competitions as a fast track to recognition. Your great song is sure to rise to the top and attract the attention of industry insiders who will do great things for you. And the big competitions are better, because the judges are industry pros, and just getting them to listen to your track is worth the price of entry.

Unfortunately, the odds of anyone important hearing your song are no greater than through any other way of getting your songs out there. In many contests, although they might list Sir Elton John as a judge, your song has to get through a series of screeners first. It’s likely that Sir Elton won’t do much more than listen to a handful of the finalists.

With entry fees skyrocketing and contests getting bigger, my personal skepticism about these contests grows. I admit to not liking competitions in the first place. And when it comes to judging songs, I’d rather know the criteria the songs are being judged by than the names of famous people doing some of the judging.

What’s on Offer?

The nature of the prizes gives some indication of the value that I would personally place on the competition. It answers the question: “Is this for songwriters, or about getting money from them?” When I read that World’s Best Songs gives one Grand Prize winner $1000 cash,, 1 Year Membership to Taxi, Broadjam and Sonicbids, and 1000 digipack cds from Discmakers, $1000 in gift certificates for Musician’s Friend and announce the winner in American Songwriter magazine, I start to think that they might have a clue what makes songwriters tick.

SongDoor lets you win before the competition is over. They provide all entrants with a free self-paced songwriting course from SongU.com and free melody-writing software. The Grand Award winner receives a private-session, full band demo, produced on Music Row in Nashville, as well as a single-song publishing deal, a one-year Platinum Membership to SongU.com and many other great songwriters’ tools. Not only that, the entry fee is only $10.

Getting Some Feedback

Another criteria is feedback. There is nothing worse than paying money, then sending in a song that you have sweated blood over, to learn nothing more than the names of the winners a year later. There are many of these.

Because some contests are what I would call “songwriter sensitive” there is a growing trend to provide critiques of your submission, which, if nothing else lets you see your song as they saw it. For example, the Annual Great American Song Contest (in its 11th year) provides written evaluations to all entrants. Many other contests offer similar benefits, and I think that for what they charge, they all should.

Staying Plugged In

Now understand that I am citing some examples, and showing ways you might evaluate competitions—I am not recommending or saying avoid any specific competition. You need to do the research to see what works for you. Many specialist competitions off better odds of winning. There are protest song competitions like Doing Dylan and, for the Tipperary (Ireland) International Song of Peace Contest “compositions should be of peace, love and harmony; about people, places or things; in fact anything that one feels constitutes a ‘Sense of Peace.’”

So there is literally something for everyone.

One way to track the numerous possibilities is with the songwriting contest link at musesmuse.com, which also provides great articles on songwriting and tons of other useful information. (You’ll also find my book reviews there). Check in regularly and click on the links to the competitions to learn what they are all about.

But as I said, I am not a fan of the competitions. I am not sure how they fit into the mix of strategies in your business plan. I would like to be shown the error of my ways, however, so if you have won a competition, let us know how it benefited your songwriting career.

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About the Author

Ed Teja

edtejaEd Teja is a musician, composer, and book author who writes, arranges, and performs a variety of music.

22 Responses to “The Pros and Cons of Songwriting Competitions”

  1. Most of these contests are business enterprises and their goal is to collect a money and then to give a little part of it to
    winner(s).
    For aspiring songwriters they are a kind of a lottery and no more.
    Still sometimes I do enter in. This year I entered ISC because it is one of reputable really contests

  2. depends on if the competition is about …hustling artist to invest in outragious submition fees…i personally despise people especially other musicians who prey on other artist…its dispicable…in my opinion…for example on myspace.com they had a joint song competition with myspace and toyota being the sponsors ..where they encouraged artist to enter…and promote the toyota and myspace brand..when obviously they had no intention of actually choosing a winner…the con was to market toyota and myspace free by the encouraging artists to invite all their friends…i dont even wanna mentio ascap and their competitions…a joke..i think its a bigger buisness to prey on artist instead of the music consumer…dont you?

  3. If I’ve got music good enough to enter into a songwriters contest I’ll keep it and promote it myself. Definitely against any pissing contests. If you got the song you can find the talent. Pitch it to the best and worst, pitch it to anybody and everybody. The song is king in the music business and treat it as if you have the crown.
    Copyright and publish it. Promote it.

  4. I totally agree with the amount of “Song writing contests” out there only after money. In my experience the best one is “UK songwriting contest of the year” UKSC a yearly event, I (lyricist) submitted 8 lyrics and became finalist with one and semi-finalist with 7, whivh I believe is a rare occurance. I have also submitted to US “Song of the year” and last year in October’s round became a finalist (with “Like Mona Lisa in a Mirror), that also became semi-finalist in UKSC (good to know it did well in both markets). Then again in November last year runner-up twice and finally December runner-up again.
    I have tried Paramount too and they sent by snail mail a letter that I had become finalist and to do against a fee a demo with them, but how could I as a lyricist?
    I have however not had any luck through the respective contest placements “sold” any lyrics, but through another network had luck with US based “hitsongwriters”, currently using some of my top lyrics.
    I would say be careful with certain contests and test them with one or two, but networking is the best tool and of course I am lucky to have a few awards and certificates to ad to my sites etc.
    Isabel Lavender
    http://thebestofmarbella.blogspot.com/2009/09/lyricist-isabel-lavender.html

  5. Some great resources on here. I checked out musesmuse.com and think I’ve happened on it before, but it looks like a great resource. I think this is a good topic because often I submit to contests and I’m never sure which ones to submit to, and pretty much never get a response, so songwriting contests are a bit of a mystery to me. Every once in a while I submit but I’m always a little hesitant. I think it’s a great thing to do if you win, but I don’t like losing! Nevertheless, I’ll keep trying.

  6. I must admit I’ve always had some back-off with entering into Music Competitions of any description. Going down that path has always felt a little off-track for me. However, I recently decided to bypass my personal back-off about this avenue for music exposure & have decdided to test the water with songwriting competitions as a vehicle for potentially attracting more awareness for my songs. Just yesterday I received word that one of my songs has been selected as a nominee for the 2009 Independent Singer Songwriters Award Contest. Not really sure what this means in reality yet.. will see where it all heads.

  7. I hate contest! they just take your money, but like another person wrote ” it’s like playing lotto, but the only way to win is to play!

  8. If you are only a songwriter and not a performer who can perform your songs, then song contests are an outlet to get your song in front of an interested party. INVESTIGATE the contest and ensure your work is copyrighted 1st to ensure the interested party is not some self-serving thief or some kind of front to take your entry fee money to promote their own agenda as others have already stated.

    My problem I have experienced with these contests is that if you don’t demo the music clearly defining the song the way you intend it to be heard, then the “so called” expert critic who listens writes a crititique of shortcomings that wouldn’t exist in the professionally produced final mix such as backing vocals used to build a chorus or a lead guitar fill counter-melody that fills otherwise empty space of a demo of a lead vocal-rhythm guitar ONLY mix.

    Also, if you write music for an entire record as opposed to writing a hit singles then the songs come from a different perspective and the expert-critic may miss the big picture because again.. he can’t hear it.

    I think there are a lot of good songwriters however in a music industry where music has been changed from a product to something like water that kids can get for free, the biggest problem I see is the money required to properly promote a good record once it is created. How can billboard sales be the standard when people get their music so many other ways now besides purchasing a CD or download? Since record company fat cats can no longer rape and exploite an artist’s music in the 90/10 split model because of the elimination of music as a product, it is a tough time for real artist to make a living.

    US radio sucks: “Radio” decided grunge marked the death of hair metal and killed it off. While it was a different sound of rock music and refreshing at the time it came out, it was still rock guitar based music and did re-invent the wheel. Then rock radio would only play a Pearl Jam song, a Nirvana song, Soundgarden or Alice In Chains tune until they final killed grunge off by playing only the same songs over and over until they were old and tired.
    Now we have all this rap crap on the radio. A vocal with some person talking over a loop of music. The good elements of songwriting is usually replaced by a load of lame attitude and that is just fine to the people who own and run radio. Tooth-less rock music of yesterday does not engage the masses with their message of anti-establishment, anti-corporate, anti-war message and out of site and out of mind is just the way these bastards like it.

  9. I have sent songs into Song of the Year, and got an Honorable Mention. Also took forth place in a Nashville song writing contest. I have sent songs to Songwriter Magazine through American songspace
    to Major Lable artists with no response. I am convinced that these contests are nothing more than money makers for the companies who put them on. Yes it’s like playing the lotto. It is very frustrating but i guess there is that 1% chance that you might get through and that is what keeps making them rich.
    Of course music is what I do and who I am so I’ll keep chipping away at the stone.

  10. I have been ranked a number of times with Song of the Year, monthly finalist, honorable mention, and so forth.
    I don’t find their fees outragous and the feed back has been pretty true.

    If I am entering into a song writing contest I really appreciate getting something out of it.

    What I have found as a helpful promotional tool is the critques. It costs a bit more, but I find one of the hardest things for song writers to do is to describe their own material.

    It has been benefical for me to be able to utilize some of the descriptions incorporated in the critiques to describe my tunes.

  11. Song contests are everywhere. I believe they mostly function to make money for the contest owners.

    I’ve written songs for many years but I never used to enter contests. Finally did. To my surprise my song took second place overall in the USA Songwriting Competition and I won a bunch of stuff (2 really good mics which I use all the time for recording, a guitar, Acid software, tons of strings and $9000 in cash and more). Not bad.

    I also entered the Just Plain Folks contest and won Reggae song of the Year. No prize though, just bragging rights. It looks good on the resume. Does it help? I don’t know, maybe. I already knew I was a good songwriter and performer. It is a form of validation.

    When I got the compilation CD for the USA Songwriting Competition on which my song was included I was shocked to hear the poor writing quality of most of the songs which made me think that they didn’t really listen to all 32,000 songs submitted. If they had listened to more of them they surely would have found better “winners” than the ones they picked, IMHO.

  12. i really don’t think much about songwriting contest because
    i live in the nashville area and every contest i got in seemed to want a fee to join an never got a thing from them but once . that was an hornable mention but when they found out where i live they disqualfied me because i lived to close to them.this look’s like a scam to me but they keept my fee, said they don’t give refunds. so to say the least i don’t like those contestbut i don’t know how to get my songs heard. it seems to be impossable to get a song heard around here . i have tryed some internet contest’s and got the same thing . so i don’t know what to do . iguess it is just a stroke of luck if you get your songs heard .if you would like the name of the one that took my fee for the contest in nashville and keept my fees please e mail me at lgordo007 @bellsouth.net
    gordon

  13. Songwriting competitions are good to get noticed by top professional people but there is a downside to it, if you go out at the beginning there is quite a good chance that one could ruin their reputation so to speak. One must be careful there. Great if you win over lots of competitors. It’s fun for one to have a go if one feels that they are up to the standards required.

  14. I’ve never done a songwriting competition of any kind, though I’ve considered them. The thing that threw me off however, as stated above were the entrance fees and very few guarantees that your song would get meaningful feedback. I believe the prizes would def determine for me whether it would be worth it.

    However, along with these competitions, I also question the usefulness of CONFERENCES as well, as these are also big money makers for those preying on songwriters and other musicians needing to network, build their knowledge, and advance their career. Would you please do a post on songwriting conferences, which you think are most productive, and tips and ideas to maximize your experience?

    Thanks
    Leslie

  15. I really don’t believe in music competition and sincerely I guess most of them are simple business if not fraud.

    I really don’t think that my song would be better if it wins a competition, it can be a nice marketing tool, but not more than this.
    Anyway, I experienced very different reviews of our music (from “horrible” to “masterpiece” for the same song), so I understood that music simply gives different feelings to different people, that’s all! I would win a contest with the right jury, I will lose with the wrong one… but it doesn’t make my music better.

  16. Like Leslie, I also wonder about both contests and conferences. Though, at least at a conference, you are guaranteed to have the chance to meet and network with peers – and I think if you go with the idea of meeting others of like mind, then that could make a conference beneficial. But the contests are tricky business. I’ve entered a few times in the course of, say, 10 years. The first time was when I was new…just a baby in all of this and, accordingly, naive. Of course, if you ask me today, I’ll tell you – no, it wasn’t a scam. It was just one of those things – I guess they didn’t like my tune. If you ask me if I thought they listened to it, I would have said, “Of course, they said they would.”

    I am thinking of entering this year’s ISC…I’m releasing a new album at the top of 2010. ISC is also offering 6 months of Online Gigs to anyone who submits. But that’s not why I’m entering. The main reason for me to consider it is that I do perceive it like the lottery and there’s one song for sure that I’m willing to bet on from the traditional “song” perspective and so I’d like to give it a shot. There’s nothing more to it than that. There are a couple of others, as well, that I think would be worth a shot in less-traditional areas. I do wonder about the categories and how the stats work…would absolutely LOVE to see the number of entrants in various categories and check out the probabilities. You know, in my spare time – for fun. : )

    I’m personally less concerned about prizes, but more interested in the possibility of being able to tell my fans about it. Fans just get so excited about such things and I feel that for all the support they give me, the least I can do is give them something that they feel is tangible even though all of us on the inside have a better sense of things. People need to know that other people like your stuff. And all the reviews out there do help, but getting an award or something like that – well, people are people and most of them do get excited about that.

    The reasoning behind making such an entry to a songwriting competition – in my opinion – is akin to why musicians move to LA or NYC when they might stand to make a better living in a medium-size city and, if they are also an artist performing original work, they can develop a seriously dedicated fanbase of reasonable size in the medium size markets. In the “Winner-takes-all” markets, we are buying a lottery ticket. (See David J. Hahn’s post on Musician’s Wages website http://www.musicianwages.com/the-working-musician/why-move-to-new-york-city/ in which he references the paper by Mark J. Stern of UPenn’s Social Impact of the Arts Project.) In this case, the perception is that a small portion of the population – the best of the best – live in these cities and so in order to have the chance at being the best of the best, we move there. We buy our ticket. We take a chance.

    As for the fees and whether they are fair, I do wonder about the accounting books of these songwriting competitions – I’d like to see their P&L statements. I understand that they want to keep some barriers to entry in order to ensure that the people applying take a moment to think about what they are doing…so to ensure – to some degree – that the applicants are somehow “vested” in what they are doing. I do think that at $5-$10 I would give it less thought than, say, at $30 – $40. And there are so many people out there who were like me 10 years ago. They will just do it – just because. They don’t know anyone and this thing looks like it might be something cool. And for those persons there is a perception associated with pricing. There is research that shows people tend to like more the concerts for which they paid than the ones they got to attend for free (look up this – don’t take my word for it). Basically there is a rationalization that takes place…if you paid for it, then it has to be good…it has to be legit.

    As for the business of offering feedback in exchange for submitting a tune, well, I’ve never been much into that. The feedback I get is from my audience and listeners and when someone says “that resonates with me” or “please play that one again” etc. Any feedback I’ve ever gotten from any “industry professional” does not work for the vast majority of my writing. However, if you are looking for traditional ABABCB type song critique, well you can join a songwriting circle to share material. A good song is a good song and I don’t think it takes rocket science to figure out why you like when you hear it. So if they give me feedback, that’s fine, but it is not the reason I would choose to enter this lottery – if I’m honest with myself.

    Anyway, those are my thoughts on the songwriting “lottery” : )

  17. I’ve entered a number of songwriting contests and I’ve been a member of TAXI in the past. First of all, I am always left with the feeling that my money has simply been taken from me. And, unless you win, feedback is the only way you tend to take anything away. Here’s my problem with feedback. Between TAXI and feedback from contests… I’ve received directly contradicting feedback for the exact same songs in a number of categories. For example, your melody is too complex or not complex enough. Your lyrics are too direct or not direct enough. Your hook placement is perfect and your hook placement needs work. These so called “experts” are just as subjective as anyone else and have not been helpful to me in any way except to harden myself to criticism. Good luck everyone!

  18. Like was already mentioned. These contests want your MONEY. That’s what they want. Pay, pay, pay has become the unwanted mantra of the indie scene IMO. Give us a break. Oh wait a minute, you have to PAY for that.

  19. Wow, I like your post !

  20. Dave[Neil Young]Parsons.
    May 22nd, 2010
    5:12 am
    Dave[Neil Young]Parsons.

    ,
    So much skeptisism..so much negativity..
    Here’s a thought or two, for folk to ponder about competitions.
    Approximately 23 years ago,i sent two song lyrics away to be
    ‘appraised’..The response was pretty much,”we don’t want your
    songs as they would not fit in with todays market!!”..fine i
    thought,to be expected..then i noticed a “post it” note glued
    gently to the bottom of the letter.It read the following “by
    the way Dave,please don’t get disillusioned with this industry
    by this single letter.We all sat and agreed that you write just
    like Neil Young”..and as i had no idea who he was,i put my pen
    down and focused on life..built a business,started a family and
    generally just forgot about lyrics until one day,whilst talking to a friend who had published some poetry,those juices started to flow,BIGTIME..And 23 years worth of “tethered angst and passion”
    has poured out of me in two years.1600 [yes,you did read that correctly]pieces of work{all possibilities of credible songs]are
    ideas for songs,all ready for guys who may struggle with lyrics
    but can write a cracking tune or melody.Anyway,to the subject in
    hand.After working with a folk singer called HELENA EDEN,who took a chance on me,we,not only recorded 7 very credible songs together
    but managed to be placed in a semi-final position with two songs,
    MESSIAH and THE MASK,in the Brits-sponsored Songwriter of the Year
    Competition.No mean feat,some may say.Who knows??..all i do know
    is that awaiting those results kind of helped me focus on my writing,with something to look forward to at the end of the year.
    So maybe part of the buzz is to do with the anticipation..p.s.I am always interested in collaboration with anyone who takes an interest in creating any style of song especially if it is original,rather than covers..I can be contacted on 07966 171610,or on the following Myspace account if you wish to listen to my first lyrics to hit the net..www.myspace.com/matgillproject..NAILED AND I’LL NEVER LET GO are my words and if
    any musicians are interested ..so am i ..oh and..hey.. to all the writers out there..NEVER GIVE UP..Writing in such quantity,in such a short space of time{ten minutes for a whole song sometimes]only brings
    people,who then assume you are bi-polar,depressed,suicidal,lonely
    etc,etc[no offence intended to anyone who does suffer from them]…just ask my wife about my catch-up writing…and finally,i wish to dedicate my words here to all
    the writers out there who lose momentum with their thoughts..and to my long-suffering wife,Sharon..I love you and always will.Thanks for “holding firm”..FOR THE LOVE OF WRITING AND WRITERS!!!

  21. Dave[Neil Young]Parsons.
    June 1st, 2010
    9:32 am
    Dave[Neil Young]Parsons.

    JUST A QUICK NOTE TO THANK THE VERY KIND FOLK WHO HAVE BEEN DECENT ENOUGH TO GIVE MAT GILL’S SONG “NAILED” A LISTEN TO.
    MAT HAS BEEN ASTONISHED AT THE RESPONSE AND SAYS HE WOULD LOVE TO BUILD UP A FOLLOWING AND ALSO ADDED THAT HE WILL BE FINISHING HIS FIRST ALBUM OFF ON THE STUDIO VERY SOON.for anyone who would like a listen,you can catch “NAILED” on http://www.myspace.com/matgillproject …there has been a lot of interest about the lyrics and what they mean..PLEASE LEAVE US YOUR PERSONAL INTERPRETATION..We’d love to hear from anybody who’d like to let us know your take on it..coming soon..results of Brits-sponsored songwriter of the year..follow MAT GILL’s progress..WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!!!!

  22. Dave[Neil Young]Parsons.
    June 6th, 2010
    4:34 am
    Dave[Neil Young]Parsons.

    hello again,
    may i first say a huge thank you to Mr.Ed Teja for allowing me to contact folk who wish to find out more about the possibilities of SCAMS existing in the Music writing world..iou bigtime sir!!(hope our paths cross,sometime).
    Anyway.Here are the latest results of the BRITS-SPONSORED SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR.tThere were 15 songs entered.
    Having gained a semi-finalist position last year,with “THE MASK”(can be heard in the male singer/songwriter section at http://www.ourstage.com or on http://www.myspace.com/matgillproject,Mat has been really looking forward to gaining some recognition this year with his new song “NAILED”(www.myspace.com/matgillproject)…well make of this what you will but whereas “THE MASK” had a mark of 6(semi-finalist,”NAILED” has just been labelled a mark of 5..well does this mean that technically he is going backwards.Who knows?
    The only way to get some feedback is,i hope for anyone who has either entered or is thinking of entering to possibly give either of the two sites above a quick look and see which song is better.Trust me,we have no idea how they are judged.

    Thank you for taking the time to read this,
    All the very best from Dave(Neil Young-may have to change my name legally soon)Parsons…FOR THE LOVE OF WRITERS.

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