What about song contests?

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If you’re one of what appear to be the hundreds of thousands of folks trying to get your music heard in order to sell a song or two from time to time, one of the avenues you’ve no doubt stumbled across is “The Song Writing Contest.”  They come in a number of varieties and seem to follow a fairly standard model:  For $15 - $30 U.S. or so, you can submit your song to what is essentially a competition of sorts, which will be judged by established folks in the music industry.  If you win or place, you’ll get some gear and probably a recording session with someone who’s already making a living in the music business. 

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There are all sorts of songwriting contests out there, some more well-known than others, but ASCAP does a nice job of consolidating and maintaining a current list on their “Songwriting Competitions” website: https://www.ascap.com/help/music-business-101/songwriting-competitions   

 

Some are national or even international, and others are more regional/local.  Some are very low frills – you submit your song and pay your fee, and if you don’t win you never hear from them again.  Others will provide some feedback to all participants who entered.  As you might expect, the amount of feedback you get is usually directly related to the entry fee insofar as the more you pay, the more feedback you’re likely to receive.  I don’t suggest there’s anything scam-like or unfair about that… just business.  Typically, you select the genre category in which you submit your song for judging; if you want to submit your song for consideration in multiple categories, you pay a separate entry fee for each category.

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I entered my first two contests last year. The first wit the Songwriters’ Association of Washington (SAW) www.saw.org, and the second with the Great American Song Contest: www.GreatAmericanSong.com.  SAW selected its winners in late December. I was not a finalist or anything like that, but the organizers were timely in sending out email results, and the correspondence I received was really genuinely kind and encouraging.  All in all, it was a really good experience, I think.  The Great American Song Contest announced winners in late March, and I got a short template email thanking me for enterring but that's about it.  I can's speak on behalf of all contests, but since last year I've since attended events held by SAW, and I've got to say the folks are genuinely dedicated to helping songwriters improve their craft.  

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If anyone has had experience with songwriting contests or has additional thoughts to share on this subject, please do so on the forum page under general discussions.