Ok, hopefully this isn't too long...
Listening Party Details
- Thursday June 24th 8:00PM EST (that's today people)
- Will be held HERE, and hosted by Jules.
- I had someone ask, "What is a listening party?" Most of the "Masters Of Song Fu" & TMA crowd already know, but for those who don't I'll explain. Jules has a U-Stream channel, and she will basically be an online DJ playing the songs people wrote for round 1 of SpinTunes. It's cool because if you come, you'll be there the moment people are hearing your song for the first time. You can get instant feedback from people in the chat room. BTW, you should really thank Jules for hosting the LP. In the future I'll be doing it, but I'm not ready to do that at this point in time.
- Someone also asked me if they could invite people or if it was just for the people who are in the contest. It's for EVERYONE. So if you have a friend that likes to hang out in chat rooms listening to good music...invite them. Just remember it's BYOB.
- The songs are already uploaded onto the Bandcamp album, and they will be available for everyone to hear & down for FREE shortly after the LP.
Deadline Casualties:
Well there were 31 people who signed up, and agreed to try to write as many as 4 songs for this competition. 11 of those people fell victim to the deadline. I feel I gave more then enough time & reminders, so I'm a bit shocked that many missed the deadline. I was planning on some people having to drop out here & there throughout the competition, but not that many that soon. Life happens, so I completely understand when the unexpected makes you switch your priorities around. I just hope that everyone really did put the effort in. Not submitting is one thing, but signing up and then just blowing it off for no reason is another. You let down the others that DID put in the effort, who expected you to be in the competition with them. Again I know some of you had GOOD reasons for not submitting, and that's fine. I really appreciate the ones who came to me in advance and said, "I'm having *insert issue*. I don't think I can make it, but I'm TRYING." Enough negative...on to positives...
Deadline ASS KICKERS:
I listened to ALL the songs already (except Bram's...because he asked me to wait until the LP). I did so while uploading them onto Bandcamp. I'm really happy with the quality of work on the round 1 album. A lot of people went in different directions with the challenge, and it was a blast listening to them. I can't express how thankful I am for the hard work you put in. I've had people thank me for doing this contest, and my response is that I'm not working nearly as hard as ANY of you. You make the music, and you make SPINTUNES. Sure some people got to hear me bitch about how long Bandcamp was taking to upload last night as the last minute submissions came poring in; but that's nothing. It's not hard to copy & paste lyrics & hit an upload button. A little time consuming...but it's not hard. Whether it's Ken Plume, me or anyone else doing the uploading & rule making...it's still YOU who make the music.
Announcement:
Yet another situation has came up that I didn't plan for. (shocking I know) Some people sent in their MP3's 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.
Shadows:
We had 2 shadows turned in so far. Mad props should be given to anyone who posts a shadow. They aren't even IN the contest, but decided to write music for us all. How awesome is that!? For those of you that missed the deadline, but have a song in the works, you can still turn in your song. It will be included as a shadow entry, and be on the album with everyone else. I don't care if it's turned in today or a month down the road, shadow entries are welcome each & every round.
Eliminations:
There were going to be 9 people eliminated, but the rules state that if you don't meet the deadline you are eliminated....and there were 11 people who didn't meet the deadline. So 11 people are eliminated. The next round there was supposed to be 10 people eliminated, but that will be changed to 8. That should get us back on track. So if you turned in a song for round 1, you made it to round 2. The judges will still review & rate your songs. The songs on the album are currently listed in the order in which they hit my e-mail inbox (but shadows are at the bottom). After the judges rate the songs, the album order will be changed to reflect the final scores.
Other Stuff:
- It's late, I'm tired, and I probably forgot to mention something I had planned to...or need to. So if you comment below, I'll address your questions, and include that stuff I forgot later.
- When it comes to turning in your songs, I'll have some minor changes for round 2. Don't worry, it'll make it EASIER on YOU. More on that when the next challenge is announced.
- Ross asked if there would be any changes about the eliminations because of the high number of deadline casualties. His answer is above.
Much love,
Spin.
I'm not surprised by the number of deadline casualties. If you go back and look at Song Fu, there was about a 25% to 35% attrition rate for no-shows, especially in early rounds of competition. Song Fu 6 was an exception, there were far fewer dropouts in that competition.
ReplyDeleteSo far, SpinTunes seems to be running fairly smoothly and transparently.
I like the idea of being able to "update" the Bandcamp mix down the line. But, you are right, the only fair way to judge the competition songs is by the mix that was turned in before the deadline.
Just to be clear, when you say the Listening Party is at "8PM Today," do you mean "8PM Eastern Time"?
WooHoo!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all -- thank you Travis! We're off to an auspicious beginning! And thanks also to Jules and Heather, whose important roles will start to see the light today...
Next -- CONGRATULATIONS to all the artists who "moved the mountain" and turned in a song! As a veteran of Song Fu, I know well what a risk and an effort doing this can be. I hope you're proud of your work, and I hope you enjoy this next week of receiving praise and feedback from the burgeoning SpinTunes community! "See" you at the listening party!!!
:-D
Yes Russ/Rhod, EST. I just added that to the post, thanks for the reminder. The countdown timer has been changed as well. It's now counting down to the LP.
ReplyDeleteYou're international now, so some people might not know you're on East Coast time. Jules will be hosting the party live West Coast time 5 pm PST live from British Columbia.
ReplyDeleteIt actually might be fun to make a google globe to figure out where everyone is submitting songs from. Still amazes me this group really hasn't met FTF, yet has created so much cooperative music together.
Latest update - Al still has no power. Hurricane Force winds in the midwest. Who'd have thunk it. Crossing fingers it'll be in for the listening party. I'm pretty proud of the way it's coming out. I was told I'll probably be hearing from Hank Pym's lawyers any day now. Bring it on, little guy!
Thanks for all the info. With so many round one deadline casualties will you be adjusting the number of eliminations each round?
ReplyDeleteDeadline Casualties: Your comments were unnecessary Bud. People may have had all sorts of reasons for not turning in a song that frankly had nothing to do with you.
ReplyDeleteAnd *re-submissions* ? how do you know people didn't simply send you the wrong file? I know I've done that before with the Fu.
(When you have a folder with 7 or 8 arbitrarily named mixes it is very easy to send the wrong one.)
I can understand your need to think you are doing this right. But there is *right* and there is *harsh*... I think this is harsh.
Also... are you *letting* the judges know what's happening?
Or have you already and I'm just not judging anymore??
Tom: The Google Globe idea isn't a bad one, but I won't be getting to it anytime soon. Can't wait to hear the song, and good luck with the power outage.
ReplyDeleteRoss: I updated the blog up above to address your question. If short, everyone is safte this round. Much like how everyone was safe in round 0 of Nur Ein.
Joe: I owe you an apology. Things got busy last night, and between uploading the songs & the little things I was doing in between I forgot to send you an update. I'm sorry for that.
I don't think my comments were too harsh. I mean if someone didn't submit, but actually TRIED if they had the opportunity I have no problem with that. I understand things happen. I just meant that if anyone blew this off after committing to it...well that's not so cool. If you disagree well we'll probably have to agree to disagree. I'll be sending you an e-mail within the hour (your late update).
As far as re-submissions go...the people that contacted me so far have flat out said they made changes after the deadline. If someone grabbed the wrong file last second, and sent it in....well I would probably take them at their word in that situation, and update he song. That hasn't come up yet though.
You're of course still judging. Again sorry for not sending an update via e-mail last night. When everything finally settled down, I just flat out forgot. I was e-mailing Jules & Heather because they have to do stuff for the LP, Sammy was in the ArtiFiction chat while I was uploading, but you & Niveous were left in the dark overnight. In the future I'll try to send an e-mail update after I'm done, but don't EXPECT anything until the LP's.