Song Swap Contest 2.0
posted at 1:57 am
on Oct. 18, 2005
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It’s time for the second Song Swap Contest. For those of you who missed it last time, the premise is this: Seven people each create a mixed CD and swap them by mail. Each person tries to identify the songs. Winners are given valuable (seriously!) iTunes gift certificates. Sound fun?
HOW TO WIN
There are four prizes:
* A prize for the best mix
* A prize for identifying the most songs
* A prize for creating a mix that is the least identified (most obscure)
* A prize for creating a mix that is the most identified (least obscure)
Each prize is an iTunes gift certificate for $30. In addition, you get to keep all the CDs you’re sent.
REQUIREMENTS
You must have:
* a computer that can burn a CD
* some music
* some money
* some time in the next six weeks
* that’s all; everything else is provided.
HOW TO ENTER
You enter by sending me an email with your address—the first seven people can join. I’ll send you a link to PayPal and let you know who the other players are. Once you get that email and you pay the entry fee, which is $25 plus the PayPal fee, I’ll send you an envelope filled with seven blank CDs and seven pre-stamped, pre-addressed envelopes.
PICKING YOUR MUSIC
You must use music you currently own. You may not use any music that you do not already own. No borrowing CDs from friends, no downloading new music. You have to choose songs that are sung by artists that have a commercially released album. The song you include might not have been commercially released, but the artist must have some modicum of success so that you can’t simply have your brother croon a tune.
Commercially released means it has a label, and is sold for money from somebody other than the band itself. Having had a show and a self-published CD isn’t good enough; if you want a special waiver, contact me and we’ll talk about sales figures. Plus I will think you’re snooty. If you go for totally obscure songs, that may make it harder to get the prize for most-liked mix.
It goes without saying that if YOU don’t know the name of a song or an artist, you can’t include that item on the CD. It should also go without saying that the song needs to be identifiable by listening to it: clips of silence, clips of ambient noise, songs that are too short are all not allowed.
MAKING THE CD
Once you receive the envelope, you’ll have 5 days to make your CD mix and mail it out. If you don’t mail it out on time, we will send Vinnie straighten you out. You don’t want Vinnie to straighten you out.
You make a CD with ten songs. If you put more than ten songs on the CD, only the first ten songs are considered part of the contest. Each CD you make must be the same. You should also do your best to put high quality versions of the songs on the CD. Burn it as a regular music CD.
Each CD must have your name on it. You can decorate the CD in any way you choose. Last time, some labels were very creative. At the very least, draw a nice picture on it. You are not allowed to write any song titles or artists on the CD.
There does not need to be a theme to the mix, but there can be: Canadian artists, music to shower by, music that gets faster, music with bad puns, music by women who wear too many sparkles. Have fun with it.
SENDING THE CD
Once you’re done the CDs, drop them all into the prepared envelopes, and put them in the mail at the same time—don’t mail them out one by one as you burn them. Then let me know you’ve sent them, and send me a list of the songs and artists. This is so I can judge who guessed correctly.
RECEIVING THE CDS
You’ll start getting CDs in the mail. You will have three days to make your guess. The big restriction on identifying songs is that you CAN’T USE THE INTERNET IN ANY WAY. No looking up lyrics in Google, no sending songs via email to get a friend to help, no using software to identify the song signatures. Also, no using commercial song identifying services.
But you can ask friends for help via phone or in person. You can ask a librarian. You can accost a DJ at a club. But it all has to be without Internet—no Skype, IM, nothing like that.
MAKING YOUR GUESSES
I’ll send you a Web link. The Web link will have a simple form that looks like this:
Your name: ____________
CD’s name: ____________
Song 10 Title: ______________________
Song 10 Artist:______________________
Song 1 Rating (10 is best): ____
Spelling doesn’t have to be exact, but the title has to be pretty darn close.
For rating, you’re rating only two things: the song itself, and how it fits with the rest of the songs on the mix. You’re not judging the group overall (i.e. they’re a lame group that did one good song), and you’re not judging the song against other songs (i.e. who cares if there’s a better example of R&B opera fusion, judge the song in front of you).
Yes, you could rate everyone else’s picks all 1s, but if I see that sort of lame behavior, I’ll work in a modifier based on your rating bell curve to normalize your data. OR you can spend time trying to figure out a 7-way prisoner’s dilemma logic problem to figure out what the optimal game strategy for rating is. Or you can just be honest.
Anyway, once all the guesses are in, or the contest time limit has expired, the guesses will be scored and the winners will be announced.
In case of a tie in any category, the following rules apply:
1) if you’ve won a prize, the other person gets it (you can win two prizes flat out, but if there’s a tie, share the love, OK?)
2) in the identification categories, the person whose songs scored the highest wins;
3) if neither of the first two solves the problem, the winner is randomly chosen by me.
THE TIME LINE
The time line looks like this:
Day 1: I send out the envelopes
Day 6: Everyone should have received the envelopes. You have 4 days now to make your mix.
Day 10: Everyone must have sent out the CDs and let me know the songs on the CDs.
Day 15: Everyone should have received the mixed CDs. You now have three days to respond and submit your guesses.
Day 18: Contest is tallied; prizes are awarded.
PRIZES
* $40 The person who identified the most songs
* $30 The person whose songs scored the highest
* $20 The person whose songs were the least correctly identified
* $10 The person whose songs were the most correctly identified
This contest will cost me a bit of $$$ and my time, but in exchange I’ll have some fun and get mixed CDs from my music-savvy friends. Because there’s no profit and no element of chance, this isn’t a lottery and shouldn’t get us all arrested for mail fraud. At least, that’s my hope.
OTHER RULES
You cannot enter as a team. You can pass along one invitation to one friend to also participate; however, spots in the contest will go to people I know first, in order that they email me, and then friends will be considered. The contest starts once I have seven people. If there is enough demand (i.e. another seven people), I will run two contests at once.
QUESTIONS
Any questions?
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Song Swap Contest Filling Up
