Are you a local musician who could use a songwriting spark as we ride out the (hopefully) waning days of pandemic restrictions? Or perhaps more time at home has left you with oodles of ideas that need an outlet? Local nonprofit Music Makes a Difference may have the perfect project for you: a Complete the Song contest.
During pre-COVID times, the Madison-based organization regularly hosted concerts with a dual purpose: providing a paid gig for musicians and also aiding various local charities. With live shows on pause for most of 2020, the group hosted a virtual Battle of the Bands in June and July; weekly winners moved on by fans voting on submitted videos. The Complete the Song contest will work in a somewhat similar fashion; 10 contestants will complete four new songs, with weekly voting on artist video submissions beginning April 15.
"We will be partnering with our friends at Broadjam again," Bill Zorr, president of Music Makes a Difference, writes in an email. "However, in this contest, musicians will not be eliminated by weekly voting. Instead, the voting will determine a weekly point level awarded to each contestant. Points will accumulate each week during the competition and the prize dollars will be awarded based on total points earned during the four weeks of the contest."
For the contest to kick off in April, several things will happen quickly over the next two weeks. Bands or solo artists can register as a contestant through March 19. It's open to residents of Dane County and any of the bordering counties: Columbia, Dodge, Jefferson, Rock, Green, Iowa and Sauk. The 10 contestants will be selected by fan voting March 22-24.
The "Seed Artists," who will provide the four starting points for each weekly round, will be selected by Music Makes a Difference. Writers can submit videos of up to five partial songs through March 26; the writers will be paid $250 for the songs chosen.
The idea for the contest was inspired by calls for songwriting collaboration on TikTok, writes Zorr. "A good friend of mine, who is also a music lover, shared the TikTok songwriting collaboration with me. Music Makes a Difference was looking for a new project to support our local musicians and we thought musicians and fans might enjoy making a contest based on the TikTok songwriting collaboration concept."
To start each week of the contest, the artists will be given one of the partial song videos. Using that melody, verse and chorus, each performer will add their own video to complete the song. As in the TikTok inspiration, the final result "will end up being a side-by-side video with the Seed Artist singing the first verse and the contestant singing their verses to complete the song. And, hopefully, the two artists joining together on the chorus," writes Zorr.
After the contestant videos premiere (on Thursdays, April 15-May 6), fan voting takes place during the three following days. Fan voting for favorite song of the whole contest takes place May 10-12, with an award show on Thursday, May 13.
For musicians who have been missing gigs for a year now, the prizes will provide some sorely needed income.
"While there are hopeful signs that COVID cases are on the decline and the state is starting to open up once again, musicians are not yet being able to perform live," writes Zorr. "This virtual contest will enable music fans to get dollars directly into the hands of our local musicians."
Editor's note: This post has been updated to reflect some dates moving back since the original announcement, and a change in some other contest procedures.
