Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Who's Who in Spintunes?
Dave Leigh: Current showrunner
Tom Giarrosso: DJ for our listening parties
Matt "Shoobs" Schubbe: Graphic Artist
Travis Langworthy: Founder
Heather Zink: Instigator
A panel of judges that changes every contest
The competitors who make things happen.
Q: What is SpinTunes?
A: SpinTunes is an online songwriting competition where people submit original songs they write to meet challenges handed out by a panel of judges.
Q: Can I enter a previously written song?
A: No. Even if you have a previously written song that happens to meet the given challenge, you should not enter it. Besides the prompt given for each round, part of the challenge IS the deadline. Doing everything from scratch in the same time frame as everyone else is the only fair way to enter. If your song is previously unreleased we would have no way of knowing if you cheated, so we rely on the honor system.
Q: Do I give up any rights to my work?
A: Your songs are your songs. We won't profit from them or claim any rights to them, all we want is permission to put them on an album for the contest. Bandcamp requires that we have a legal right to put music on their site, so for that reason we require that entries be submitted with a Creative Commons License. Under this license, all commercial rights remain with you, attribution is required, and re-mixing is prohibited. Anyone wanting additional rights must contact you for permission.
Q: How do I win?
A: The competition has 4 rounds of challenges, and you are judged by a panel of judges each round. If you can make it to the last round without being eliminated, and then win that last round...you win.
Q: What do I win?
A: Pride. We do this for the love of music...not for money or fancy trophies.
Q: What do the judges look for in a song?
A: Writing (lyrics & music), performance & production are all things the judges will look at. You may write a great song, but if you can't present it to people properly they will never know. So it's really MORE than a songwriting contest, presentation is also key.
Q: How do I sign up?
A: About 2-3 weeks before a contest I'll put up a sign up page. You just have to fill out the form. So just keep an eye on the blog & the @SpinTunes Twitter account for updates.
Q: The contest is already in progress, can I still compete?
A: Nope, but you are more than welcome to write a shadow song.
Q: What is a 'shadow song'?
A: A shadow song is a song that someone writes for a challenge, even if they are not in the competition. Your song will still be put on the album with all the other regular entries.
Q: Who is Heather, and why is everything her fault?
A: Heather Zink is a young lady who, along with 3 or so other people, motivated Travis Langworthy to start this SpinTunes. Heather was also one of the first judges. When something goes wrong it's become a habit to just say #BlameHeather.
Q: How did this get started?
A: At one time there was a songwriting contest called "Masters Of Song Fu" & a small songwriting Ning community called "Too Much Awesome" (TMA) grew around it. That contest is now dead, and the community stays in contact via the SpinTunes Facebook group & Twitter mostly.
With the end of "Song Fu" a lot of the TMA members wanted something new to compete in. Travis Langworthy had been following along with 2 other songwriting contests called "Song Fight" & "Nur Ein" for a little over a year. Those contests (as great as they are) didn't suit the needs for this particular group of people. So Travis decided to start something that was a mix of "Song Fu" & "Nur Ein"....attempting to take the best of both contests. Travis ran the first 12 contests and some related competitions as well, and when he "retired", we kept it going. Dave Leigh ran things for 4 contests, and it is now run by Micah Sommersmith.
Enough already with the history lesson. Where can I listen to the music?
All the songs can be listened to & downloaded for free on BandCamp. SpinTunes 1-12 are hosted here, and SpinTunes 13 and later are hosted here.
For more information about SpinTunes please read the Rules page. You can ask questions below or send questions on Twitter.Q: Can I enter a previously written song?
A: No. Even if you have a previously written song that happens to meet the given challenge, you should not enter it. Besides the prompt given for each round, part of the challenge IS the deadline. Doing everything from scratch in the same time frame as everyone else is the only fair way to enter. If your song is previously unreleased we would have no way of knowing if you cheated, so we rely on the honor system.
Q: Do I give up any rights to my work?
A: Your songs are your songs. We won't profit from them or claim any rights to them, all we want is permission to put them on an album for the contest. Bandcamp requires that we have a legal right to put music on their site, so for that reason we require that entries be submitted with a Creative Commons License. Under this license, all commercial rights remain with you, attribution is required, and re-mixing is prohibited. Anyone wanting additional rights must contact you for permission.
Q: How do I win?
A: The competition has 4 rounds of challenges, and you are judged by a panel of judges each round. If you can make it to the last round without being eliminated, and then win that last round...you win.
Q: What do I win?
A: Pride. We do this for the love of music...not for money or fancy trophies.
Q: What do the judges look for in a song?
A: Writing (lyrics & music), performance & production are all things the judges will look at. You may write a great song, but if you can't present it to people properly they will never know. So it's really MORE than a songwriting contest, presentation is also key.
Q: How do I sign up?
A: About 2-3 weeks before a contest I'll put up a sign up page. You just have to fill out the form. So just keep an eye on the blog & the @SpinTunes Twitter account for updates.
Q: The contest is already in progress, can I still compete?
A: Nope, but you are more than welcome to write a shadow song.
Q: What is a 'shadow song'?
A: A shadow song is a song that someone writes for a challenge, even if they are not in the competition. Your song will still be put on the album with all the other regular entries.
Q: Who is Heather, and why is everything her fault?
A: Heather Zink is a young lady who, along with 3 or so other people, motivated Travis Langworthy to start this SpinTunes. Heather was also one of the first judges. When something goes wrong it's become a habit to just say #BlameHeather.
Q: How did this get started?
A: At one time there was a songwriting contest called "Masters Of Song Fu" & a small songwriting Ning community called "Too Much Awesome" (TMA) grew around it. That contest is now dead, and the community stays in contact via the SpinTunes Facebook group & Twitter mostly.
With the end of "Song Fu" a lot of the TMA members wanted something new to compete in. Travis Langworthy had been following along with 2 other songwriting contests called "Song Fight" & "Nur Ein" for a little over a year. Those contests (as great as they are) didn't suit the needs for this particular group of people. So Travis decided to start something that was a mix of "Song Fu" & "Nur Ein"....attempting to take the best of both contests. Travis ran the first 12 contests and some related competitions as well, and when he "retired", we kept it going. Dave Leigh ran things for 4 contests, and it is now run by Micah Sommersmith.
Enough already with the history lesson. Where can I listen to the music?
All the songs can be listened to & downloaded for free on BandCamp. SpinTunes 1-12 are hosted here, and SpinTunes 13 and later are hosted here.
For more information about SpinTunes please read the Rules page. You can ask questions below or send questions on Twitter.