Hello everyone and welcome to the 10th annual Art-Inspired Music Contest! This thread marks the official start of the compo, and you'll find more details on how to enter below.
To kick things off, check out this year's promo art! A huge thanks to @BingoWaders for this stunning work!
IMPORTANT
This thread is only for SUBMISSIONS and updates related to the contest from the organizer or another user authorized by the organizer. Use the discussions thread for any questions or comments!
Non-submission posts are subject to removal.
TIMEFRAME
- You have until Monday, June 19th at 11:59 pm PDT (GMT-7) to post your submissions to this thread. I will post one week and 24 hour warnings to this thread to help keep you up-to-date with the deadline.
- Once the submissions period closes, the judging period will follow. A Fan Voting thread will be posted shortly after the judging period starts in this thread and all non-judges will have a chance to pick their favourite entries for the Fan Favourite prize!
- The judging period generally runs for about 3 weeks, but a 24 hour advance notice will be given when the Fan Favourite thread closes and the results are announced shortly after.
HOW TO ENTER
- Review the rules (see below) to understand what's allowed and what's not!
- Pick a single piece of art from the Newgrounds Art Portal.
- Create a piece of music inspired by that art.
- Upload your submission to the Audio Portal, include "AIM" in your song title (e.g. AIM - Strawberries) and tag your track with AIM2023.
- Post a link to your submission and a link to the art inspiration in this thread.
RULES
Please review the rules before starting your entry, even if you're a returning participant, as some rules may have changed.
- You must be at least 13 or over to enter.
- You must be a scouted artist. This is for anti-fraud purposes. For more information on how the scouting process works, please review the Audio Portal Questions section of the Newgrounds FAQ.
- Entries created and/or started outside of the submissions period (that is, when this thread was posted) are not allowed. Entries must be created and submitted within the current submissions period.
- This contest is only for original entries, not covers or remixes and the like. No pre-recorded lyrics from vocal packs either.
- Your submission must be uploaded on Newgrounds and follow the Newgrounds Audio Portal guidelines.
- Explicit content is allowed music-wise, but the artwork that inspired you can't be A-rated, i.e. only E, T, and M rated art is permitted.
- Entries must be between 3-6 minutes in length. There will be some leeway permitted of up to 15 seconds outside of the range, but anything hitting exactly 15 seconds outside that range may not be accepted. The organizer will have the final say in whether an entry is too long or short to be accepted for the contest. Your best bet is to be right within the 3-6 minute range.
- Each participant may submit up to 2 different entries. These cannot be two versions of the same entry, e.g. same composition and different instruments.
- You can work with anyone, whether it be a singer, producer, etc. Bands are allowed, too! If they have an NG account, tag them in the project system, or if not, credit them in the description of your song(s). Keep in mind, only one person gets the prize (unless it can be split equally).
- Submissions must be posted in this thread before the deadline of June 19, 2023 (see TIMEFRAME) to be considered for the contest. Posts must contain a link to your entry and, at minimum, a link to your art inspiration in the Author Comments of your audio submission OR in your submissions post. Putting your inspiration link in both places would be much appreciated!
- If you are unsure about something or have any questions about the contest, hop over the discussions thread and ask away!
- Updates to your entries are permitted within the submissions period, but not during the judging period. If you update your entry, please mention it in the discussions thread or DM me. This contest receives a lot of entries and some judges may begin evaluating entries as they are being submitted to stay ahead of the curve.
Approval Process
Once you submit an entry, I will check it over to ensure it meets the requirements necessary for judging. Approved entries will be added to a specific Newgrounds playlist, which will be linked in this thread once it's available.
If there is an issue with your entry, I will send you a DM explaining why it was not accepted up until the 24 hour warning is posted. You can choose to update your entry or work on a new one up until the end of the submissions period.
Since this approval process is manual, it may take a while before your entry is checked over. If 72 hours have passed since you posted and you either haven't received a DM from me or see your entry on the Approved Entries playlist, feel free to send a DM. I'll do my best to keep you updated in this thread of any extraneous circumstances.
JUDGES AND SCORING
Here are your judges for this year's AIM:
Approved entries will be scored on a 10-point basis in the following categories (for a total of 40 points max. per judge):
- Composition/Structure
- Emotion/Atmosphere
- Production
- Relevance to the Art
Judges are encouraged to leave reviews during the judging period but will not be obliged due to the large volume of entries. In past compos, we've been fortunate in that at least one judge has given their time and effort to reviewing every entry, but it's not reasonable to expect every judge to be able to do that. Judges' scores will be shared once the results are released and we'll do our best to leave feedback whenever possible.
WINNERS
There will be 21 winning entries in total:
- First Place
- Second Place
- Third Place
- Runner-Ups (17 entries total)
- Fan Favourite (more details below)
Fan Favourite
The Fan Favourite vote is a chance for all non-judges to pick and choose the entries they like most from the contest! More details on how this works will be posted in a specific thread made just for the Fan Favourite vote.
PRIZES
This year's prizes are as follows:
1 - Compilation Album
Your track will be included in the AIM compilation album on Bandcamp (see past AIM albums here)
2 - Physical CD (NEW!)
This year, all winners will also receive a physical CD of this year's compilation album, courtesy of Turtle Pals Tapes (Turtlepalstapes.com)! One CD per winning participant only. Winners will be contacted after the results are released for an uncompressed file of their submitted entry for the album.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
@ThatJohnnyGuy for laying the foundation for the contest and trusting me enough to take over as organizer.
@SplatterDash for connecting me with Turtle Pals Tapes and the cool CD prize this year.
@damifortune and @Zechnition for being on the judging panel. It was quite difficult this year to find judges, so a big thanks to them for their help!
@BingoWaders for the promo art!
Thank you to all participants who take time to contribute something to this contest. I'm sorry I can't name all of you, but I appreciate all the amazing and varied works I've had the privilege of listening to every year.
With that, go forth and start creating your entries! All the best! :)
