MY COUNTRY SONG

A song writing competition that encourages people who have perhaps never tried to write a song and may not be able to actually perform it, to try!

 

We are providing a method of submission away from a public forum so don't worry if you are not confident with your performance ability, only we will hear what you submit and we can spot a potential song in any format! You don’t have to be a great musician or singer to be able to write a great song!

 

The very least you can submit as a valid entry is a finished set of words with a tune. Sing them, or write the words out and then hum the tune. Complete songs can also be submitted but no full band songs at this stage please, just a raw song that we can judge.

 

Judges will look for potential. A great story. A great hook. A great guitar riff or piano/other instrument part. Your song should be in a simple format where judges can hear the words and music.

 

We can’t accept instrumentals I’m afraid, your song must consist of words and music.

Here are the finer details:

 

1. We will review all entries and the top 10 entries will be forwarded to our panel of 3 independent judges. Neither Forever British Country nor IV Studios will be on that panel. Each judge will assign a score of between 1 and 10 to each song. In the event of a tie, songs would be referred back to judges for a second round of scoring. Once they have selected a winner we will contact you and see how much involvement you want in the recording process. If you're not a performer, don't worry IV Studios will draft in some excellent musicians to record your song. You can still go to the studio and watch it being recorded if you want to. If you are a performer you get to go in and record the song yourself with help from the IV Studios team, you’ll get all the help and support you need from musicians, sound engineers and even a producer to record your song.

 

2. The finished song will be released on the IV Studios label onto Reverb Nation and also all the major streaming channels such as Spotify and iTunes for a period of one year. You'll also get a radio interview to talk about your winning song and it will be submitted to over 40 radio stations for consideration on their playlists. You’ll get at least one play on an FM station.

 

3. The song will be made entirely in the UK, with UK musicians and producers. It will be yours to keep and it will be 'Forever British Country' All rights and royalties to the song will be retained by the writer 100%. If you don’t perform your song the performers will receive any relevant royalties should your song generate any revenue from digital distribution. If you do perform your song, you’ll keep everything.

 

5. IV Studios and Forever British Country will not monetise from the digital distribution of your song directly in any way. Exposure of IV Studios and Forever British Country as facilitators of the competition may lead to commercial opportunities for either organisation.

 

6. Winners may be asked to participate in some publicity for Forever British Country and IV Studios, which could include interviews and photos. Winners agree to participate in all reasonable requests for comments and photos for a period of 6 months following the release of the song.

 

7. There is no lower age limit for writers, but entrants under the age of 18 years would be required to nominate a parent/guardian or other responsible adult with their submissions who would be prepared to make comments on their behalf and accompany them to any recording sessions.

 

8. Winners are responsible for their own expenses in getting to IV Studios in Lincolnshire for recording sessions and then if this is not possible within 12 weeks of the competition winner being announced the competition organisers reserve the right to select another winner.

 

9. All submissions must be 100% original work and the competition organisers accept no responsibility for any copyright infringement from entrants. If work is found to be non-original the submission will be disqualified with immediate effect and the entrant also disqualified from further entries.

 

10. Single writers, song writing teams or collaborations are welcome, but no single entrant must have been previously or currently signed by any other music publisher or record label.  Your song cannot have been previously recorded professionally and/or officially released. 

 

11. Maximum of 5 entries per person. 5 individual songs.