[FM] songwriter contests, round 2

[elbert]

Hi Folks,

Wow... this thread is really rolling.  No shortage of interesting ideas.  As
a quick clarification and in response to Bill Parson's recent take, let me
add that I certainly wasn't trying to argue for more finely slicing up the
contests at festivals.  I tend to agree that more rules and categories would
probably lead to difficulty in getting people into the right spots.  I guess
I was more trying to just point out that there are a multitude of ways to
have a contest and that just because Kerrville or Wildflower or (insert your
favorite festival here) is wonderful and venerable, doesn't mean that others
need to model their contest on those standards.

And I totally agree with Bill that organizers can and should run their
contests anyway they want to.  If anyone feels strongly that there should be
other options, they should jump up and start organizing... this is a
community of the people, by the people.  And, as Bill points out, judging is
a difficult task.  Heck, at one level I'd guess we all recognize that
picking "best" songs is less-than-perfect... anyone who's made a mixed tape
for a friend knows how hard it is to have to eliminate things.  We all love
lots of songs and the reasons can be damned arbitrary at times.  To think
that you'd want to also try to eliminate any bias for people you've heard
before only makes it harder.  I must say that I don't know what guidelines
judges are commonly given, but there is certainly room for creativity on
that side of things, too.  Who knows, maybe someone would think it'd be a
good idea to have the contest judged by the audience instead of a panel of
experts... I mean, that probably wouldn't be my choice, but one could
certainly make an argument for it.

I was also intrigued by Bill Parson's thoughts about the potential stigma an
established artist might fear if they were to lose.  I had kind of
discounted that, but Bill is a wonderful artist who has actually had success
in contests, so it's interesting to me that he feels this is a potentially
strong motive.  I guess I never really thought of anyone "losing" a song
contest, even though that is all that *I* have ever done in my one entry to
Kerrville!  Good thing on one puts "Kerrville Loser" in their press kit.  ;)

Maybe what we need is something really different.  Yeah, maybe I need to
organize a totally different kind of contest.  Instead of emerging
songwriters, it could be the  "First Annual, Submerging Songwriters"
contest... for those of us whose audience feels like it is getting smaller
and smaller and smaller...    It'd be so easy to advertise.  "Come and see
these talented artists before they completely disappear!"   :)

(OK... now I'm only cracking myself up.... time to end this post...)

Cheers All!
David Elbert
elbert@jhu.edu