Mr. Tunes

Rethinking the Remix Contest

“Circus Circus” by aresauburn

Do you think remix contests are getting a little stupid? I am still seeing remix contests being used as the top promotional tool employed by bands and DJs, after what feels like five years of the same old crap.

I don’t really have the same problems with them as other people do. That they come off as being community-based in the beginning, but end up benefiting the artist more in the long run. They are like the Battle of the Bands, but for people who don’t play rock. These are quite valid complaints, but not my main annoyance here.

What I don’t like is that in an industry that’s supposed to thrive on innovation, to see how lazy labels can be by using the same tricks as the next guy, is simply disappointing.

My suggestion is for artists and labels to take what has come out of remix contests, and build on the idea into their promotional plan. What that means is: we know that people have enjoyed “getting involved”, but let’s take that a step further.

It’s not a carnival, is it?

The word “contest” always makes me think of the circus. “Step right up folks!”, for your chance to win. But why do we have to assume that people are always motivated by the prize aspect of it? I am willing to bet from my own experiences entering contests, that people are actually motivated by the idea of their music being accepted and applauded by their favourite groups, rather than a $100 prize if they’re lucky.

Here are two ideas to help you reframe your next contest as something more meaningful:

1. Call it a workshop instead

Call it a “workshop”, and if you’re using a tool like soundcloud to take in entries, then why not listen to all the entries as they come in, and comment on them?

Yes it takes a lot of time, but you can’t expect to get from your fans without giving back to them. For five hours of their time (and sometimes way more), why not give them five minutes of yours? It also might help offset the process at the end of the contest where you have to listen to all the entries in one go, and by doing so, you actually can’t pick a good winner because it’s a messy blur of music.

2. Sell the stems and encourage innovation

You can consider the stems of a track as part of the product rather than the free balloons. The fact that they can be used to build new songs makes them more valuable than your track itself. Maybe it’s a good idea to flip which part of the release should be free, and which should cost money?

When Beatport sells the remix pack as a barrier to entry, people get very annoyed because they don’t like the contest aspect of it overall. “Why am I paying to enter something that is going to benefit you in the end?”. But without a contest involved, then selling the stems shouldn’t raise any alarms with people, right?

Better yet, come up with a Creative Commons license so people can reuse the samples they bought into tracks of their own, without any doubts of getting in trouble for doing so.

I could go on, but my point is: maybe it’s time to rethink this overly used promotional tool. Do you agree?

Comments are currently ixnay'd while I work on the site.