A songwriting competition is a

contest Contest may refer to: * Competition * Will contest * Contesting, amateur radio contesting (radiosport) Film and television * ''Contest'' (2013 film), an American film * Contest (1932 film), a German sports film * " The Contest", a 1992 season ...

whereby

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

s submit original

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

to a third party or forum, generally to win a

prize A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

or some other benefit.

Songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

competitions have existed long before the advent of the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

, but today many are conducted through websites or musician forums. An example is the

John Lennon Songwriting Contest John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

in New York, which was founded by

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

in 1997 and has existed both online and offline. Other important songwriting competitions are the

Unisong International Song Contest The Unisong International Songwriting Contest is the oldest international songwriting competition for and judged by songwriters. Unisong International Song Contest was founded in 1996 by songwriter Alan Roy Scott (Music Bridges), publisher David ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

or the International Songwriting Competition in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

. Winners receive money prizes exposure and

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

of their

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

s, sometimes recording contracts. Songwriting competitions, such as the 2FM Song Contest for song-writers aged under 21, are often called "career-boosts". A variation on the theme of songwriting competitions is ComProsers, whose inaugural contest asks participants to read a short story first and create a piece of music inspired by that story. Yet another variation is the Write-With-A-Hit-Maker songwriting contest. This annual event sponsored by the 20+ year old Durango Songwriters Expo provides the winning songwriter with the rare opportunity to write a song with a bona fide hit songwriter. Hit songwriters who have participated in this event include

Jeff Silbar Jeff Silbar is a songwriter. Silbar, a native of Los Angeles, won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1990 for co-writing Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings" with Larry Henley. Notable compositions *" All My Life" (Kenny Rogers) *" He's a ...

Wind Beneath My Wings "Wind Beneath My Wings" (sometimes titled "The Wind Beneath My Wings" and "Hero") is a song written in 1982 by Jeff Silbar and Larry Henley. The song was first recorded by Kamahl in 1982 for a country and western album he was recording. Kamahl ta ...

"), Kim Williams ("

Three Wooden Crosses "Three Wooden Crosses" is a song written by Kim Williams and Doug Johnson, and recorded by American country music singer Randy Travis. It was released in November 2002 from his album, '' Rise and Shine''. The song became Travis' 16th and fina ...

"), and

Pam Sheyne Pamela Sheyne is a British songwriter, producer, mentor and singer best known for co-writing Christina Aguilera’s global smash debut single "Genie in a Bottle". She has achieved 50+ million record sales and over 100 RIAA Platinum, Gold and Si ...

Genie in a Bottle "Genie in a Bottle" is a song by American singer Christina Aguilera from her self-titled debut studio album (1999). It was written by Pam Sheyne, Steve Kipner and David Frank, and produced by Kipner and Frank. The song was released on May 11, 1 ...

"). Some of the WWAHM song contest winners, including

Alissa Moreno Alissa Moreno is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of Indie-pop, Country, Americana, and Folk. Her co-write " Every Day", recorded by Rascal Flatts, reached No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Coun ...

and

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. He appeared on stage and in many films, notably as Corrado Zeller in Michelangelo Antonioni's '' Red Desert'', Frank Machin in ''This Sporting ...

, have gone on to have hits themselves and find their way onto the

Billboard charts The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

. Song competitions can also be used to generate discussion and raise awareness of important social and political issues such as the Change the World With Your Song Song Competition in which contestants write about a number of themes based around important social and political issues. On June 3, 2015, ''

American Songwriter ''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee. History The ''American Songwri ...

'' magazine announced a new music / songwriting competition initiated by Fiverr, called The Big Hook. Songwriting competitions differ from singing competitions, such as ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and par ...

'' and its spinoffs in various countries, because the latter do not require that the music submitted or performed be original; and instead the music there has usually been recorded by other artist previously and is often well known. ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' however, later launched a subsidiary songwriting competition of its own.

References

{{reflist

External links

Global Songwriting Contest
a limited entry global songwriting contest Song contests *