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5 Merry Musical Contests for the Holidays
December 5, 2010
Tis the season that the holiday music playing in stores and supermarkets ad nauseum since October has just about driven us insane.
Well, dear readers, its time to regain a little holiday cheer with this list of five music-themed contests to snap you out of your holi-daze.
Weve assembled a truly nondenominational list below i.e. theres something in there for both musicians and music fans.
Let us know if you score any prizes, and please do link us to any holiday jams of your own making if we hear The 12 Days of Christmas one more time, were going to lose it.
1. Fans: Score Free Jams
First stop, our favorite music subscription service roundup next stop, your desktop and mobile device. Super social music streaming app Rdio is giving away one free account every day until December 25. All you have to do to get in the game is Like the app on Facebook and click over to the Sweepstakes tab to enter your info.
Not only is this a great way for the service to garner new fans, its also a pretty easy way to score an entire years worth of free music, which should come in handy when youre stuck between a flock of screaming children and cackling teens on a bus back to your parents place. Ohhh, the holidays
2. Enter a Battle of the Bands
Heres an idea: Instead of ruthlessly fighting with your siblings for your parents love and approval this holiday season, why not enter a battle of the bands? (Lets face it: if youre in a band in the first place, youre probably not going to win that war. Why, oh, why didnt you go to law school like your father suggested?)
Shure, maker of high-quality audio gear, recently kicked off its SM58 Give It Voice Tour, which aims to get undiscovered musicians the fawning attention they so desire. You have until December 10 to register for the competition, but were shure (hehe) you have some songs kicking around the old Bandcamp account, which, incidentally, you will need in order to enter the contest.
Fans will cast votes for their chosen tunes, which will determine who will make it to the semi-finals, and, ultimately, win the Shure SM58 Vocal Microphone at the RedGorilla Music Fest in Austin, Texas. Youll also nab $10,000 worth of Shure gear if you win, which will come in handy come gift-giving time, seeing as how you spent that last paycheck on a pack of new strings and some ramen.
3. Remix It Up
Whats your least favorite holiday jam? Mine is Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer. Music collaboration platform Indaba recently launched a holiday remix contest, in which it challenged musicians to spin classic holiday songs into brand new jams.
The contest resulted in two EPs, one of which features modern remixes and one which includes electronic re-imaginings. The winners share in the sales and publishing of the songs they submit.
You can check out all the winners on Indabas site or purchase the albums on iTunes.
Even though its too late to fulfill my dream of turning Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer into a Go-Go-inspired dance hit, Indaba still has a ton of contests that you can enter this holiday season, including a call to remix John Legend and The Roots Shine. So get thee to your bedroom, er, studio, and start mixing. Its too cold to go outside, anyway.
4. Become a V.I.P. With Diddy
New Years Eve is always a huge disappointment, mostly because folks always feel so pressured to have fun. This year, why not kick up that pressure a notch by entering Vevos recently announced sweepstakes, for which a night with Diddy is the prize. Yup. All you have to do is fill out a form before December 13 for a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas and an invite to Diddys album release/New Years Eve Party.
Hey, it beats falling asleep on the couch at 11 p.m., clutching a half-empty bottle of champagne and a noisemaker.
5. Share a Memory, Score a Trip to the Grammys
Remember when you were 13 years old and your sister gave you Blonde on Blonde on vinyl, effectively sparking your adoration for Bob Dylan? Encouraged by the gusty attitude he adopted when he went electric much to the chagrin of his fans you defied all suburban cultural norms to become the first female quarterback on your high schools football team to also dance the lead in the schools production of Swan Lake?
No? Well, it would be cool if you did, because that would make an awesome story for the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) Give The Gift Of Music contest.
Give The Gift Of Music is a website launched on November 1, 2010, by NARM and the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA) as a place for music lovers to find gift-giving ideas, create music wish lists and listen to artists talking about their favorite musical gifts.
In order to win one of the many prizes the most enticing being a trip for two to the Grammy Awards all you have to do is post a favorite memory involving a time you received music as a gift to the sites Share Your Memories page before December 17.
We all know my favorite musical-gifting memory (if only it were the one above). Whats yours? Let us know in the comments!
More Social Music Resources from Mashable:
– How To Make Your Music Video Go Viral: 10 Tips From Cee-Lo, OK Go More
– 4 Ways Bands Can Cash in Online Without a Label
– Top 10 Twitter Tips for Bands, By Bands
– 5 Great Ways to Find Music That Suits Your Mood
– 5 Free Ways to Identify that Song Stuck in Your Head
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, LuckyBusiness
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