What is a Songwriting competition?
A songwriting competition is a contest whereby musicians submit original music to a third party or forum, generally to win a prize or some other benefit. Songwriting competitions have existed long before the advent of the Internet, but today many are conducted through websites or musician forums. An example is the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in New York, which was founded by Yoko Ono in 1997 and has existed both online and offline. Other important songwriting competitions are the Unisong International Song Contest in Los Angeles or the International Songwriting Competition in Nashville. Nashville songwriters are celebrated annually with songwriting awards, many would be songwriters dream of being nominated in one of these award ceremonies. Songwriting contests or competitions are but one step in becoming a recognized songwriter.
There are songwriting organizations around the country and many of them are on the web and have songwriting contests. Contests provide one of the few opportunities for aspiring songwriters to become recognized and rewarded for the talents that not very many people have. Songwriting competitions generally cater to traditional country music, todays modern country music styles, contemporary Christian, gospel, pop, rock, alternative, Jazz and Blues music and literally any style of music the people listen to today. If you specialize in any given style of music, you are sure to find a competition for you.
Most songwriting competitions offer multiple contests throughout the year which means prizes are available more often than contests that happen only once a year. Most songwriting competitions cater to unknown songwriters. Emerging songwriters do not want to compete with writers who have already had a major label recordings. So, if you are looking for your first big break, you have a far better chance of winning and getting recognized with songwriting contests that prevent recognized professionals from entering.
If you are interested in becoming a professional song writer, a quick search on the Internet will provide you with the contacts you need to make your dream a reality.