OK, so as you all know we are under going a bit of a revamping. We've decided to re-pitch the contest as the "Buzzjack Unknown Song Contest".

 

We're addressing the criticism that the contest has moved away from its roots as a fun way of discovering new music and we would like to take it back to its roots. To do this, yes, we will be making some changes to the anti-cheap rules, and we're going to attempt to simplify the contest a little too.

 

Just before we get to it, I want to stress two things. We're using this contest as an experimental contest to see how it goes, then we will make decisions from there, so though we will listen to complaints, it's not going to change how things will be done this contest. Clear?

 

 

So, I'mma start with what we are getting rid of:

 

- the banlist.

- the reservation thread.

 

We want to make this whole contest easier and more appealing to BuzzJack as a whole.

 

 

Reservation and Confirmation will now work as follows:

 

You will PM the host your confirmation and there will be no reservation process. The host [i.e. me] will update the confirmation list in the first post as usual, however there will be no country information with the songs as we are gonna be giving the unknown a bash for the cash.

 

During the trial contest I personally will reveal which song belongs to which country after voting closes so you can champion your own during the results.

 

 

On the one big final issue, we've yet to come to a conclusion on this, but if one big final DOES return, it's not going to be 40+ contestants.

 

 

So, the anti-cheap rules. The stuff you are all interested in. Anything judged to be against the spirit of the contest will be banned. In other words: that which the majority of the four moderators judge to be uninspired (cheap, whatever word you wish to use) will be thrown out and you'll have to pick another entry. We aren't idiots so let's NOT have complaints over us not knowing what's uninspired or not, given most of the stuff that's been causing problems in the last few contests has been pretty damned obvious.

 

The following rules will be used as guides, so if it's on here then there's a good to strong chance it might get rejected. From strongest to least strong in terms of how likely it is something will be banned:

 

- The AF rule will be altered to rule out everything released by an artist with an AF [This includes the likes of Cheryl/Nadine and Mutya/Keisha]

- Buzzjack's flavour of the month [aka Katy Perry and Alexandra Burke]

- The next 6 weeks of the Release Schedule.

- The Radio 1 playlist

 

You can appeal against them all - if you truly believe that despite the song in question is in fact inspired, PM a mod telling us why. However, in general try to avoid songs that come under the above categories, as it's likely we'll just reject them.

 

OK, so in a month's time I shall be kicking things off for our 29th contest and dates for that shall be forthcoming. ^_^

 

Any questions etc go ahead!

Ooh, sounds very very interesting. I'll almost certainly take part should time allow it in that case, I like both the unknown factor and the anti-cheap clampdown. And we can still do things like odds threads I guess, we just won't know the country behind the song until they're revealed.

OMG...I thought I don't miss much the contest but after reading this, it brings back that oomph feeling again...I'm so ready, just shame that it won't happen this month:(

After reading the rules it sounds much better than I thought off. Which could bring in more members to the comp, but will new members have to register a country first.

Presumably, yes, I think country names will be revealed at results time.

 

Anyway, TRES exciting, and I think this contest will potentially be EPIC :w00t:

I have NO idea what I would have sent if the contest had been running the last two months. I don't expect I would have taken part as my favourite unknown songs in the last few weeks have been US country and Swedish rap :lol: Probably not the best BJSC entries...

I like the idea of anonymosity - means posters won't just vote for **song** because their fave poster submitted it rather than actually voting for a song they genuinely like**. Even if it's been sent by a poster they don't know.

 

** Any Thalia related digs will be accepted :drama:

Not 100% sure I'll be returning / depends how big it is I guess and whether I have the time to participate in it fully ^_^

The mystery thing sounds very interesting :D

 

I'm getting a good vibe about this...

Edited September 18, 201014 yr by Sabrewulf

I am contemplating a return. I promise to only send The Saturdays 3 times a year this time round :P But yeah, these new rules actually sound as if the contest can be made decent again, (and to sound as patronizing as possible) and more about the music really.

Sounds very interesting, and I'm definitely tempted to come back. Just wondering though, if the hosts know which country is which, and the mods have the power to ban songs that they don't see fit (which, no matter what way you look at it, is going to be subjective or else we'd just be able to stick to the afformentioned rules), would it be completely fair for them to participate?

I wasnt sure about the unknown thing, but after competing in the indie forums Unkown Pleasures it certainly makes more sense. The new rules seem quite interesting so I shall definatley be returning ^_^

Even though i don't post all that much in the BJSC forum, i'll always be competing as it really doesn't consume that much time at all... ^_^

Sounds fun to me :kink:

Sounds very interesting, and I'm definitely tempted to come back. Just wondering though, if the hosts know which country is which, and the mods have the power to ban songs that they don't see fit (which, no matter what way you look at it, is going to be subjective or else we'd just be able to stick to the afformentioned rules), would it be completely fair for them to participate?

Well, it works over at Unknown Pleasures, so I presume it wouldn't really be much of a problem. In order to clear things up, the mods will know that tracks are being submitted, but they won't know who is submitting the tracks if an appeal is made that a track isn't uninspired.

 

The problem we've always had with absolute rules is that there are always exceptions - the Radio 1 playlist debate, for one, showed this - so we're adding a human element whereby four or five seasoned participants are going to judge whether or not something can pass for 'unknown' or not. Still subjective, but we're hoping that people will see that we can't really let a 'corrupt' entry through if three people are having to approve it first...

What do I actually need to do to particpate in this coz it sounds more interesting now.

What do I actually need to do to particpate in this coz it sounds more interesting now.

I presume we're still going ahead with the 'make your own country' thing (there's a registration thread for that), but other than that it's pretty much the same as Unknown Pleasures.

 

Be warned that this is a LOT more poppy than the Indie forum equivalent - you'd probably end up hating the majority of the tracks and not doing too well yourself in the results :lol: Although we do have a significant minority of participants who are (somewhat unfairly, I think, as I reckon it generalises taste too much) labeled as the 'indie bloc'...

I presume we're still going ahead with the 'make your own country' thing (there's a registration thread for that), but other than that it's pretty much the same as Unknown Pleasures.

 

Be warned that this is a LOT more poppy than the Indie forum equivalent - you'd probably end up hating the majority of the tracks and not doing too well yourself in the results :lol: Although we do have a significant minority of participants who are (somewhat unfairly, I think, as I reckon it generalises taste too much) labeled as the 'indie bloc'...

LOL

 

I'll have a trawl through my collection and see if I can come up with something not too indie. I can always give it a go this time and see how it goes.

 

Will the new country registration thread be re-opened or are there already enough entrants for the next contest?

I wasn't too sure about the unknown (not knowing who sent what) element at first, but I'm happy enough as long as countries aren't thrown out completely, so I shall be participating :)

Will this contest be BJSC 29 by the way, or BJUSC 1 or something? And will the stats thread be updated before it restarts? I suppose it's still relevant if we're still using countries.