The BuzzJack Song Contetst. Is it still just a game to you? A healthy, spirited competition to find the next best song that you think others will enjoy and award points to? Or does the BuzzJack Song Contest leave you feeling drained having to consume hours of music every time and then assign a value to the songs you liked? When the fun stops maybe it’s best to take a break, and many have done this, but the door is always open for ones to return as and when they wish to (subject to bans).

 

I’m interested to hear comparisons from those who’ve been around much longer than I have been in this competition to see how their feelings have changed toward this event over the years, and if they feel they get the same enjoyment out of it now as they did back then.

 

What’s kept your interest peaked all this time and what makes you keep coming back for future contests?

Moreso than when I first joined, as it took a little while to get going, but probably my peak enjoyment was 2009-2011, I was constantly discovering all-time favourites and winning loads myself too :lol:

 

But this year has been really good for discoveries too actually, it's been really enjoyable recently. And we've had a solid year too, the DNQ aside.

 

There's been the odd year when I went through the motions a bit with my entries, and also didn't discover that much and may have decided on taking a break - 2019 I remember being quite weak for me for example - but it was a bit of a lifeline in the pandemic so 2020 reinvigorated it a bit for me.

Edited October 2, 20231 yr by gooddelta

I think I needed the time away because I've came back fighting and I always love to host so that was an added benefit!

 

Really wasn't in a good place during Covid and constantly failing in the semi-finals during that time was not good for my mental health.

Well... it's a little over 3 years since I last took part in BJSC, and I've still not felt the desire to come back and try again. Whereas when I started (June 2013!) I really did enjoy the experience. So technically my answer is no, but I probably shouldn't vote if this is for people who are in fact still taking part!

I'll never get back to that mentality of sending light-hearted entries again :kink:

I’d say probably yes on balance. It feels a lot like my baby these days and so I’m permanently connected to it in someway

Participating here gives me mixed feelings. Here's my thoughts after joining since 2 years ago:

 

I would already be happy and glad if my entry could reach the final, though it usually ends up being at bottom 10. So, getting a top 3 finish for the first time felt unreal.

 

I wouldn't be mind if I don't qualify with a completely random artist/genre. If it's something sounding close to Buzzjack's current taste (uhm Neck Deep, maybe), then I might be a little bit disappointed.

 

Participating in BJSC (and its spinoffs) means that I'm obliged (by my own will) to put some of my fav entries from one batch straight to my Top 40 (nope, not just 75). Meanwhile, there are around 15-25 EDM songs from my monthly video (if you noticed my YouTube) that also need to be charted. This situation often stressed me out. That's why I took a 2-contest break recently.

 

Joining a listenthrough is quite fun as well. It also makes me easier to rank songs. Still, they're held at the time I'm supposed to take a long rest.

 

In conclusion, I enjoy BJSC pretty much, but it has some consequences I must face.

I think I enjoyed it more when I first joined as it was new, fresh and exciting and people put more effort into it. You had people doing EOY countdowns all the time about 6/7 years ago and now they're completely scant. Sometimes it can feel more like a chore to vote but it's still all totally worth it when you discover a song you end up loving that you would otherwise would never have found.

Yes, the side activity on the forum has really diminished, a lot of the entry chat and hype now happens on the listenthroughs (which are indeed great fun to join, when I have the chance I do like to), national threads are less used, countdowns like Dobbo says don't happen as much, odds are a thing of the past maybe? I posted the only actual odds this month, and wondering if it's worth it if nobody else does. Not that it's not fun to take the bragging rights with Summericia but I used to enjoy comparing my odds to the odds of others and seeing how great or terribly you've each done :lol:

 

It would be ideal if somehow the chat from the listenthrough could be a thread on the forum (so that everybody could read it, and then participate if they miss it happening live), plus it would bump up the posts a lot. But I get why it's not, constantly posting over and over again would get a bit much - it's a shame we don't have some sort of easy chatbox function within a thread sort of thing on Buzzjack that would lend itself to that type of quickfire post format that a chat has.

 

edit: to be fair, actually Roba did provide a proper prediction too, just without the odds, so maybe it's just the odds format that's outdated now.

Edited October 3, 20231 yr by gooddelta

I've gone in waves with BJSC. Similar to what Phil says, I think since 2020 and around the time of becoming a moderator, I've become quite protective of BJSC and it's just become part of my life, in a way that I listen to so much music and think "I wonder how this would do" and want to see the contest succeed.

 

I do find it harder to motivate myself with listening than I used to. And I was having this conversation off site aswell, that I definitely prefer contests with less competitors. Honestly, for me, around 50 would feel so much more manageable as someone with a really busy life, I do find it hard to dedicate time to listen to SO many songs, and it does dampen a bit of enjoyment.

 

But, at the same time, it is great to see the contest thrive. I enjoy it in a different way than I did when I joined, given I was 13 at the time and now I'm 27.

Yes, the side activity on the forum has really diminished, a lot of the entry chat and hype now happens on the listenthroughs (which are indeed great fun to join, when I have the chance I do like to), national threads are less used, countdowns like Dobbo says don't happen as much, odds are a thing of the past maybe? I posted the only actual odds this month, and wondering if it's worth it if nobody else does. Not that it's not fun to take the bragging rights with Summericia but I used to enjoy comparing my odds to the odds of others and seeing how great or terribly you've each done :lol:

 

It would be ideal if somehow the chat from the listenthrough could be a thread on the forum (so that everybody could read it, and then participate if they miss it happening live), plus it would bump up the posts a lot. But I get why it's not, constantly posting over and over again would get a bit much - it's a shame we don't have some sort of easy chatbox function within a thread sort of thing on Buzzjack that would lend itself to that type of quickfire post format that a chat has.

 

edit: to be fair, actually Roba did provide a proper prediction too, just without the odds, so maybe it's just the odds format that's outdated now.

I would certainly be interested in following along with a countdown style thread, I might not make my own due to the effort required, but if TBO is simply too much to run every year then a simpler alternative would be most welcomed.

 

Also, for your second point, I agree it would be good to somehow save the chat on the listenthrough, which is why I liked when we used Discord as the chat was saved and you could scroll back and read what reaction your own entry had. That seems to have stopped though.

 

This thread wasn’t really intended to be a suggestions thread for the future, but I don’t object if it becomes this if that’s what members want to discuss, but hopefully we can keep it to the subject and continue to reminisce about how things used to be and what they are like now, whether it is better or worse as far as the enjoyment factor goes.

 

I do find it harder to motivate myself with listening than I used to. And I was having this conversation off site aswell, that I definitely prefer contests with less competitors. Honestly, for me, around 50 would feel so much more manageable as someone with a really busy life, I do find it hard to dedicate time to listen to SO many songs, and it does dampen a bit of enjoyment.

I can relate to this too some months. I don’t always get to listen to all of the entries but just ones in my semi and then the qualifying ones in the other semi. Either way still I know there will be 41-42 entries in the final that I will always listen to and that feels ok for me. I like to try and do more than one listenthrough but it’s becoming much harder to do. I do always appreciate the effort ones like uhsting make to provide a recap video that lasts around 10-15 minutes and you hear the highlights from each song to remind you what the genre is.

Its just sharing music ultimately. My favourite thing to do is count up the spreadsheet when I get to host because I get to play with excel :lol: yes I enjoy it about the same as I did. Just a bit disheartening when you don't 'qualify' for the final round because you're then less engaged I think!

The TBO one is one I’ve struggled with a lot. It’s a nice to have, and an aspect of the contest I enjoy dealing with very much. But it’s a lot of energy that has to go into it for quite little participation. We end up in the realm of 25-33% and that never gives a true representation but also then feels like a lot of energy for very little. Having 20 voters was fine when we had 35 entries but not 60.

 

How we can re-engage in TBO is an interesting thought topic.

 

 

I do agree with almost all of what Rob says. Listen throughs are sometimes very tough, f***in 30 minute entries don’t help either!!! I’m also generally unbothered and unconcerned by month to month participation fluctuations because I get that people have commitments or holidays or just are at the point in the cycle where they feel it’s a chore to listen through, people will come and go and we have a healthy core that is running at 3-4x the level that I would be concerned to have as our core participants.

 

But like Rob ultimately this contest totally changed how I listen to music and the music I listen to. Over the 15/16 years the things I have gained from BJSC have been of immeasurable value. And also being able to shape and guide the contest has been really enjoyable (most of the time) - current key message is consistency. But some light changes will come as the framework is showing its age a little now

BJSC is easily better now than back in 2011-12 so for this question yes, although my peak enjoyment was probably around 2015-18 (the 'South Danaelanda' era of my participation) when I started to really get the hang of it and had a load of hits plus the forum being a bit more active then in general.

 

Nowadays I'm not managing to find so many songs that I absolutely love so having a bit of fun with experimenting which this year has led to me having more DNQs than usual (sad) but also a small handful of surprise hits which keeps me invested. The only song I entered expecting a hit this year with was the RAM recycle (which indeed did put me top 10).

Less if I must be honest. I still find a bunch of good songs every month and of course it was in part this contest that pushed me into discovering and enjoying different and unusual genres. but the competition aspect hasn't been doing it for me for a while. What's worse is that I put this on myself, I have this mental block which pushes me away from what everyone else does because I don't want to blend in with the crowd and make it less of a varied experience for people but I also want to do well by sending something I think people here will enjoy so it's a tough task balancing that.

 

I tend to have so many good songs calling out from my niches (metal as well as J-pop x) that I really want to show to the point where if I let myself go that is literally all you'd see from me because I have 10 or more that are fantastic enough to send here each month, but the ones I do send tend to get disappointing results. Whereas if I make an effort to find something unexpected (for me) or something I haven't done in a while so as to get people's attention I can go through loads of songs that I'm just not feeling before finding anything I want to send. I've pigeonholed myself into being a niche participant but I still want to compete, which sucks when songs I really enjoy and think others will too get rejected.

 

I would take a break but muh participation, as well as missing out on listening, which is still fine for me, I enjoy being able to attend the listenthroughs again! And I do still have some ideas of where to go next. However it did use to feel like with the right song any type of style or genre could do well here, but for a few years now and right now, at the moment it feels like everything I'm really interested in supporting or sending has a certain ceiling that it's just not gonna break no matter how good an example of its genre it is and that makes it less interesting for me.

 

I mean that said there are some contests that disproved all that I'm saying, like 152 and the period a couple of years ago around when I hosted, but those are the exception more than the rule.

 

plus I mean when I first joined I had the time to put all songs on repeat even if they were lower quality than what gets entered now

As a potential suggestion - not at all as a replacement for TBO - but just as a more timely kind of wrap up, maybe in December once the 10 contests are finished we could simply just have a celebration/year in review thread at the end of the year. A recap of all the winners and silvers post by post - inlcuding the video, artist info, points total in its contest - and also an invitation to post our ONE personal favourite entry of our own from the year with the same info (or personal favourite that didn't come 1st or 2nd if you're lucky enough to have one or more of those!).

 

Leave the thread open a few days and you'd probably end up with about 20 or so of the usuals replying and could then just do a lovely celebratory listenthrough of up to 40 or so songs of all the 1s/2s and personal favourites that people want to share and highlight again both in the thread and via a community listenthrough. I don't know what the takeup would be for that sort of thing but I feel like it could be a lovely way to review the best of the best at the end of the year while we're all still compiling end of year charts and in the 'review' kind of mode anyway. If somehow you had 40 people nominating a song for inclusion, the celebration could be split across a couple of nights - but I think that's very unlikely. Plus a potential listenthrough would just be a side thing anyway, just having an end of year wrap up thread itself would be a nice way to commemorate.

It's a weird one for sure. I definitely still enjoy it but I would be lying if I said I had never felt the burnout in all my years of participating. I'd say the peak would probably be 2017 where I had both the time and the headspace to really give it my all, and since then it's come in waves. Some times I'm finding a ton of discoveries bc I've had the time to marinate in them, and other times I'd end up with like 1-2 songs I want to send or the contest isn't as strong as I'd hoped. I think not having another spin-off or side contest this 4 week period kinda alleviates this but those feelings sometimes pop up.

 

I'm still sad we moved from Discord listenthroughs, I think if we really got it to work then I'd like to think they'd be a possibility again :) I'd also like to see an EOY activity where people just share their fave discoveries for each country (even if it ends up being "they all suck, maybe have better taste next year" or something like that)

That sounds pretty good, honestly, I do really like the idea of TBO and everyone acknowledging the best of the year, it's just soooo time consuming in practice for little turnout that I don't really blame the month long delays!

 

To answer the question - I would say yes and no (I voted Yes as positive outweighs negative) for different ways, Yes as I do feel much more like we have a really diverse make up of countries with a lot of different sounds coming through and I feel quite comfortable with my touch and go formula for BJSC for trying almost anything I feel like and sometimes getting a pleasant surprise, and it's still one of my main sources for new music and I make several great discoveries. I DNQ'd a lot in my early days and while I did make good discoveries, it did ruin it slightly and the music wasn't quite as diverse as it is now.

 

Saying that, I don't make as many great discoveries as I used to and don't feel quite as passionately for it, especially if I DNQ, I tend to just rush through it and I don't keep a lot of songs. A lot of this is time constraints as I get older but I guess I'm just always gonna compare it to the earlier years when I had a lot more time for music, and simply it is hard to keep up the same enthusiasm when you're doing something for over a decade, but the fact I'm still enjoying it and still making great discoveries as early as this month is pretty good going.

Bré (who has remained silent so far) did hint a while back now at some kind of spin-off event taking place soon, but didn’t hint at what it was, but given the timing, it is probably just a Halloween spin-off. I do enjoy participating in the occasional spin-off when it comes to Worldvision, Masquerade or other themed events, but I know that these are also hard to organise based upon willing and available volunteers.

 

And to answer my own question, I think I enjoy it about the same at the moment. I don’t tend to judge my enjoyment by my success rate, and I am still relatively as successful as when I joined, but perhaps it’s just the way it goes that sometimes you do DNQ, and because I don’t personally choose to stick to a set formula or theme, I change my trajectory every time to swerve into a different style, genre, nationality or concept altogether. That’s what I enjoy doing the most, and when it pays off it’s vindictive of making a good choice. But when it doesn’t, I don’t tend to beat myself up over it, I just look ahead to the next one. Would I like to win someday? Of course, but I wouldn’t want it to be with a song I didn’t feel I had any connection or enjoyment from.

 

Hopefully we can get the Discord listenthroughs back again for the next contest! ;)

Noz just all hype trians these days.one wrong word about your entry at the listen ins, and it's finished!! All about qualification streaks and keeping them.going even if someone's wntry is crap etc etc. Needs a major overhaul! Anonymous entries say hi