Say that 10x fast.
This is bad…it’s the 2nd time American Idol has appeared on GarageSpin in less than a month. But this time, it’s about the American Idol Songwriting Contest; I felt compelled to after seeing the oh-so-cute Hugh in "Music and Lyrics" last night.
The backstory: the American Idol winner traditionally records a new, professionally-written song after the competition is over. However, the song has traditionally sucked. So, American Idol decided to start the American Idol Songwriting Contest. Songwriters were to write a "journey-" or "quest-" theme song, follow a few simple songwriting contest rules, pay a $10 entry fee, and cross their fingers. Fans will vote on the 20 selected songs.
Boom. Apparently, 25,000 entries were submitted (hey, that’s $250,000). So, besides raking in a chunk of songwriting contest fees, by involving fans in the selection process, American Idol should also be able to sell quite a few copies of the winning idol single. Oh yeah, and hopefully, they’ll find some decent songwriting talent. Pretty smaaht. Sadly, none of this will affect the American Idol Theme Song itself.
There’ve been some complaints about the songwriting contest selection process, apparently. Hey, what do you expect when music interns are commanded to shrink a pile of 25,000 songs to 20? And some believe the 20 selected songs all suck. Ah well. I’m not sure myself; unfortunately, the 20 finalist songs are no longer available for listening. The winning song will be sung live by the winner on May 22 (and will surely become a karaoke hit soon after).
The moral? Er, I dunno. Maybe, "Create your own promotional opportunities, don’t depend on 1 in 25,000 chances of succeeding." Or, "Be sure to appeal to the masses in everything you do and create."
Just kidding. Kudos to the winner-to-be; I’d love it if it were a DIY basement-bound musician. People are posting what they know about the entrants here, in case you’re interested. Honestly, I hope someone great makes it.
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