The Early Bird Gets the $25,000

Picture this: You recognize Frank Black‘s brilliant, balding figure walking down the street. Somehow you find it in you to run up to him and say, “Hey, Frank. How about you listen to my demo and tell me what you think?”

You give him a CD-R with a lo-fi, poorly mixed recording of your best song. He likes it, so he plays it for Tom Waits, Loretta Lynn, and Robert Smith. They all love it.

They give you $25,000 and a spot on a compilation distributed to tons of music industry professionals. And you say, “Gee, thanks, guys!”…It could happen, right?

Actually, it can. Not exactly like that, of course, but close enough. The International Songwriting Competition (ISC for short), an annual songwriting competition with a consistently distinguished panel of judges, is offering over $150,000 in prizes to fifty-nine winners in nineteen categories. The competition covers all the bases with categories like “Adult Album Alternative,” or AAA, Rock/Top 40, Blues, Dance/Electronica, Teen, and World.

ISC has also announced a new Comedy/Novelty category for 2007 to be judged by David Cross, “Weird Al” Yankovic, and Cheech Marin. Fourteen additional judges consisting of music industry professionals will be present on the panel for all categories.

Contestants are allowed to enter as many songs as they can afford, and the entry fee is $30 per submission. But if you enter by July 16, the Early Bird Deadline, each additional song is only $20 to enter. After that, $30 is the standard, and entries must be postmarked on or before October 15 to be eligible for consideration.

So, what are you waiting for? Unless you’re still not sick of only getting feedback from your mom. Sure, it’s encouraging and usually accompanied with clean socks and a plate of cookies, but seriously, when’s the next time Tom Waits (or Ornette Coleman!) is going to listen to your stuff? You can mail this entry form along with a CD, or you can submit your entry online via Sonicbids.com.

And remember, “Quality of recording is not judging criteria.” So get out that boombox and go to town!