Call for entries: Love Songs and Social Cause competition

The winner in each promotion will receive prizes from Taylor Guitars, Alclair Audio and Play MPE. Nine runner-ups from each promotion will receive a mini-press package from BSQUARED MGMT.

“We've run the Love Songs and Social Cause promotion for several years," ISC marketing director Shane Whalen told Music In Africa. "Love songs in some shape or form represent a large majority of songs written, and we added the Social Cause component a few years back to shed some light on art inspired by causes. We encouraged African artists to continue to participate.”

Previous winners from Africa include Isabel Novella (Mozambique), Ya Kid K & We 3 Kings (Nigeria), and The Parlotones, Black Handed Kites, Blaze Blackheart and Pedro Barbosa (South Africa).

Eligibility

Participants of any age can submit entries in the following categories:

• Adult Album Alternative (AAA)
• Adult Contemporary (AC)
• Americana
• Blues
• Children’s Music
• Christian
• Comedy/Novelty
• Country
• Electronic Dance Music (EDM)
• Folk/Singer-songwriter
• Instrumental
• Jazz
• Latin Music
• Lyrics Only
• Music Video
• Performance
• Pop/Top 40
• R&B/Hip Hop
• Rock
• Teen
• Unpublished
• Unsigned Only
• World Music

Entrants can submit to both promotions.

The ISC accepts the following:

• New original music.
• Old original music.
• Music that has previously been submitted in the ISC competition.
• A demo that is yet to be commercially released.
• A previously recorded live performance with a full band.
• A video performance recorded with a phone.

The jury will award winners based on:

• Creativity.
• Originality.
• Lyrics (excludes songs that do not have lyrics).
• Melody.
• Arrangement.
• Overall likeability.
• Production/recording quality.
• Vocal ability.

How to apply

• To apply, applicants should create an account here before accessing the online application forms.
• Once logged in, entrants should: Click on ‘add song’, select the 'stream my music/video' option and input the streaming link from Vimeo, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Entrants can also share the link from file-sharing services like WeTransfer, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.

The application deadline is 23 November 2021.

For more information, send an email to [email protected].