Written any cool tunes lately? We want to hear them.

 

Enter the Detroit Blues Society’s Annual Original Blues Contest for a chance to win the John Latini Songwriting Award. The submission window is now open and closes midnight Friday, April 30, 2023. Here's how it works:

 

The winner will be announced in May or June. The winner will receive $100, a certificate, and a complementary one-year DBS membership and other considerations.
 

Judges will be selected after the March deadline. This policy is in place to enforce objectivity and impartiality; i.e., we don't want judges and contestants to be members of the same band.

 

John Latini Songwriting Award

The Detroit Blues Society honors the late John Latini by naming the contest award after him. An esteemed musician and songwriter, John won the first Original Blues Contest in 2020 and was a three-time finalist representing the society at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. John passed away in early November, age 63.

 

Contest Rules

• Original Work: All submissions must be the original work of contestant and shall not infringe on any copyright or any other rights of any third party. Contestants may enter as many songs as desired.
  

• Musical Composition: Each submission must have both instrumentation and lyrics. Instrumentals are not allowed. Lyrics should be written and recorded in English. You may also send a text file with your lyrics. Please name your lyric document file to match your song title in some way to help us track entries.  e.g. mysongtitle.doc
  

• Song length: All submissions must be less than five minutes long.
  

• Deadline: All submissions must be received before midnight, April 30th.
  

• Entry fees are non-refundable.
  

• Entry shall be considered permission to use winner’s name and likeness for future advertising and publicity without compensation.
  

• DBS does not claim ownership of any submitted materials.
  

• The judges' decision will be final. Judges may opt to name "honorable mentions" in addition to the winning submission.

Contest Tips

• Contestants shouldn't concern themselves with recording quality or production. Don't rent studio time for our little contest. Laptop, desktop or even phone recordings are fine.
  

• Contestants shouldn't concern themselves with musical ability. Songwriting will win the contest, not killer solos.
  

• "You're the Detroit Blues Society. How bluesy should my song be?" Blues is a wider genre than many folks think. Blues rock, rhythm and blues, country blues, swamp, jump, delta, boogie-woogie, etc. Be open-minded. The judges will be as well. Give it a shot.

Still have questions?

 

Contact DBS Secretary Ken Marten at 313-657-3706 or ken.marten@detroitbluessociety.org

 

To Enter

 

Please name your song files to match your song title in some way to help us track entries.

Create complete entries for each song individually. e.g. mysongtitle.mp3

FIRST...

 

A) Pay the entry fee using the PayPal button below. Entry fee is $15 per song for DBS members; $25 for non-members. You'll receive payment confirmation. Please use the same email address and song title in all forms. You must complete your PayPal payment and return here before moving to the next section.

Please select Members $15.00 USD Non-members $25.00 USD Your Song Title Your Email Address

THEN

 

B) Complete the information below, after your song is completely uploaded click Submit to complete your song submission.

 

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