16th Music Express
Regional Chinese Song Composing Competition

Rules and Regulations

Eligibility

Category A

Category B

The 16th Music Express is opened to people aged below 30 of all nationality.
For Category A, the song submitted must be a Chinese song, which did not win any prizes in any competition and did not recorded into CD or cassette for sale. However, the songwriters can be contracted with music publishing company. Chinese and English lyrics of the song must not exceed the ratio of 7:3.

For Category B, the songwriters can be contracted with music publishing company. Chinese and English lyrics of the song must not exceed the ratio of 7:3.

Requirement for submitted entries

For Category A, all entries can be in solo or group, including the melody, lyrics, arrangement and mixing. Length of song must not exceed 5 minutes. The demo must be submitted with at least 1 instrument being used as accompaniment and at least one vocalist singing the song.
For Category B, participants are required to compose lyrics of the melody provided by the organizer, which can be downloaded from here. Melody, arrangement and mixing are not required.
There are no boundaries for the content of the songs. However, there must not be any explicit content of violence, sex, religious issues or political issues.
All submitted demos and lyrics would not be return.

Instruments and Accompaniment (for Category A only)

Performers may not necessarily be the composer or the lyricist. Performers are not bound by the same restrictions that apply to the participants.
The total number of singers and instrumentalists must not exceed 8 persons.
Any kind of instruments is accepted. The organizers will provide instruments in the Semi-final and Grand Final but performers are encouraged to bring their own instruments.
Accompaniments in the Semi-Finals can be recorded CD. However, during the Grand Finals, all songs should at least sing to one instrument accompaniment. The form of accompaniment in the Grand Finals may be different from the demo.

Competition Outline

The competition is divided into Preliminary round, Semi-Finals and Grand Finals.
Deadline for submission of works is 13 June 2010. Results of the Preliminary Round will be announced promptly after the deadline.
The dates of the Semi-Finals and Grand Finals:

4 July 2010

12 September 2010

Prize	Category A
Champion	$1000+Trophy
1st Runner up	$800+Trophy
2nd Runner up	$500+Trophy
Prize	Category B
Best Lyric	$500+Trophy
We will be topping up the prizes and setting up more prizes in the future.

Method of Participation

Application forms may be photocopied freely. Please use separate forms for multiple entries. Application forms may be submitted from our official website at or may be downloaded and send to us by post.
For Category A, every submission must be completed with a demo (CD or digital file), Wave format is preferred, and lyric for easy processing.
Demos are NOT required of the participants from Category B. Only lyrics are to be submitted.
Registration is free for the competition. Quantity of the submission of songs or lyrics is not limited.

Song Copyright

The copyright of the songs will belong to the composer, and the 16th Music Express have the rights to record the songs into the 16th Music Express album and use for other publicity purposes. When the competition is on going, participants are not allowed to publish their songs without permission from organizer.

Others

The results of Preliminary round are based on the demo.
The organizing committee shall not be liable for any damage to the submissions during the mailing process.
The organizing committee reserves the right to change any of the above rules and regulations when found to be unsatisfactory without prior notifications.
In the event of the breach of any of the above rules and regulations, the organizing committee reserves the right to disqualify any participant.
Decisions made by the organizing committee are final; no questions will be entertained thereafter.