In the past record companies and radio stations chose the future of music. They picked from the available talent they were exposed to. They promoted what they thought we as the general public would like. They were motivated by money. As a result we have a current structure still dominated by karaoke talent, overly sampled previous hooks, and an incredibly difficult gauntlet for new musicians to travel to get decent exposure. 

Now, with the internet and sites like YouTube, anyone can have their music heard by the masses.  Stars have arisen out of left field, only turning to record companies after they have achieved in some cases a tremendous level of popularity.  But these are still the rare exception, and a tremendous underworld of talented musicians grows causing "hit" radio to sound more and more cheese filled every year.

We at Mystonic have decided to launch what we think is the future of musical talent promotion.  Very simply, we are hosting an original song contest on our YouTube page starting in December 2009, which is open to anyone who wants to submit their original music.  We will be picking 10 winners and uploading their songs for internet sale, as well as making an actual CD, all at no cost to the monthly winners, and they keep the profits from all songs and CDs sold.  There is no such contest yet in existence and although major labels are certain to steal this model in the near future, Mystonic was the first.

Here are the basics-

Every month we will be making a "Official Monthly Contest Video" and uploading it to our YouTube page.  Click the link below to go to our YouTube page.

For the entire month, anyone can upload their original music, in any genre.  They just need to  use a video that YouTube will accept, and post it as a video response to our monthly contest video.  The video quality of the entry doesn't matter nearly as much as the sound.  It could just be a still picture.  The music is the priority.  But be aware - a creative video, or a video showing actual instrument playing or singing is always going to make a better impression than just a picture. 

At the end of  the month, that month's video will be locked from new submittals, and for 1 week we will be accepting votes from anyone who simply makes a profile on our voting page. (This will help minimize the effects of multiple voting)  At the end of the week, voting will close and 10 winners will announced on a "winners video" - usually released on the 8th.  Now, when someone registers with our site, they include their YouTube name, and this allows for us to know who the actual artists are that are in the contest.  Those artists can't vote for their own songs, but their "artist vote" counts more as the primary method for picking the winning tunes for the month.  In the event of ties among the artist vote,(which happens every month) the popular vote decides the tie breaker.  This is all done automatically by software written by our programmer and tech guru, Rick Smith,

Those winners will be contacted and asked to submit a WAV or high quality MP3 of their track, for the best quality possible.  (320kbps constant rate MP3 is ideal). The 10 winning songs will be mastered (if necessary, and yes this word is used loosely, as true mastering an MP3 is an oxymoron), level matched, and uploaded for sale on ITunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, EMusic and others.  A physical cd will be made available through Amazon's storefront, starting sometime in 2011, which will allow winner's music to be submitted for play to streaming sites like Pandora.  This is a tremendous opportunity for any artist not currently in regular Pandora rotation, however we are more interested in contest participation and overall music quality, so we do not require winners to sell tracks through us, although it's a win which most who are already selling music for themselves will attest to.

We receive digital sales data from our sales agent, Songcast.  Starting in 2011, all artists will be entitled to all sales amounts and and we will not be taking a cut from any digital sale.  For physical discs, now sold through Amazon, the same policy is true.  The amount due the artist will be available via PayPal, which every artist should have.  This is unequivocally the best deal in existence for an independent artist, and with the 2011 changes, we see it getting much more competitive and improved as a result.

 Winning artists are asked to get their music into us as soon as possible, but in an effort to keep things moving forward, and not harass anyone, we will be simply putting music up for sale on a first come, first served basis.

Important-

Artists are simply asked that if they elect to enter music for sale, that due to the fact the digital albums are compilation albums, and they are sharing albums with at least 9 other artists, that they will leave the songs up for sale.  If they must pull it off the album (usually at the request of an exclusivity agreement with some other label), it is very disruptive to the rest of those on the album, as it involves removing the album, and reloading it without a particular song, at an expense of 45.00 to us at Mystonic from our sales affiliates.  We require the 45.00 up front from any artist who needs to remove their music from an album already listed for sale.

If you have any other questions regarding the contest, please message us at our YouTube site.