Hey everyone , Jam and myself have been thinking/working behind the scenes on changing the current Mp3 comp format , basically atm we have the Mp3 comp and the winners choose the theme for the following month , however we are changing it for a number of reasons which hopefully should improve the whole comp in general :)
I will explain the changes below and how they will work in under the new system .
First of , under the current Mp3 comp system the ppl who win that month are usually excluded from next months comp , under the new system we are doing away with that so the winner has the right to defend there Mp3 title in the following months comp n so forth :)
Secondly , in the current Mp3 comp system the winners also have to come up with next months theme , we are doing away with that so the winners don't have to , it will be sorted out by Jam and myself every month :banana:
Then onto the themes themselves , they are gonna change slightly aswell , we're going to have a certain amount of fixed themes , like xmas, halloween , valentines, etc , also a idea both Jam and i discussed which we liked was maybe having two themes a year as a artist theme , so we could have a thread up asking ppl what artists they would like to cover in one of the comp themes , so lets say we could have Clapton , Jeff Beck, Hendrix , SRV , one month , that means for that month on the artist theme the entrys can be any song from those four artists , obviously we want fresh recordings for the entrys , no back catalogue covers :)
We will put up a thread after the weekend with abit more indepth detail about the themes :dj:
On the subject of the themes both Jam and myself want to have a thread up about non fixed themes with you guys sharing your ideas about possible themes for the coming months to, after all for those of you who turn out faithfully every month for the comps we both thought its only fair you should get to see and be part of some of the themes you would like to see in the comp aswell :bowdown:
Finally the biggest change will be all the Mp3 badges withdrawn from everyone who has won past and present , the only person who will have the badge will be the winner of the Mp3 comp each month :omg:
The idea behind this is that it will hopefully generate more interest for the comps in general , as atm we feel everyone is practically walking round with a Mp3 winner badge , therefore theres no incentive for ppl to turn out and take part in the comps , as with the new system getting the badge will be more worthwhile and keeping hold of it for the following month will be even harder , thanks to the variety in the themes :)
Just a very quick note to , both Jam and myself will monitor the poll system as we do atm , we will keep a very close eye on the votes and make sure we have no friendly voting going on but obviously we want things fair as possible for ppl who take part , if we feel someone is gaining a unfair advantage with the above, we will remove there votes .

All change :lol: Dunno it it will improve the turnout or not, but see what you are thinking here. Personally I quite like it as it is, with the winner choosing the next theme, but I guess that does exclude one potential entrant. So long as it still gives me a kick in my lazy ass to get up and do something, especially something I would not usually attempt, then all is cool here :D I don't think we have an issue with "friendly voting" though, have we?

All change :lol: Dunno it it will improve the turnout or not, but see what you are thinking here. Personally I quite like it as it is, with the winner choosing the next theme, but I guess that does exclude one potential entrant. So long as it still gives me a kick in my lazy ass to get up and do something, especially something I would not usually attempt, then all is cool here :D I don't think we have an issue with "friendly voting" though, have we?


I kind of like the idea of the winner choosing the next competion format ...seems like one more added bonus to winning in the first place.:)

But i also understand the need to keep things from becomming stale, and a fresh start is sometimes needed to add life.

I guess this is what Eric Clapton meant when he sang "Where is my Badge".

All change :lol: Dunno it it will improve the turnout or not, but see what you are thinking here. Personally I quite like it as it is, with the winner choosing the next theme, but I guess that does exclude one potential entrant. So long as it still gives me a kick in my lazy ass to get up and do something, especially something I would not usually attempt, then all is cool here :D I don't think we have an issue with "friendly voting" though, have we?

I kind of like the idea of the winner choosing the next competion format ...seems like one more added bonus to winning in the first place.:)

But i also understand the need to keep things from becomming stale, and a fresh start is sometimes needed to add life.

I guess this is what Eric Clapton meant when he sang "Where is my Badge".



Well so far im glad to say in the current mp3 comp we haven't had a problem with friendly voting yet, but in the previous mp3 comp we had alot of it going on , but still nothing much will change in how we monitor the poll system , its just if we start getting more ppl taking part then it just needs to be clear that we watch it with a close eye , cos with the badges being only to one winner each month it changes things .
With the themes ,well its basically changed for two reasons , one is so the winner can take part in the following month and not be accused of picking a theme for his/her advantage , secondly so we can have a good variety of themes .
These past few months have seen very similar themes which in honesty isn't what we want to see , its only fair to rotate diffrent playing styles throughout the themes themselves each month if not we're gonna be having the same winners every month , plus i think it encourages creativity , for instance this months theme dosen't really suite me , im not really a blues player but its encouraged me to have a go at it nevertheless , cos thats what its all about and i might find agood few months down the line that my technique with playing blues gets better , its the same for you guys , lets say one month we have a neoclassical jam for instance, then i will be in a playing style that suites me and some of you guys will be as i am in this months where its a learning experience for you :)
Basically its to have a good variety , as i think it encourages more ppl to take part and some might even take part in some of the themes that don't suite them so well cos at the end of the day its just about having fun , thats what music is about :banana:

All change :lol: Dunno it it will improve the turnout or not, but see what you are thinking here. Personally I quite like it as it is, with the winner choosing the next theme, but I guess that does exclude one potential entrant. So long as it still gives me a kick in my lazy ass to get up and do something, especially something I would not usually attempt, then all is cool here :D I don't think we have an issue with "friendly voting" though, have we?

Well the turnout is almost a seperate issue, the idea behind this is to make things fairer really.
This way everyone can defend their title, there is no way they can be accused of setting next months theme up to suit themselves and retain the title, as Marts mentioned, it allows a greater range of styles to be catered for, and removes the burden off the winner to come up with something in 7 days, which isn't long, especially if you're pushed for time, and thats no disrespect to the ppl who have made it happen, but if you haven't got alot of time, make the time to enter, win and then you're forced to spend more time you might not have sorting a theme out, for some it might almost be a punishment.
As for the friendly voting, so far i'm glad to say the new comps have been played in the right spirit 99% of the time, and long may that continue, there were far more problems in the old nom system, which is why we keep a close eye on things.

But i also understand the need to keep things from becomming stale, and a fresh start is sometimes needed to add life.

I guess this is what Eric Clapton meant when he sang "Where is my Badge".

Well later in the weekend (all being well), we'll be putting up a post about the themes, this will be also be a place everyone can make theme sugestions, and give feedback, so everyone who takes part will still very much be part of the process, and we really urge everyone to be as active in that process aswell the comp itself, our aim is to make it as much fun to be a part of as possible, and if everyone is active in that process, we should be able to sort some great themes for you all you take part in :)