Here's a list of the questions. Scroll down for the answers.
01.) What the hell is a "compo?"
02.) Does my song have to be written specifically for this compo?
03.) Why do you have to vote to be able to enter a song?
04.) Who all can enter? Do I have to be part of the tracking scene?
05.) Am I allowed to vote for my own song?
06.) What's the deal with the 3 genres for the preliminary rounds?
07.) What exactly ARE the 3 genres? They look kinda broad.
08.) Why don't you allow music in tracked file formats? Didn't you used to be real big on using native tracked
formats instead of MP3?
09.) Hey, you're that jerk who wrote all that really obnoxious know-it-all stuff about music and tracking on your
website 5 years ago! And I have such a complete lack of a life that I still hate you for it 5 years later!
10.) This is a really dumb compo idea, and you should run it MY way instead.
11.) So, uh, what's with the old dude up in the corner? He looks kinda out-of-place here.
01.) What the hell is a "compo?"
Long-story-short, "compo" is a European abbreviation for "competition." The Novus Compo is an online music competition
run by me, Novus. Hence, "The Novus Compo." :)
02.) Does my song have to be written specifically for this compo?
Nope, not at all. You can if you want to, but it's not required. Feel free to enter a song you wrote last week,
last month, last year, hell, last DECADE!
03.) Why do you have to vote to be able to enter a song?
To cut down on freeloaders. :) When you run a compo like this one, finding contestants is easy. Finding voters, however, is
hard. And I have no time or patience for musicians who expect others to download and vote on THEIR songs but who couldn't
be bothered to download and vote on someone ELSE's songs. In The Novus Compo, if you want to receive, first you have to
give.
04.) Who all can enter? Do I have to be part of the tracking scene?
ANYONE can enter The Novus Compo. A former tracker, a current tracker, a MIDI musician, a DJ layin' down phat beats in his
basement, an American Idol contestant, the garage band down the street... ANYONE!
05.) Am I allowed to vote for my own song?
Absolutely, yes! Don't be shy! All I want from you when you vote is honesty in your ballot. If you truly and
honestly believe that your own song is the best in the bunch, by all means, put it in 1st place. If
you think another song is better, then vote accordingly. Beyond that, I'll just trust you to do the right thing.
06.) What's the deal with the 3 genres for the preliminary rounds?
One of the biggest complaints I heard back when I was running my two previous compos, CMC and MIC, was that there were
certain harsher genres that I was neglecting. I tried not to be too exclusionary about musical genres that I didn't
particularly like, but hey, I'm human. I have biases and preferences. So do you. Anyway, splitting things up into 3
rounds based on genre seemed to me to be the best way of minimizing the effects of my own personal musical tastes.
And since each of the 3 genre-winners advances to the Overall Round, that means that the Overall Round will always
be represented by at least 1 song from each of those 3 genres.
07.) What exactly ARE the 3 genres? They look kinda broad.
Yes, they are broad. 3 seemed like a good number to aim for, and I tried to draw broad genre lines that still
made some intuitive sense just based on the names: Pop/Rock, Fantasy/Ambient, and Dance/Electronica.
But if you're still confused, here's more detail. Keep in mind that this is all very subjective,
there's a lot of overlap between genres, and trying to nail down definitions here is like trying to nail an ocean wave to
the beach. I'm not trying to set myself up as the Ultimate Authority In Assigning Songs To Genres. But for the purposes
of running this compo, I have to put your song somewhere, so at least this way we're on the same page.
- POP/ROCK is pretty self-explanatory. Pretty much anything you'd hear on a Top 40, adult
contemporary or modern rock radio station would go here, and anything urban or hip-hop would probably go here too. These
songs tend to be fairly short, with simple catchy melodies and rhythms, though there are significant exceptions.
- FANTASY/AMBIENT is the stuff of movie soundtracks, classical music, soundscapes
and New Age, pretty much the softer side of music. These songs
tend to require a bit more "effort" to listen to and enjoy than Pop/Rock, and the melodies and arrangements can be quite
complex.
- DANCE/ELECTRONICA is anything with a hard driving dance beat or a strong electronica
sound. Dance, dream, happy hardcore, trance, drum'n'bass, jungle, and even some industrial would all go in this category.
When you enter a song, I'll ask you to pick one of those 3 genres for your song. I'll usually just take your word for
it, but in cases that are way off, I reserve the right to re-assign your song. I'll try to save that for really
obvious cases though. Or if you're not sure, you can always leave it blank and let me decide. :)
08.) Why don't you allow music in tracked file formats? Didn't you used to be real big on using native tracked
formats instead of MP3?
Used to be, yes. Hell, I still am. I also think No Doubt and Gwen Stefani should've stuck to their ska-rock roots,
that the L.A. Galaxy shouldn't have wasted their money on Beckham, and that the Libertarian Party deserves far more
attention and influence in American politics. But hey, nobody listens to me about any of that either. :)
So yeah, MP3 or similar formats only. I'm not wasting any more time doing CPR on the old tracker music formats. Making
this an MP3 compo is basically my concession to reality. Most people out there think this represents "progress." I
don't. But you already knew that, and there's no point in re-opening that debate again. Not that some people won't try,
and that brings us to the next question...
09.) Hey, you're that jerk who wrote all that really obnoxious know-it-all stuff about music and tracking on your
website 5 years ago! And I have such a complete lack of a life that I still hate you for it 5 years later!
Really? That's nice. Now go away.
10.) This is a really dumb compo idea, and you should run it MY way instead.
Actually, I have an idea for you too: why not start up your own compo? I'll be glad to link to it, and we can go
head-to-head for the most visitors and the best songs. A little healthy competition can be a good thing. :)
What I won't do, however, is get into a public or private debate about how I should run this compo. I
have my reasons for running things this way, and I think I have some idea of what I'm doing. Maybe you have some idea of
what you're doing too, but please: apply it to your compo, not mine. Any time I spend debating about my compo is time
that I'd much rather spend actully running the darn thing.
11.) So, uh, what's with the old dude up in the corner? He looks kinda out-of-place here.
Yeah, but if you think he's out of place here, you should've seen him on the banking website I got that image from. ;)
I have no idea who he is or why he's
holding a record in one hand, flashing the goat-sign with the other, all while being blinged-out and wearing kinda
sketchily ghetto-fabulous clothes. No clue whatsoever. But at the same time, he looks kinda cool, doesn't he? He's like
the harmless old codger down the road who charms all the widows at the senior center and listens to old Grandmaster Flash
records for all the right reasons. Or something. So, what the hell, there he is, up in the corner, and he looks like
he's having fun. And so am I. :)
