Blogswara UNITED IN MUSIC
   
  Blogswara is an internet music community which acts as a common platform for musicians (a majority of whom are amateurs) to showcase their talent before the world by producing original music and share it over the internet. It is also a free-music movement where visitors/listeners can listen and download the mp3 files free of cost. The songs are released over the Internet and as multi-lingual albums. Read more about Blogswara or if you are interested in contributing, check out the page where our process has been explained.

 
 

NEWS

Blogswara's sixth album has been released today - on March 1st, 2010! Also browse the older versions.
 
Blogswara introduces Telugu language in its 6th album, released on March 1st, 2010!
 

Blogswara had introduced more than 15 new artists in its fifth album and introduced Kannada language in this album.

 


Creative Commons License
Blogswara by Blogswara is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License. Based on a work at www.blogswara.in. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.blogswara.in.
 
 
 
 

Blogswara process

 

New dates will be coming up soon. Wait for it to submit your entries for the next version!

 

How to contribute to BlogSwara:

Before you start, note the following points:

  • The founders, panelists, and participants to date are predominantly amateurs, and we treat this as a showcase platform for amateurs. However, if you are a semi-professional or a professional but would like to participate in BlogSwara, you are certainly welcome.
  • You automatically agree and understand that songs selected and posted on BlogSwara will be available free for general public to download but still will be protected under the Creative Commons License.
  • Each BlogSwara album should have a minimum of six songs in total. If this is not met, we will wait until we have at least six submissions to release the album. This also means that you will have to hold the songs from being published anywhere else in the meantime. Alternatively, you also have the option of withdrawing your song from BlogSwara, by mailing the panel about your decision, if you would like to publish it elsewhere.
  • BlogSwara does not provide a studio setting or any other resource that an individual/team might require during the song-making process. If you are a singer, for example, we expect you to have the equipment/facility to record a song at your home setting.

Now, here is the process:

NOTE: The DEADLINES stated below are abstract and will be posted individually for each release:

1. Make sure that your song/material qualifies these criteria:

1.1. Your song/tune material should be original and not have been published in any form previously (online or offline). You are expected to make a declaration at the time of submission that your song/material is your own original work and that it has not been copied, either fully or in part, from the existing work of any other artist. Submissions made without this declaration will be summarily rejected.

1.2. Devotional songs, which have reference to names of specific gods or speak about a particular religion, are not accepted. But we welcome the songs that talk about God in general.

1.3. By ensuring that your lyrics are decent and non-controversial (in terms of gender, race, caste, and a whole lot of other factors, all of which cannot be included in one finite list here) you will enhance the chances of your song being selected.

2. Form a song team and announce your participation to the panel by DEADLINE #1

2.1. Here, you have three options:

2.1.1. You may be an individual contributor. (This could be the case if you are planning on an instrumental piece, or, in the case of a song entry, if you plan to manage all the departments in song-making yourself: composing, lyrics-writing, orchestration, rhythms, singing, and mixing.)

2.1.2. You may bring your own team. (We encourage this, as this would add new talent to the existing BlogSwara talent pool, thereby broadening the talent base.)

2.1.3. You may form up an alliance within the BlogSwara talent pool for your song. (For instance, if you are a composer but do not have singers, you can contact singers from among the existing artists; or, if you are a singer, you could contact a composer and send across your voice samples; and so on.)

2.2. By this deadline (participation announcement deadline), the BLS Panel will have information about the number of potential submissions, and will make a few decisions regarding the maximum number of songs allowable and the method of shortlisting to be adopted. Once these decisions are made, the information will be made known to all the participating teams.

3. Submit your completed song for review selection, to the panel by DEADLINE #2
Points to note in this regard:

3.1. The completed song must be sent to theband@blogswara.in.

3.2. Remember to include a declaration that the song/material you are submitting is your own original work and that it has not been copied, either fully or in part, from the existing work of any other artist. Submissions made without this declaration will be summarily rejected.

3.3. Ensure that each of the following areas in your song has met the degree of completeness indicated here:

3.3.1. Main melody: Must be complete and final.

3.3.2. Lyrics: Must be complete and final.

3.3.3. Vocals: Must be complete; need not be final.

3.3.4. Orchestration: Must be complete; need not be final.

3.4. Note that your song will be evaluated by considering the following points:

3.4.1. Main melody: Freshness

3.4.2. Orchestration: Freshness in arrangement

3.4.3. Orchestration: Supportiveness to the main melody

3.4.4. Vocals: Clarity of note definition

3.4.5. Vocals: Strength and tonal quality

3.4.6. Vocals: Expressiveness

3.4.7. Vocals: Recording quality

3.4.8. Mixing: Timing-related accuracy

3.4.9. Mixing: Balance (in terms of sound levels) between the vocal tracks and the orchestration, and between the different vocal tracks themselves if more than one vocal track is used

NOTE: Although Lyrics will not be a category for evaluation or scoring, kindly note that it is a qualifying criterion; that is, if your lyrics are objectionable on any count, your song might face rejection. Depending on the extent of objection and the merit behind each case, you might be given the option to change the lyrics, or specific parts of it.

3.5. Provide artist details and the lyrics (as a Word document) along with the submission.

4. BLS Panel will complete the songs review process Tier 1 by DEADLINE #3

4.1. All submissions will be reviewed based on the criteria mentioned earlier.

4.2. Review panelists may (may not also), in addition to letting you know the acceptability of the song (considering the points given in Step 3), also provide their feedback in the form of comments or suggestions for improvement.

4.3. The outcome of the review process, along with the comments applicable to each song (with the actual panelist details masked) will be provided through email.

5. (Applicable only to those songs that were not selected in Step 4) Teams whose songs were not selected at the end of Tier 1 re-submit their re-worked versions to the panel (for Tier 2) by DEADLINE #4


5.1. The song teams whose songs were not selected at the end of Tier 1 are given the option of working on the observations and/or incorporating the changes suggested through comments (in addition to other ways of improving their songs), and re-submitting their songs for Tier 2, thereby giving their songs one more chance to be selected.

However, Tier 2 will not include a complete re-evaluation but only a quick voting by the panelists, on listening to the re-worked version of the songs. (The songs selected at the end of Tier 1, on the other hand, might still benefit from the comments, though they do not have to go through Tier 2, as they have already been selected.)

NOTE: Incorporating the suggestions given through comments at Tier 1 alone does not automatically guarantee selection.

6. BLS Panel will complete the songs review process Tier 2 by DEADLINE #5

6.1. Tier 2 review process - The BLS Panel would review the re-submitted songs and make the final decision.

6.2. All submitters would be emailed with the results.

6.3. The results would also be published in the BlogSwara blog and the Orkut BlogSwara community.

7. FINAL SUBMISSION of all the songs selected, by DEADLINE #6:

7.1. Submit the final (and hopefully the best-ever) version of your song.

7.2. Also ask each member in your team to send across a snap of theirs (of the size 96 x 96 pixels) and a short write-up to go with their profile on the Artists page in the BlogSwara site.

7.3. After mastering the songs for volume level, Song Teasers will be created.

8. Song Teasers Posted by DEADLINE #7

8.1. A short audio-clip of each song with artist details will be posted on the BlogSwara site.

8.2. Let all your friends and family know about the teasers and create the necessary hype! BLS Panel will do the same using their network.

9. BlogSwara will post the songs on the site, on DEADLINE #8