On Audius, artists have the ability to host remix contests natively in-app, giving them an easy way to share, judge and approve submissions through an easy to use interface.
In this article, we’ll walk you through how to host and join remix contests on Audius, why you should do it, and give a couple tips on how to gain the most traction when you do.
We invite those hosting remix contests to spread the word in the Audius Community Discord, as the more submissions you receive, the better your chance at discovering a true gem!
When uploading a track, you’ll notice an option to add stems.
Other artists will be able to download the stems to in a remixes, so be sure to incorporate all the individual elements (vox, bass, synths, etc.) and tag them as necessary.
After uploading all the stems, you’ll want to make sure to highlight that this track is having a remix contest both in the Title and Description of your track. Here’s a great example of a remix contest from UZ showcasing the different stems and the submission deadline (December 16th).
Looking at this remix contest from Pauline Herr, you’ll notice that a pink check mark in the bottom right marking a remix as ‘Verified’. This means that Pauline gave it a stamp of approval either in the form of a like or a repost. Not all Verified remixes receive a prize or official release, but it’s a great way to show your community social signal that their hard work is appreciated.
If you’re planning on hosting a remix contest, we strongly suggest setting up a live stream to showcase the top remixes to your fans!
As an artist hosting a remix contest, you get to:
Hear your original work re-interpreted in a diversity of styles, sounds, and genres.
In addition to the artists within your own reach, the Audius community is filled with incredibly talented artists from all over the musical universe that can show you what your work sounds like from different perspectives and across musical languages (a deep-fried hyperpop remix of your trap ballad? easy!)
Open up creative new connections.
Find new collaborators and creative relationships from those who submitted and got your attention in a context that’s already highly self-selected.
Deepen existing creative relationships.
Invite friends to come blow you away with their take on your track and build a shared body of work (and memories!) together.
Have your work presented to a much larger audience.
The audience on a remix contest is the combined respective audiences of all those who submit to your remix contest. If you have 20 submissions by artists who each have an average of 500 followers - that’s a combined 10,000 potential organic reach!
These items alone are a few ways that remix contests can give you release a longer shelf life. What’s to lose?
As an artist, you can easily join a remix contest or link a remix to an existing track using the ‘This is a remix’ filter.
When uploading a track, clicking this field will prompt you to paste a link to the track being remixed.
And that's it! Once you complete your upload, it will show up as a remix of the tagged track.
As an artist joining a remix contest, you get to:
Be heard by your idols.
Take place in their remix contest and know with high certainty that your music will be heard. If you’re lucky, it might even take place in a live listening party on Twitch or Instagram where you can experience their real-time reactions, constructive feedback, and maybe an invitation to connect further beyond the contest.
Get more ears on your release than you could by uploading alone.
Remix contests benefit from the combined total attention driven by all the participating artists directing their audiences to it, in some cases, with a major artist pushing them. Some remix contests even have prizes for their winners like a release with a highly-respected label.
Breakthrough creative blocks.
A deadline. A set of samples. A community of other artists tackling the same creative prompt. Prizes for winning. There are few remedies for breaking out of a creative block like entering a remix contest.
For anyone looking to make a name on Audius, look no further than the suite of remix contests happening every month. This is your chance to shine, and we’re here to encourage you to get started!
Remix contests are a great way to build community on Audius. As an artist releasing original content, remixes give your track new life while Audius allows you to easily host the contest with no up-front costs.
For up and coming acts, remixing public content allows you to be discovered by new listeners of the original artist - offering a nice growth tactic to supplement your existing release strategy.
To get the most out of remix contests, make sure to properly market your own contest or spread the word about your submission when entering.
At the end of the day, Audius is all about community and remix contests are just one facet of what that looks like.
Be on the lookout for many other ways to engage your community coming to Audius in 2021 but for now, show us those remixes!
