Abbey Road Studios Film Scoring Competition Announced!

[Leslie Fuller]

Just seen another Film Scoring Competition announcement, this time by the famous Abbey Road Studios, in London.

This one is time limited, with an entry deadline of 24th April.

See below for details.

https://www.abbeyroad.com/news/film...-saint-maud-composer-adam-janota-bzowski-2950

 

[Woodie1972]

Thanks for the info!

 

[Manfred]

Thank you Leslie! Nice little clip, regardless if one enters the competition. Always nice to have something to score too!

 

[dzilizzi]

Thank you! I will definitely download the clip, though I don't think I will have time to finish it by the 24th.

 

[TonalDynamics]

Not to be 'that guy', but frankly those rewards are whack.

$600-700 worth of spitfire products (which will disappear with just one or two libraries) and a 'personal feedback session'? What is that, a zoom call with this guy?

Is this supposed to be motivating?

Come on Abbey Road, I know you're a legendary studio and all, and there's probably scores of composers who would pay YOU just to be associated with your name, but the people deserve better than this.

Hard pass from me

At least throw in some actual hardware, IE speakers, interface, MIDI controller, etc. to make it more enticing!

 

[dzilizzi]

Not to be 'that guy', but frankly those rewards are whack.

$600-700 worth of spitfire products (which will disappear very quickly) and a 'personal feedback session'? What is that, a zoom call with this guy?

Is this supposed to be motivating?

Come on Abbey Road, I know you're a legendary studio and all, and there's probably scores of composers who would pay YOU just to be associated with your name, but the people deserve better than this.

Hard pass from me

The session would be great for someone wanting to break into the field. He is a working composer. And if you wait for a sale, you can get a lot for that amount of vouchers.

 

[TonalDynamics]

To each his own, of course, and I wish you well if you decide to pursue it.

I guess I'm not at all unbiased when it comes to these sorts of 'competitions', as I've participated in a few in the past which actually turned out to be scams

I figured out that basically most of these 'contests' are producers of certain studios/projects who are super low on budgets and looking for a cheap way to score high-quality music without having to pay actual royalties or the proper fees for it.

One of them I did back in '13 actually turned out to be a front for a producer trying to promote a band (the 'winners') which was already on his own label

 

[dzilizzi]

To each his own, of course, and I wish you well if you decide to pursue it.

I guess I'm not at all unbiased when it comes to these sorts of 'competitions', as I've participated in a few in the past which actually turned out to be scams

I figured out that basically most of these 'contests' are producers of certain studios/projects who are super low on budgets and looking for a cheap way to score high-quality music without having to pay actual royalties or the proper fees for it.

One of them I did back in '13 actually turned out to be a front for a producer trying to promote a band (the 'winners') which was already on his own label

Well, if Spitfire is involved, it is likely to be aimed at learning rather than taking advantage of the people entering. I doubt the end result will show up anywhere other than YouTube.

 

[TonalDynamics]

Well, if Spitfire is involved, it is likely to be aimed at learning rather than taking advantage of the people entering. I doubt the end result will show up anywhere other than YouTube.

Think so?

Nothing I read in their press release made me think it had anything to do with 'educational purposes' whatsoever, they are branding it purely as a 'film scoring competition'...

but as I said, best of luck mate

 

[dzilizzi]

Think so?

Nothing I read in their press release made me think it had anything to do with 'educational purposes' whatsoever, they are branding it purely as a 'film scoring competition'...

but as I said, best of luck mate

By the way, if you read the contest notes, this film was released last year and was nominated for a few BAFTAs. But that's alright. It probably is a scam.

 

[TonalDynamics]

By the way, if you read the contest notes, this film was released last year and was nominated for a few BAFTAs. But that's alright. It probably is a scam.

No need to get snarky, I read all those things.

They could have a similar scene they want music for was more or less my thinking.

Or, (perhaps more likely given the meager offerings) they could be getting people to 'compete' against one another in order to identify a talented composer who has no representation yet and then offer them some more work for which they will pay them in more sample library vouchers, in other words, a sort of 'talent scouting' without having to actually pay a talent scout - just get the 'talent' to trip over themselves coming to you. A great idea frankly from a business perspective (not so much from a musical one)

Could be either/or, or none of those, you and I honestly have no idea as to their motivations.

And it might actually be completely altruistic on their part - I just think for Abbey Road to offer such anemic rewards is laughably lame, and frankly makes them look like cheap-skates.

You don't have to agree with me on any of these points, as I said I hope my suspicions are incorrect and I wish you the best... let's just say when you've worked with the music industry for long enough, you learn to take very little of what they say at face value.

I'm just sick of these big brands coming out and acting like they are doing musicians a favor by allowing them to 'compete' for a bag of peanuts and expecting everyone to get excited about it.

Ce la vie!

 

[Woodie1972]

Strange clip: just some footage from a movie, no context or whatsoever to be able to find out what the mood is, or in what direction the scene goes.
There are too many of these competitions IMO, with short clips taken from a movie, where you are asked to compose music for, but actually have no idea how. The last one I did was the Score the world competition and said to myself that it would be the last one. This year BIFSC provided a short full movie, which is much more fun, if you ask me. Of course this is 100% my personal opinion.

 

[jononotbono]

Ah wicked! It’s an excellent opportunity for someone that wants to practise writing music to some professionally filmed footage, get their music heard and if they win... meet some new people, get tuition, get a library or two and who knows where this opportunity will lead!

Man, people are so constantly negative and miserable.

 

[GtrString]

I like it, but the clip is a little short. Still, thanks for doing these things. It's really nice to have this footage to work on.

 

[Woodie1972]

That's right for sure! But wouldn't it be nice if the movie would have a bit more context than just a woman taking a walk to the front door of a house? I mean, not all movies on the Cue Tube are top notch, but I would advice to pick something like that.

 

[Composerbell]

Strange clip: just some footage from a movie, no context or whatsoever to be able to find out what the mood is, or in what direction the scene goes.
There are too many of these competitions IMO, with short clips taken from a movie, where you are asked to compose music for, but actually have no idea how. The last one I did was the Score the world competition and said to myself that it would be the last one. This year BIFSC provided a short full movie, which is much more fun, if you ask me. Of course this is 100% my personal opinion.

If you read the whole thing and watch the trailer, you get a pretty clear idea for the scene, I think. The director wanted unconventional music, the woman is going to the house to be a caretaker, but she’s got some crazy religious views and things are going to go in a horror direction. This is going to be pretty early in the film, looking for something more restrained, but hints at the absolute madness that is to come.

 

[juliandoe]

Honestly, I've never scored a movie before and any of my attempts have been garbage so any possibility to practice and improve my skills is very welcome. Thanks for that.

 

[Composerbell]

To each his own, of course, and I wish you well if you decide to pursue it.

I guess I'm not at all unbiased when it comes to these sorts of 'competitions', as I've participated in a few in the past which actually turned out to be scams

I figured out that basically most of these 'contests' are producers of certain studios/projects who are super low on budgets and looking for a cheap way to score high-quality music without having to pay actual royalties or the proper fees for it.

One of them I did back in '13 actually turned out to be a front for a producer trying to promote a band (the 'winners') which was already on his own label

Spitfire and AR aren’t exactly poor or cheap companies, looking to cut corners. This looks like essentially marketing - it raises awareness and keeps both companies in the front of people’s minds, which attracts business. Same goes for the filmmaker and the composer, both of which are fairly small - and the film very well could see a small uptick in viewership because of all the composers (like me) who didn’t know about it and are now interested to see it, and hear the score.
In regards to getting cheap music, there are a lot of complications to that. I haven’t checked the fine print, but generally they do not get the copyright, so while they’d be free to show it however they like *as it relates to the competition*, they would not be able to repurpose the music to something else.
And if it’s a scouting prospect...I mean shit, if that isn’t a brilliant way to get around not having an agent, I don’t know what is. If this got you onto a legit wide release film, this could BE the way you get an agent! That would be by far the most value I’ve ever seen for any competition! How is that any different from a regular demo at that point when you pitch for a film?

 

[EdoSev]

Thanks for posting this, useful info.

I think that both TonalDynamics and dzilizzi version can coexist. From one side the music industry obviously doesn't say what they think, it's business anyway, and they put on the table an offer good for them. But from the musician's side, this offer can work as well. It depends on his situation and so many other factors.
But I prefer a more interesting price too. It seems a little poor from AbbeyRoad IMO.

However, I'm thinking about joining the contes.

 

[TonalDynamics]

Spitfire and AR aren’t exactly poor or cheap companies, looking to cut corners. This looks like essentially marketing - it raises awareness and keeps both companies in the front of people’s minds, which attracts business. Same goes for the filmmaker and the composer, both of which are fairly small - and the film very well could see a small uptick in viewership because of all the composers (like me) who didn’t know about it and are now interested to see it, and hear the score.
In regards to getting cheap music, there are a lot of complications to that. I haven’t checked the fine print, but generally they do not get the copyright, so while they’d be free to show it however they like *as it relates to the competition*, they would not be able to repurpose the music to something else.
And if it’s a scouting prospect...I mean shit, if that isn’t a brilliant way to get around not having an agent, I don’t know what is. If this got you onto a legit wide release film, this could BE the way you get an agent! That would be by far the most value I’ve ever seen for any competition! How is that any different from a regular demo at that point when you pitch for a film?

Yeah was going to say the same actually, haven't read that 'fine print' meself either. For anyone looking to enter the competition though I can't stress enough that you should do this, just to be 100% sure of what you're getting into.

Sadly that was actually a part of one of those contests I entered (the scam one), they gave you like some very basic stems as a starting point for you to write 'around', which I imagine made it easier legally to claim total copyright of the material (which they did once you sent it in), iirc you could make royalties off of it but they retained creative control of the song.

As for the scouting aspect of it, that's a valid point. If you're confident and assertive enough, any door opened is a potential avenue to success. For one thing though, it has to be said you 'probably' won't win - that alone is enough to differentiate it from say, a staff meeting where you present your demos in person to a team. In my experience though it tends to result more than ever these days of studios/producers making low-ball offers to young and/or inexperienced writers who don't yet appreciate the value of their own work. That being said, one does have to start somewhere so I'll grant you this is rather nebulous territory - just don't give your (good) material away for free!

Thanks for posting this, useful info.

But I prefer a more interesting price too. It seems a little poor from AbbeyRoad IMO.

However, I'm thinking about joining the contes.

Good luck bro!