There are competitions for aspiring singers, dancers, actors, models, bands, chefs, even children wanting to be chefs but what about for songwriters?
With a local music scene widely dominated by imported music, the Filipino songwriter has become a stranger in his own land.
With this in mind, prominent names from various industries have come together to spearhead the creation of the Philippine Popular Music Festival.
PhilPOP is a songwriting competition open to all amateur and professional Filipino composers. Submission of entries already started last March 1, 2012, where interested composers can submit their entries online at PhilPOP.com.ph. The deadline of submission is until May 10, 2012. Song entries must be in MP3 format and can be in any popular music genre or a fusion of known genres, in any form or structure. Each entry must not exceed four minutes. Contestants can submit a maximum of two songs, either as a sole composer or as a collaborator. Song lyrics may be in Filipino, English, any Filipino dialect or a combination thereof.
There will be three levels of screenings and during the semi-finals, the judges will choose the top 14 finalists. The final performance and competition night will be held on July 14, 2012 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC). The grand prize winner will receive Php1 million in cash and a trophy. The second and third runners up will each receive a trophy and Php500,000 and Php250,000 in cash respectively. All non-winning finalists will receive Php50,000. A People