2022 NSAI Chapter Challenge: Coordinator Details

ALL SONGS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY NO LATER THAN Saturday, April 30^th, 2022

NSAI | 2022 Chapter Challenge Instructions

Overview:

Every April the Nashville Songwriters Association International hosts our “NSAI Chapter Challenge.” Our members in 80 chapters across the globe have an opportunity to submit one pre-recorded song at their local meeting. (https://www.nashvillesongwriters.com/regional-chapters-search-0) They must be a current NSAI member and “affiliated” with the chapter where they will submit, AND present for the entire April meeting. Chapter Coordinators will facilitate listening to all the songs submitted by members and after all the songs have been played, fellow members will vote on the song they think should go to the next level of the Chapter Challenge.

Coordinators are there only to facilitate the voting process since they receive an automatic submission into the next round as a reward for their dedication as coordinators. They will not vote on any songs. All “winning” songs must be forwarded to NSAI by the end of April. In the event of a tie, NSAI staff will choose the local winner.

Next NSAI has a committee that listens to all songs submitted from Coordinators and Members who won at the Chapter. They will choose the top 25 submissions.

Prizes include:

WINNERS

The Top Member and Top Coordinator Winners receive a free trip to Nashville including flight and 3 hotel nights AND a premium NSAI event of their choice. These two winners will also be honored at the following year's NSAI Membership Awards. (Some exclusions apply to premium events)

TOP 10

The Top 10 Get an Exclusive Pitch Session with Three Publishers from Three Different Publishing Companies (during this pitch songs will be listened to in full and winners receive feedback.)

TOP 25

Top 25 Winners get an Exclusive Educational Zoom session with one of Nashville’s top songwriters, Jessie Jo Dillon, this will including time for Q + A.
All top 25 winners will receive recognition on NSAI website and Socials.

CHAPTER CHALLENGE DETAILS:

Round One:

This challenge is only open to current NSAI members who attend an NSAI Chapter Meeting in the month of April 2022. They must be affiliated to the chapter of their choice which they can do on the NSAI website by going to the chapter’s page they wish to affiliate to and selecting affiliate. MEMBERS ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO SUBMIT A ONE SONG AT ONE MEETING. MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS WILL RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION.

At those meetings, each member will have the opportunity to submit one original pre-recorded song (work tapes or guitar or piano vocals are fine.) Each chapter will vote on their favorite song to advance. Members must be present at the meeting to play their song and for the voting. No live performances will be accepted. SONGS CANNOT BE CO-WRITTEN WITH A PROFESSIONAL SONGWRITER. (See language below in voting rules). Voting must happen at the chapter meeting -- NO EXCEPTIONS.

Coordinators can submit one song each. Their songs are not in competition with member songs as two identical top prizes are offered. Coordinators will not vote on member songs.

Round Two:

All winning songs from chapter voting and coordinator submissions will advance to the next round of judging by the NSAI Committee.

Prizes:

Songs chosen for Top 25 will receive special recognition on the NSAI website and newsletter, recognized in a media release, and featured on the NSAI website and social media. Coordinator and Member winners receive a free trip to Nashville, a premium NSAI event, and will be recognized during the 2023 NSAI Membership Awards.

ALL SONGS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY NO LATER THAN Saturday, April 30th, 2022.

Late submissions will not be accepted.

SUBMISSION AND VOTING GUIDELINES

(Overseen at each local chapter by and NSAI Chapter Coordinator.)

CHECK IN PROCEDURE:

Songs must be digitally uploaded to the Song Submission Form on the NSAI website (no live performances). Songs submitted by email will not be considered.
Members must show their NSAI Membership cards with a valid expiration date displayed on the front.
If they do not have their card, please ask them to verify their current membership. (For directions on how to confirm membership on a mobile device or computer - see below.)

Only members with a valid current (non-expired) NSAI Membership can participate.
They MUST be a member to play a song, AND to vote.
Non-members cannot vote or play a song in the competition.
If a member chooses NOT to play a song- they are still permitted to vote on the songs submitted.
Remind EVERYONE to bring their membership card and submit their songs in newsletters, on your chapter page, Facebook Groups and Pages, and messages leading up to the April 2022 meeting.

Again, you must confirm membership before allowing them to vote.

VOTING RULES:

You must be a current NSAI Member to vote. A member CANNOT vote for themself.
Members can vote even if they have not submitted a song for voting.
Members must be affiliated with the chapter they are participating in.

Coordinator(s) songs will not be in consideration during the voting rounds at the chapter meetings to maintain impartiality. (Remember as a coordinator you already get to send one song each to NSAI for the Anthem listening committee to hear).
Members are only permitted one vote per voting round.
Songs co-written with a professional songwriter are not eligible for submission or voting. For the purposes of this contest, no co-writer or Songwriter may be subject to a current agreement with a publishing company, record label or other entertainment-related entity to render recording or songwriting services that is currently in effect and/or have agreed to provide rights in and to musical compositions or recordings entered to contest to any such company, label or entity at the time of song(s) entry. Any Songwriter or co-writer (of the submitted song) who at the time of entry derives the majority of their income from songwriting, currently has a staff writing deal with a publishing company or has ever had a song appear on any of the following charts is not eligible to participate in the Contest: Billboard, Mediabase, and/or Radio & Records (R&R).
Any songs under contract are not eligible for voting.
Coordinators will not vote on any songs.

In the event of a tie, please send an mp3 and lyric sheet to the NSAI Chapter Director for a decision to be made.

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VOTING PROCEDURE TIPS:

Prior to the meeting it is highly encouraged to have your songs organized and prepared from the song submission form as well as have your poll set up for voting. A little bit of preparation goes a long way in making sure that this meeting runs smoothly.
Membership must be verified for the member to receive a link using Straw Poll to participate in the vote. Coordinators are responsible for ensuring only members receive a link to vote on the songs submitted.

The coordinator(s) will send a link privately to confirmed members to vote.
There is only ONE vote per member participating in the voting. Be sure to count how many votes you receive to ensure the number matches the number of participants voting.
Members MUST be present to play their song, and to vote. Under no circumstance should someone play a song as a stand in for someone who is not present
NO LIVE PERFORMANCES - Songs only must be played through the first verse & chorus. If you have less than 10 people and choose to play the songs at full length that is allowed, but not required. Coordinator(s) can use their discretion on if they want to do full song or just first verse & chorus. However, each song submitted will be played for the same amount of time.
Members are encouraged to take notes independently so that they can remember the songs they like best.

Both the Song Title and the Name of the songwriter submitting the song will be announced before and after the song is played.
Members cannot vote for themselves to avoid a tie.
Coordinator(s) CAN NOT vote for one song in each voting round.
To tally votes coordinator(s) will use StrawPoll, a virtual polling system that is fast and easy. See NSAI Coordinator Only Resources to watch an instructional video on how to use StrawPoll.
Ensure that you save your poll results and submit them on the song submission forms. Please note this song submission form is separate from the one you use to collect song consents, music files and lyric files at your monthly meetings. Those links are listed below.

VOTE COUNTING PROCEDURE

Before the Chapter Challenge Meeting

Coordinator(s) will use Straw Poll to calculate the vote. It is encouraged to set up an account with StrawPoll if you have not already. After creating an account your dashboard should look like the photo.

Prior to the meeting the coordinator(s) will select Create a Poll to prepare for the vote. Enter a title for the poll and in the description box enter these instructions, "Please select your favorite song heard in this chapter meeting today. You CANNOT vote for your own song." enter the song title and members name into the slot that states "choose an answer" under Answer Options on Straw Poll's website using the song submissions on the song submission form. For ease of use it is encouraged to create your song playlist prior to the start of the meeting. To ensure the best security allow IP Duplication Checking and select the box that states Voters must enter their name (both settings will serve as a voting verification tool for you. Then select Advanced Settings and make sure the box is checked next to enable ReCAPTCHA. Once all settings have been finalized select Create Poll. Below is a photo example of what your poll should look like.

Note: Once all members have joined the meeting you can edit the names of individuals that may not show up for the Anthem Chapter Challenge.

Once all members songs have been added onto the poll and you have created the poll, it should look like the photo below.

After you have confirmed all the information on your poll reads correctly, select the ellipsis next to your created polls title and select Poll Settings as pictured in the photo.

Once you have selected Poll Settings ensure that these settings are enabled

Poll Visibility- Private

Result Visibility- Hide Results from Public
Comments- Closed

Note: This will keep members from seeing who voted on what song. Remember we will only be announcing who won the vote and who tied for the vote. We should not be sharing how many votes each song received or who voted for who. That information is for coordinators and the Chapter Director to know.

Once the poll settings have been set, go to the Results, and set Auto Results Refresh to ON as pictured below. Now your poll is set for the voting portion at your chapter meeting.

During the Chapter Challenge Meeting

After all the songs have been shared and the memberships have been verified the coordinator(s) will then select share and copy the URL to send NSAI Verified Members a link to participate in the voting in a private chat on Zoom. Keep the link private to prevent non-members from voting in the poll. This link can be found by going onto your StrawPoll dashboard, selecting the poll you created for the Chapter Challenge. On the bottom right corner there will be an option to share, select that and then, as pictured below, there will pop up the option to share the poll by copying the link onto your clipboard. Once done you will paste this into the Zoom chat. To return to the poll from this screen, scroll back up to the top.

Once everyone has voted, select Results on the poll and announce your chapter winner. Be sure you collect the information for the runner up to fill out on the Winner Submission Form in the event the winning song is disqualified from the winning.

In the event of a tie: (this rule will apply to both the slot for runner up and the slot for first place)

Each song that is tied will be played again, and a second round of voting will commence between just the tied songs.
Using the same steps above, the songs will be entered into the poll for a second round and the coordinator will send a second link with a new poll that consists of the tied songs.
Once the voting is completed for the tie, the final winner will be announced.

NOTE: In the event of an unsolved tie after multiple revotes. The tied songs for first place and/or second place should be submitted to NSAI’s Chapter Director for determination. This rule will only apply if you attempted multiple revotes amongst the chapter and ended with the same result each time.

The coordinator(s) will log onto the NSAI website to submit the winning NSAI Chapter Member song and the Coordinator Song if the coordinator(s) choose to submit a song. Along with the excel sheet that confirms the chapters poll results. To find the results excel sheet. Log into your StrawPoll account on your Dashboard select the poll used during the challenge to collect votes. Select Results on the Results page there will be an ellipsis next to the title. Select Export to Excel, as pictures below. This will allow you to save the results in the form of an excel document onto your desktop to submit along with the winning song.

SONG SUBMISSION PROCESS

Coordinator Submissions:

Coordinator(s) can submit one song each ONLY if their chapter participated in the Anthem Chapter Challenge.

https://www.nashvillesongwriters.com/2022-chapter-challenge-coordinator-submission-form

Winning Chapter Member Submissions:

Coordinator(s) collect this information from the winner and runner up and submits it at this link.

https://www.nashvillesongwriters.com/2022-chapter-challenge-chapter-winner-submissions

ALL SONGS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY NO LATER THAN

Saturday, April 30TH, 2022.

HOW TO VIEW MEMBERSHIP EXPIRATION DATE (For Members)

Go to: www.nashvillesongwriters.com

Select Account

Select Membership

Swipe/scroll screen left to see Credit Expiration date

Note: For coordinators verifying memberships. Look at your member list on your Chapter’s page. If a member is not listed, you may request a copy of their membership card or contact me.