Hello Everyone!
I thought of an idea we can do as a group or in small groups for those that are interested. We can discuss it here first and see if we can get at least 3 (or more) folks involved, especially among those that have at least some experience/interest with OurStage.com Below is my FAQ intro:

So what's the "big idea"?
I thought it might be interesting to see if any of us could pick the most likely winners for any given contest channel on OurStage. In my case, I've been discovering some great talent on the New Age/World channel, so that would be my preference to work with, though you could pick any channel that normally interests you!

How does it work?
We would browse around the channel in the 1st couple weeks of each month to audition the various song entries and then select several songs (maybe up to 5) we believe will have the best potential of becoming winners in the Top 10 for that channel. This would happen by or before the 20th of any month, because by the 23rd (of each month) the contest moves into the quarter-finals which reveals the Top 20 songs, so our selections (predictions) would have to be posted by then.

We would post our songs in order from best on down, so the 1st would be our best pick, 2nd would be second best, etc.

What do our picks mean?
We would compare our picks with the results posted during the quarter-finals and semi-finals on Ourstage. Typically the quarter-finals occur around the 24th of each month (7 days before last day of the month) and the semi-finals on 28th (or last 2 days of the month).

The finals are reported at end of month, so there will be a permanent record of all song winners running from 1st to 10th place for each channel. The "key" is to see if we can manage to pick any songs that will all be in the Top-10 and if we can put as many of them in the order as reported after the finals.

What's the point?
I think it would be a good learning experience and could sharpen our skills as to selecting which songs may have the most success potential and also "why". For example, was it the composition, arrangement, production or performance, etc. that tipped the balance for a song? Hopefully it will also be fun to compare notes!

What's the deadline?
If we can decide within the next week, say by August 10th, then we'll still have 2 weeks to "talent hunt" and post our list of most likely (predicted) winners. I think the main "rule" would be that we don't pick our own song if it's in the same channel.

Where would be the best place to post this?
I need your input on this! Will the General Message Forum work or is there a better forum for this kind of A&R challenge?

The subject title could probably be something like:
Predict The Next OurStage Winners Challenge! - Aug 2008
Please post a reply if you're interested.

Thanks!
Michael

There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself. -- Johann Sebastian Bach

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