This post offers a look into how the Music category will be reviewed.
With the posting of this article - we encourage creators to reply to this thread to share their submission and provide insights on what they would do with the prize money.
Please keep in mind that these are merely guiding principles, and each judge will make their own objective decisions on how they allocate their votes.
Key Points
In total - the Music category received 755 submissions.
300,000 OP will be rewarded to 47 winners as follows:
1st tier: 50K OP (2 winners)
2nd tier: 20K OP (5 winners)
3rd tier: 7K OP (10 winners)
4th tier: 1K OP (30 winners)
The judges for this category are:
Schedule
The competition will proceed as follows:
Feb 1st - Feb 15th: Round 1
Feb 12th - Feb 15th: Round 2 & Round 3
Feb 16th: Category Livestreams
Feb 19th: Winners announced
KYC will begin after Round 2 while category livestreams will be announced to the community with the top 17 creators appearing on the stream (artist attendance is optional)
The final winners will be announced Feb 19th at 2pm UTC.
Round 1
Each judge receives a randomized list of submissions.They get to assign 25 votes to their submission sheet with all voted submissions will pass to round 2.
Each judge also receives an additional 10 votes to assign towards submissions put in other Judge’s sheets. This will ensure judges feel as though they can judge the entire category vs just the randomized ones given to them.
There will also be a “spam” section which we have allocated, please flag if you think any of them are not spam as well and we will add them to the voting pool.
Goal: 100 - 150 top submissions in the Music category
Round 2
Judges allocate 20 votes to songs which made it through Round 1 and can include multiple votes to the same piece.
Submissions will be ranked according to the number of total votes received.
KYC will run in tandem with the judging process.
Final 47 pool of artists per category will need to enter KYC to ensure they can receive the OP prizes
Each artist needs to pass KYC before the Feb 15th deadline, in order to confirm they are in the running to win a prize.
Failure to complete KYC on time will result in exclusion from the program.
Goal: Top 47 submissions + KYC begins
Round 3
We do not want judges to feel pressured to pick 50K OP winners from an excel sheet alone.
Instead, we want to also make it fun for the community.
Of the top 47 submissions, the bottom 30 will be 1K OP prize winners but will not be announced to the public until the final winners’ livestream.
The top 17 submissions will enter a LIVESTREAM on Unlonely where we can learn more about them (its onchain American Idol!)
Once these are done, we will enter the final judging period where judges can assign who out of the 17 creators gets the grand prizes of 50K, 20K, 7K OP.
Music Finale
In partnership with Unlonely - finalists for the Music category will be invited to join a livestream with select judges to share their submissions.
The final winners will be announced on Feb 19th!
What We’re Looking For?
Winners of the prizes should authentically represent the values and missions of the Optimism Collective and promote the growth of the network at large. The judges will do their best to ensure that prizes are distributed to those who best fit the overarching criteria - as opposed to which song(s) have the most mints or volume. Please keep in mind that number of mints or volume does not correlate to a specific prize.
As outlined in the contest - the following criteria will be used to assess each submission:
Originality - Does the art have a unique perspective? Does it have an original voice? (not singing voice, but a unique tone, texture and perspective)
Creativity - How creatively has the creator conveyed their message or idea?
Conceptual Depth - Does the work communicate some underlying meaning beyond its visual or auditory effect?
Aesthetic Impact - How impressed are the judges with the overall quality and execution of the art?
Other quantitative variables which may play into the judging including but are not limited to:
First onchain activity vs web3 native
Stage in career (ie, consider the recourses, or lack thereof, the contestant might have for production mixing and mastering)
Historical impact
Community involvement
Consistency and accountability
To influence these ratings - the following intentions will be taken into consideration:
Is there a strong relationship between the cover art and song?
Does the song demonstrate a high level of production quality?
Was there a clear presentation and effort put into the submission?
Does it have an “it” factor?
Is this artist excited about winning?
Are they actively talking about the contest?
Was this the artists first *ever* mint?
Top Prizes
Specifically for the top prizes (1st and 2nd Tiers) judges will assess whether a submission has articulated the wider intention for the rewards.
1st and 2nd Tier winners are expected to have a clear understanding of how they plan to use the tokens to further the intention of their submission and create ongoing value for onchain music and the Superchain.
Judges will seek to maintain an active relationship with 1st and 2nd Tier winners to ensure tokens are being used in their intended manner and to provide support on achieving the intended outcomes.
Disqualifications
Judges will narrow down submissions based on spam and authenticity.
There were numerous entries from people pretending to be another artist or submitting on their another’s behalf.The judges will cross-reference the submissions with the deployer address to ensure the submissions are valid.
Furthermore - judges will also filter the Creator Bios and Submission Description to weed out any submissions that were not given a serious amount of time or effort.
Further Questions?
This competition is the first of its kind so we might get some things wrong.
For questions, comments and concerns - please DM @earemu or join the Optimism Discord.Please refrain from looking to influence or sway the decision of any one judge. Winners will be selected by the collective judges as a whole.
Thank you for participating!
We <3 the Music
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