Autumn Jam 2023: Growth
The growth of an artist is a beautiful thing. Over the years, I have had the wonderful opportunity to watch multiple artists unlock their potential, learn new skills, and develop their own identity. Each person has their own story, their own experiences, their own influences and their own goals - nutrients that help them grow into the person they are today and the hero they will be tomorrow.
Every year in Autumn, we have a very special Chip Jam (a music contest where we compete to see who can make the best chiptune track) called the Autumn Jam. It marks one more year that this amazing community has endured and grown. For this Autumn Jam, I want to do something to celebrate the concept of growth - I want to see what you all have learned, how you learned it, and challenge you to learn even more.
Below are four categories - three music, one art - that all are open to participate in.
Categories:
#1: Originals
Show off what you have learned over the years with an original track. Go crazy with this one! Display a skill that you picked up, show off a style that some aren’t familiar with, or try something entirely new to you as a challenge to yourself!
#2: Covers
Cover a song that means something to you. It could be a song that inspires you, a song that motivates you to make music yourself, or a track that taught you a thing or two about music and helped you develop your skill set!
#3: Collaborations
Team up with your fellow artists and combine your skills to make an original track! Allow your styles to weave together to synthesize into something awesome. When we work together we learn from each other and become greater than ourselves.
#4: Artwork
Make some art to serve as the cover for this compilation! Use a nifty style or a technique that you picked up over the years. Be sure to encapsulate the message of growth! Get creative with it.
Rules and Regulations:
- Song MUST be chiptune or chiptune-adjacent.
- Defining what is and isn’t chiptune is impossible; if you can make a decent argument for why your track counts as chiptune, we will allow it.
- There is no “theme” for this jam. Go wild and make whatever kind of track you want! We simply highly encourage you to show off your skills or try something new.
- You may only submit one song/one piece of artwork per category. You can submit a track/artwork to all four categories if you want!
- Song must be submitted in .wav format
- Tracks for the Originals and Collaborations section MUST be your own original work. Art for the Artwork section must also be your own original work.
- Plagiarism is not tolerated in this community. If you are found to have plagiarized someone’s work in a Chip Jam entry, you will be banned from our Discord server and blacklisted from participating in any future Chip Jams.
- Art for the Artwork category must make some attempt to fit the theme of growth.
- You may not submit any previously finished tracks to this Jam. WIPs that have not been released officially are fair game.
- Tracks MUST be submitted by 11:59 PM, December 21st, 2023.
- The Baker Island Clause is in effect: if it is still December 21st in any time zone across the world, you may submit your track even if the date has already rolled over for you.
How to Submit:
Submit your song to the Google Form linked below. Be sure to fill out all the fields, and submit your track in .wav format!
Submit artwork to the Google Form linked below. Again, be sure to fill out all the fields!
After The Deadline:
All submitted tracks will be collected, sorted and streamed on our Twitch channel at https://www.twitch.tv/chiptunecafe on December 23rd, 2023 starting at 4 PM EST. After the stream, a votepack and form to vote for your favorite tracks will be released and posted to our website, the Discord server and elsewhere. The polls will be open until the end of the year, and we will announce the winners sometime on New Year’s Day (unless dr0nk gets too turnt at a New Years party in which case it may be delayed :p).
The completed tracks will be uploaded to our Bandcamp page. You are more than welcome to upload them wherever else you see fit! They’re your songs, after all.
Final Notes
As always, even though this is a competition, remember that the point of this Jam is never to win or prove a point - the objective is to grow, hone your skills, and have fun! We highly encourage everyone to enter regardless of skill level.
Good luck composing! We hope to see you in the compilation!