1) ELIGIBILITY

• The contest is open to songwriters who are 18 years of age or older on the date of song submission. Any entrant who is a minor in their jurisdiction of legal residence will be required to obtain and submit written permission from their parent or legal guardian to participate in the contest.
• For the purposes of the competition, a song must have both lyrics and music. All submitted songs must be original, unpublished (or self-published) songs that have been written or co-written by the entrant(s).
• For competition purposes, an unpublished song is defined as being recorded and self-released by the entrant(s) and/or not co-published by a commercially active music publisher.
• if the submission is a band then the maximum number of people in the band can be up to a maximum of 6 people.
• Co-writers are subject to the same eligibility criteria.
• Artists from anywhere in the world are eligible to enter.

2) SUBMISSION POLICY

• Each entry must be an original, unpublished musical composition (“composition”) for which the contestant retains the copyright and authority to submit and perform the composition in the contest. The ROAD TO MEMPHIS and TUFF.EARTH are not responsible and disclaims any liability for late, lost, damaged, misdirected, postage-due, stolen, or misappropriated entries or for any errors in online submissions, including, but not limited to unsuccessful file uploads. Materials submitted will not be returned and ROAD TO MEMPHIS and TUFF.EARTH reserve the right to dispose of all submitted material in any manner.
• The competition close date will be October 9 2023.

3) COSTS TO ENTER

• Entries are free to enter.

4) FINALIST AND WINNER SELECTION

• Finalists: The semi finalists will be chosen by a panel of judges and public voting may also weigh in on the decision; these will be announced in Q4 of 2023 via the Road to Memphis social channels and are subject to change. The Top 10 contestants will also be announced in Q4 of 2023, one month prior to the date of the live final. The winner will be announced at the live final event with the top ten finalists performing live in Memphis.

Winner: Judges will select one of the ten finalists as a winner. Prizes TBC.

5) THE FINALS 

• Subject to covid restrictions all finalists chosen to perform on the live final in Memphis, will have flights and accommodation provided.
• The Road to Memphis is judged on the strength of both the lyrics and the music. 
• The format for the finals is as follows: each of the ten finalists will perform their original song submitted to the contest in front of a panel of judges and a live audience. From the ten semifinalists, the overall winner will then be selected.

6) PRIZES 

TBC

7) NOTIFICATIONS & WAIVERS

– Selected finalists will be notified by email and each winner must provide the following items to be eligible to compete in The Road to Memphis International Song Contest finals:

(i) an affidavit confirming

(a) that the winner meets the contest eligibility requirements,

(b) that his or her composition is original,

(c) that they own the copyright in the composition;

(ii) a performance license and mechanical and synchronization licenses for audio and video recording rights; and

(iii) a publicity release (collectively, the “Affidavit”), all within 14 days of the notification date. The failure to sign and return the Affidavit within Fourteen (14) Days or the submission of false or inaccurate information will result in immediate disqualification and an alternate winner will be selected for the applicable regional or general round. Affidavits for winners under 18 years of age at the time of submission must be countersigned by a parent or legal guardian. All Affidavits are subject to verification by  TUFF.EARTH and its agents. Each contestant’s submission constitutes his or her permission to use his or her name, likeness, and voice for future advertising and publicity purposes without additional consideration.

TUFF.EARTH retain the exclusive right to use in perpetuity any media inclusive of ancillary rights created in conjunction with the Road to Memphis including but not limited to; live recordings, video and photographs, social media posts, workshops. Participants grant TUFF.EARTH the use of this archival material in perpetuity.

8) RESTRICTIONS

This contest is void where prohibited. All federal, state, and local laws, regulations, rules, and ordinances apply.

• Entries must be original songs.
• Submissions are not subject to a time limit. But if you are selected as one of our ten finalists, your live performance of one original songs on the finals contest stage must meet a strict six (6) minute time limit.
• The song MUST be performed live by either a chosen singer / band or the original writer.
• Co-written songs may be submitted

9)  LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

TUFF.EARTH reserves the right to hold void, suspend, cancel, or amend the event or any feature thereof at any time, with or without notice, where in the Promoter’s opinion it

becomes necessary to do so. Insofar as is permitted by law, the Promoter, its agents or distributors will not in any circumstances be responsible or liable to compensate entrants or their representatives, or

accept any liability for any loss, damage, personal injury or death occurring as a result of

participating in the event.

10)  CONTENT

We do NOT claim ownership in the materials you submit in conjunction with the Contest. Such materials include written text, files, images, photos, video, songs, lyrics, poetry, sounds, musical works, works of authorship, remarks, suggestions, ideas, graphics, tags, hashtags, genres, splits, ownership splits, identifiable numbers, identifiable codes, songwriter name, personal identifiable information, copyright registration information, affiliated companies or individuals, rights holder, administrator, publisher, or any other materials (collectively, “Content”) that you display, upload, transfer, publish, or post to roadtonashville.us, whether public or private. By submitting any Content through the Contest, whether public or private, you hereby grant to us a limited, non-exclusive license to use, stream, transmit, beam, store, publicly display, translate, reproduce, and distribute such Content, in any format, whether known or unknown, including the limited right to use your likeness, persona, logo, trademark, and right(s) of publicity ONLY for purposes of the Contest. By entering the Contest, you represent and warrant that your entry is an original work and that the content does not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, trademarks, contract rights or any other rights of any person or business. You further agree to indemnify and hold The Road to Nashville, contest judges and screeners, and all contest sponsors, their subsidiaries, and affiliates, and their respective officers, agents, partners and employees, harmless from any loss, liability, claim, or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of any breach of your representations and warranties set forth above and/or if any part of the entry causes The Road to Nashville to be liable to another.

11) EXPLANATION OF RIGHTS

• The writer(s) retains all rights to submitted songs.