RULES FOR CONDUCTING A COMPETITION FOR PARTICIPANTS

IN THE “SOFIA SONGWRITING CAMP 2024”

ORGANIZED BY “VIRGINIA PUBLISHING” LTD

“VIRGINIA PUBLISHING” LTD, UIC 130539830 – hereinafter referred to as the “Organizer”, organizes a national competition for artists – hereinafter referred to as the “Competition” and “Participants”, respectively. The competition is organized in connection with the holding of “SOFIA SONGWRITING CAMP 2024”.

The Competition aims to select talented authors of musical compositions, arrangements and lyrics to take part in the “SOFIA SONGWRITING CAMP 2024” – an event held by the Organizer, which brings together creators (composers, songwriters, music producers and performers) in one place with the aim of creating new musical content and promoting Bulgarian authors abroad.

TERMS OF PARTICIPATION IN THE COMPETITION

By participating in the Competition (by sending original demo recordings containing original musical compositions and/or lyrics in the manner specified in these rules), the Participants accept and agree to these rules.

All interested persons who speak English and are 18 /eighteen/ years of age or older can participate in the Competition.

All Participants who wish to participate in the Contest shall prepare and submit their own demo recordings containing original musical compositions and/or lyrics via the online participation form at the link: https://ssc.bg/contest-application/.

The Organizer accepts the demo recordings containing original musical compositions and/or lyrics for participation in the Contest, in the manner specified in item 5, in the period from 07.10.2024 to 31.10.2024. All demo recordings containing original musical compositions and/or lyrics received after 31.10.2024 do not participate in the Contest and the Organizer is not obliged to send them back to the sender.

All demo recordings containing original musical compositions and/or lyrics submitted for participation in the Contest must comply with the following requirements:

5.1. Be in an electronic document in Word or .pdf format for the lyrics

5.2. Be in MP3 and/or wav format or a download link for the demo recordings (soundcloud or dropbox).

5.3. The lyrics must be in Bulgarian or English.

5.4. The genre must be suitable for recording a pop / R&B / urban / alternative / urban pop song.

5.5. Lyrics with racist or xenophobic content or content inciting hatred or violence, as well as offensive, indecent, provocative or other such content that may cause objections or be otherwise inappropriate are not allowed to participate in the Competition. The judgment on this criterion is entirely up to the Organizer.

5.6. The application form with which the author’s demo recordings containing original musical compositions and/or song lyrics are sent must contain the following data: name of the Participant, date of birth, address, contact phone number, e-mail, biography.

By participating in the Competition, each Participant confirms, declares and guarantees that:

6.1. The submitted author’s demo recordings containing original musical compositions and/or lyrics are entirely author’s and were created solely or with the participation of the Participant in the Competition, and do not infringe the rights of third parties. In the presence of author’s contribution by third parties in the creation of the author’s demo recordings containing original musical compositions and/or lyrics submitted by the Participant, the Participant declares and guarantees that he/she has received the full consent of the relevant third parties to provide them for participation in the Competition under the terms of these rules. In cases of claims made by third parties for authorship on the author’s demo recordings containing original musical compositions and/or lyrics with which the Participant participates, the claims shall be satisfied by the Participant entirely at his/her own expense, and he/she undertakes to promptly take all necessary actions to release the Organizer and its related parties from any liability in connection with the claims made.

6.2. The texts do not contain racist or xenophobic content or content inciting hatred or violence, as well as offensive, indecent, provocative or other such content that may cause objections or be otherwise inappropriate. In the event that a violation of this declaration is established, the Participant is fully responsible for all consequences thereof, and undertakes to promptly take all necessary actions to release the Organizer and its related parties from any liability in this regard.

7. The original demo recordings containing original musical compositions and/or song lyrics received in connection with the Competition are not subject to return to the Participants in the Competition. The Organizer is not obliged to store the original demo recordings containing original musical compositions and/or song lyrics after 04.11.2024.

DETERMINATION OF THE WINNERS OF THE COMPETITION

8. The Competition includes 2 (two) rounds.

8.1. In the first round, all original demo recordings containing original musical compositions and/or song lyrics are evaluated by the Organizer and based on the evaluation, Participants are selected for the second round. All Participants qualified for the second round will be notified by letter to the email addresses provided by them or by phone call to the telephone numbers provided by them. The Organizer is not obliged to inform the Participants who are not qualified for the second round.

8.2. In the second round of the Competition, the qualified Participants will be evaluated individually by a panel of experts in the form of recognized international and local professionals from the music industry (“Juries”). The second round and the Competition will end on 02.11.2024 in Sofia with the holding of a public event by the Organizer for the announcement of the winners of the Competition and the presentation of their original demo recordings containing original musical compositions and/or lyrics.

Five winners of the Competition will be determined.

The Jury reserves the right not to determine a winner/s.

PRIZE FOR THE WINNERS OF THE COMPETITION AND COPYRIGHT

The participants in the Competition, ranked in the first two places, receive the right to participate for free in the “SOFIA SONGWRITING CAMP 2024” in the period 03.11.2023 – 09.11.2023, which includes free accommodation, food and transportation from Sofia to Borovets and back.

The participants in the Competition, ranked in the first five places, agree that the author’s demo recordings containing original musical compositions and/or lyrics for songs, as well as all musical compositions and/or lyrics for songs created by them during the “SOFIA SONGWRITING CAMP 2024”, may be used by the Organizer for the creation of songs and sound recordings, and to be used in all permissible ways. The terms of this use are agreed upon in a music publishing contract concluded before the start of “SOFIA SONGWRITING CAMP 2024” between the top five Participants and the Organizer. In the event that the Participants in the Competition ranked in the top five places are not members of Musicaautor, they agree, in order to administer the rights to the new works created during “SOFIA SONGWRITING CAMP 2024”, to submit documents for membership in the Musicaautor Association as soon as possible before the start of “SOFIA SONGWRITING CAMP 2024”. An additional condition is that the Participants accept the rules and requirements for participation in “SOFIA SONGWRITING CAMP 2024”, which they declare before its start.

If any of the Participants ranked in the first five places in the Competition withdraw from participation in “SOFIA SONGWRITING CAMP 2024” or refuse to conclude a music-publishing contract under item 12, respectively refuse to become a member of the Music Author Association (unless they are already members) or refuse to accept the rules and requirements for participation in “SOFIA SONGWRITING CAMP 2024”, the Organizer may send an invitation to the next ranked Participant.

FINAL TERMS

The Participants agree that the Competition is subject to and governed by the laws of the Republic of Bulgaria, with disputes being resolved by the competent Bulgarian court.

The Participants also agree:

(a) to be bound by these Rules;

(b) that the decisions of the Jury are final and binding in all matters related to the Competition,

(c) that in the event that the Participant is ranked among the winners of the Competition, the Organizer may use the author’s demo recordings containing original musical compositions and/or song lyrics, and

(d) that the Organizer may use the name of each of the Participants, his/her photos, images and/or voice in publications or advertising relating to the Competition and its related activities, but not only, without the need to pay compensation or seek approval from the Participant.

By signing and applying for participation, the Participants in the Competition declare that they have fully familiarized themselves with and fully understand the Policy on the processing and protection of personal data of the Organizer (attached hereto) and have given their consent to the processing of their personal data, including names, telephone, e-mail address.

RIGHT TO CANCEL OR TERMINATE THE COMPETITION, CHANGE AND SUPPLEMENT TO THE RULES FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE COMPETITION

In the event of reasons beyond the control of the Organizer that actually or potentially violate or affect the administration, security, fairness or proper and lawful conduct of this Competition or of “SOFIA SONGWRITING CAMP 2024”, the Organizer reserves the right to cancel, postpone, change, temporarily suspend or terminate the conduct of the Competition or “SOFIA SONGWRITING CAMP 2024”.

18. The Organizer reserves the right to change and supplement the rules for participation in the Competition, with the changes being reflected on the website of the Organizer of the Competition at the internet address: https://ssc.bg/, whereby all Participants are deemed to be notified of the relevant changes.