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Yamaha E-Band Competition 2018

What is it?

Yamaha Music Gulf FZE (YMGF) presents Yamaha E-Band Competition on its 3rd year. It’s an amateur band competition of video-recorded live performances of bands from diverse cultures of GCC, Middle East, CIS, West Asia and African regions. It’s a great opportunity to showcase music talent and become popular worldwide via the internet. We encourage you to sign-up and register your band and become part of this exciting event.

Who can join?

Amateur musicians with no recording contract

How to Join?

REGISTER to Participate

Visit our competition website Yamaha E-Band Competition 2018, or Yamaha Music Gulf FZE Facebook and register by filling up necessary information

UPLOAD Your VIDEO

Upload your video and share the video link from YouTube or Vimeo.

Important Dates

  • Registration and Video Entries – 15th May to 15th July 2018
  • Voting Period (Audience Choice Award) – 16th July to 15th August 2018
  • Prize Winners Announcement – 27th August 2018

Awards and Prizes

Judging Criteria

  • Bands will be judged based on the following:
    • Originality and quality of arrangements
    • Showmanship
    • Overall sound and control
    • Technical proficiency of individual instruments
    • Marketability and "X" factor of the band.

Katsunori Ujiie (Keyboardist)

Katsunori Ujiie (Keyboardist)

He is a creative director, composer, arranger, and keyboardist with a storied career in the field of software production, music production, and music education. As a sound designer, he has created sounds for many Yamaha synthesizers such as the DX, SY, QY, VL, EX, CS, MOTIF and MONTAGE series. He has also appeared in over 400 video reviews of digital products, which have gained more than 25 million views on YouTube and attention from musicians and creators around the world.
http://www.youtube.com/user/musictrackjp

Victor Smolski (Guitarist)

Victor Smolski (Guitarist)

Musician, producer, composer, teacher, author of one of the most successful German guitar learning DVD “School of Metal.” The guitarist for the world-renowned metal bands ALMANAC, RAGE, MIND ODYSSEY and the LINGUA MORTIS ORCHESTRA with numerous tours and TV appearances began playing piano and cello at the age of six and started studying guitar at age 11. The Russian magazine Classic Rock voted Victor Guitarist of the Year in 2005. Also the Japanese magazine Burrn! Voted him many times in the Top 20 guitarist of the reader´s pop poll. Jury member for international music competitions. Worldwide representative and co-developer for prestigious companies in the music industry, such as Yamaha, ENGL, Shure, Cordial, Thomastik-Infeld, etc.

Zak Bond (Drummer)

Zak Bond (Drummer)

“He is a professional musician/composer from the USA, currently based in Tokyo. His career spans 25+ years across 50 countries. With roots as an orchestral percussionist, he evolved into a marching specialist and a masterful drum set artist with a particular affinity for jazz, rock, pop, blues, R&B, soul, funk, fusion, D&B, dub and Latin music. He shares his passion by educating the next generation of musicians at the Tokyo School of Music.”

Yamaha E-Band Competition 2018 Terms and Conditions

The Yamaha E-Band Competition 2018 is an amateur band competition organized by Yamaha Music Gulf FZE (YMGF) showcasing the recorded video performances of musicians.

ARTICLE 1: YMGF is inviting all amateur musicians, who are residents of the following countries:

Angola, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cote D’ ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Georgia, Ghana, Iraq, Jordan, , Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Moldova, Mozambique, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Republic of South Africa, Reunion Island, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Zambia

NOTE: Employees of YMGF, its official Yamaha distributors and its dealers are not eligible to join including relatives of up to the 2nd degree.

ARTICLE 2: Band participants will be asked to register their band and submit a recorded video of their live performance. This videos video will be published for public viewing and the winning video will be inserted and used in the advertising campaign of Yamaha websites.

ARTICLE 3: Registration will be done on the following:

  1. Competition website: Yamaha E-Band Competition 2018
  2. YMGF Facebook Account: www.facebook.com/YamahaMusicGulf.YMGF/
  3. Registration opens on 15th May 2018 and closing on 15th July 2018, 12.00 PM Gulf Standard Time.
  4. The band must upload video in accordance with the instructions on the registration page of the E-Band Competition website.
  5. YMGF accepts registration via “Easypromos Video Contest App”, registration and videos will not be accepted by e-mail, post or other means.
  6. YMGF reserves the right to share participants' contact information (name, e-mail address and phone number) with Authorized Yamaha Distributors in countries listed in Article 1. The contact information will be used by Authorized Yamaha Distributor to handover the certificates of participation, trophies and prizes of winning participants. YMGF will delete all of band participants’ information such as name, email address, home address, and phone number collected from the Registration Form, after finishing Yamaha E-Band Competition 2018 event. YMGF assures that they will not be used for any future promotional activities.

ARTICLE 4: Band Members Qualification

  1. Each band member should be a citizen or resident of countries listed in ARTICLE 1 with proof of identity. There is no limitation on gender and profession (except professional musicians)
  2. Minimum age requirement is 15 years old. (Participants below 18 years old should provide parental/guardian written consent to participate in these events),
  3. The band should consist of 2 to 5 persons.
  4. All band members must be amateurs. Every member of the band should not have a contract with a record company during the period of Yamaha E-Band Competition2018.
  5. Band members should be the same throughout the event (including video entry). In case of changing members, the band will be disqualified.
  6. Each person can participate in One (1) band only.
  7. Any music style is acceptable except European Classical Music.
  8. Winners of previous Asian Beat and E-Band Competitions are not allowed to participate.

ARTICLE 5: Song & Video Usage Rights and Guidelines

  1. One (1) original song (composition/lyrics and music arrangement) to use.
  2. Video entry, with maximum 150MB file size, should be visibly and audibly clear (The formats accepted to upload videos are: .mov, .mp4, .m4v, .mpg, .mpeg, .wmv, .avi, .flv, .webm)
  3. Performance duration should not exceed 6 minutes.
  4. All band members should be visibly seen performing live for the whole time of recording.
  5. “Music videos” for promotional purposes will not be accepted.
  6. Video of performance should be recorded between 1st January 2018 and 15th July 2018.
  7. Video entry should be uploaded or by sharing URL from YouTube or Vimeo (Article3-e)
  8. Participants guarantee that video submitted is the band or any of its members’ original work.
  9. Participants guarantee that video will not contain any other copyrighted material owned by a 3rd party (personal rights, copyright violations, and trademark) and that any person displayed in the video has given their consent to the publication.
  10. Band participants shall be liable for any damage or loss claimed by third parties for the submitted video.
  11. Videos and song lyrics should not be offensive and discriminatory, either in words or actions, to any person or nationality (regardless of sex, race, religion or others).
  12. MGF and Yamaha Corporation (Japan) reserve the right to reject any videos before and after publishing.

ARTICLE 6: Musical Instruments and Equipment

  1. Besides drums, guitars and keyboards, all kinds of musical instruments such as music sequencer, sampler, DJ gears, etc. are allowed to use.
  2. Participants can play Yamaha and non-Yamaha products.

ARTICLE 7: Copyright

The participants grant YMGF and Yamaha Corporation (Japan) the right to use their uploaded video performances for advertising and promotional purposes of any kind, regardless of modification.

ARTICLE 8: Judging mechanism and prize

  • - One (1) band as Grand Winner will be chosen by judges among all video entries.
  • - Grand Winner will be granted a trip to Japan. Date and place in Japan will be announced.
    • All-expense paid for a trip to Japan (airfare, visa, coordinated meals, and accommodation) will be covered by YMGF.
      All the other personal expenses (such as laundries, mini-bars, phone calls, internet connection, etc.) should be covered by each participant.
  • Criteria for judging
    • Originality and quality of arrangements
    • Showmanship
    • Overall sound and control
    • Technical proficiency of individual instruments
    • Marketability and “X” factor of the band
  • - Grand Winner will be chosen by panel of judges, as follows
    • Victor Smolski (Guitarist)
    • Zak Bond (Drummer)
    • Katsunori Ujiie (Keyboardist)
  • - Individual Awards and prizes shall be granted from among all video entries based on a decision by a panel of judges:
  • - In addition to the Grand Winner and Individual Awards selected by a panel of judges, an “Audience Choice Award” will be selected by viewers' votes on competition web-page. Public voting will be available on the competition web-page from 16th July 2018 to 15th August 2018, 12.00 PM Gulf Standard Time, through Facebook registration.
  • Cancellation of Votes:
    Fraud and malpractice of voting are not allowed. Votes are monitored by an automated fraud vote system by “Easypromos platform” and will be eliminated according to the Fraud Vote Index Ratio.
    • - Grand Winner, Individual Awards, and “Audience Choice Award” will be announced on 27th August 2018, at
    • - Awarding and prizes will be presented to the winners via Yamaha-authorized Distributors in their countries. YMGF reserves the right to share participants’ contact information (Name, e-mail address and phone number) with Yamaha-authorized Distributors in countries listed in Article 1 for this purpose.

ARTICLE 9: CANCELLATION PROCEDURE

Should bands decide to cancel their registration and no longer want to participate, the bands should contact YMGF with their registered email address via ( Inquiry link ).

ARTICLE 10: The terms and conditions and all contents stipulated herein will be subject to change without immediate prior notice.

ARTICLE 11: By registration and submission of video, all eligible band entrants agree to abide the Terms and Conditions and general rules that govern this competition.

For inquiries regarding Yamaha E-Band Competition 2018, please use Inquiry form to contact us.

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