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Intel® Canada Superstars Frequently Asked Questions

 

Here are some answers to questions that might pop up as you participate in the Intel® Canada "Superstars" Competitions, as well as some general guidelines. Please note that OurStage.com is the administrator of this competition. All entries are subject to the OurStage Terms and Conditions, as well as the Intel® Canada "Superstars" Competition Official Rules. Thanks for participating!

Who is eligible to enter Intel® Canada "Superstars" Competition"?

The Intel® Canada "Superstars" Competition is open to artists who are the legal age of majority in there state or province, are legal residents of Canada and meet the Intel® Canada "Superstars" Competition submission requirements.

What are the Music categories and how are the genres classified?

Country/Alternative Country/Traditional Country

Country is more than banjos and harmonicas—timeless as ever, it's also ever changing. Deliver a song that shows why country music is and always will be a staple of everything Americana.

Country

This is any modern country that is or aspires to be mainstream, with professional, high-fidelity production of the kind heard on modern country radio or CMT. Typically, Country features rich lyrical content, with an emphasis on storytelling. Prominent instruments are often acoustic guitar, banjo, steel guitar, electric guitar and fiddle.

Examples: Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts, Big and Rich

Alternative Country

Americana, roots-rock, rockabilly, country-rock, and other hybrid genres like cowpunk…these are all acceptable in this channel. Any country-influenced music that is markedly different from the slick productions of modern mainstream country is appropriate for Alternative Country.

Examples: Gram Parsons, Drive-By Truckers, Old 97's, Uncle Tupelo

Traditional Country

Traditional Country is old-school country, featuring classic instrumentation like steel guitar, banjo, fiddle, and mandolin. The instrumentation, however, is usually sparse and takes a backseat to the lead vocal. This genre has the same rich lyrical content as Country and Alternative Country, with an even heavier emphasis on storytelling. Traditional country has clear bluegrass or honky-tonk influences and little-to-no rock and roll influence.

Examples: George Jones, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams

Pop/Singer-Songwriter/Indie Pop

Pop is infectious—whether singing in the shower or in the car, you can't help performing even if it's for an audience of one. Submit your best song today and you might just win an audience of many.

Pop

Styles of Pop vary, but songs in this channel should be akin to what you'd hear on Top 40 radio, with an emphasis on the lead vocal and an adherence to the standard verse-chorus-verse song structure. Pop rock and dance pop are both accepted here. Rapping should not be prominent on these songs.

Examples: Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, Maroon 5, Rihanna, Kelly Clarkson, Avril Lavigne

Singer-Songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who perform and write their own music. The singer's voice is the focus and instrumental accompaniment is often very minimal. The lyrical content is original and authored by the singer who is primarily responsible for the vocals in the piece. Vocals are required and lyrics must be sung in English.

Examples: Paul Simon, Jack Johnson, Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, Carole King

Indie Pop

Indie Pop is the lighter, more upbeat offshoot of Indie Rock. Sometimes called twee pop, it is heavily influenced by the sound of 1960s pop music and often features harmonies and jangly guitar. Indie Pop usually features more lo-fi production than mainstream or Top 40 pop.

Examples: Tilly and The Wall, The Apples In Stereo, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Dressy Bessy, Papas Fritas.

Rock/Modern Rock/Metal/Funk

Grunge, funk, metal—however you rock, rock out in song and share it with the community for your chance at stardom. The stage is yours.

Rock

Songs in this channel should feature at least vocals, guitar, bass, and drums with a strong backbeat.

Examples: Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters

Modern Rock

Modern rock features high-production value with prominent and professional-sounding vocals, and often featuring modernized instrumentation (synthesizers, etc.). Emo and pop-punk fall under this genre.

Examples: Killers, Muse, Fallout Boy, Green Day

Metal

This channel is home to the more extreme hard rock music. Key features that distinguish a metal song form a hard rock song are faster tempos, more aggressive vocals and more intense drum parts. There are many subgenres of metal and hardcore music, all of which belong here. This includes metalcore, power metal, death metal, black metal, hardcore, doom metal, thrash metal, grindcore, heavy metal, etc.

Examples: Metallica, Carcass, Stratovarius, Converge, Death, Necrophagist

Funk

Funk is a blend of soul, jazz, and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable form. Melody is de-emphasized in favor of a rhythm and groove, and so bass and drums are prominent. The songs often eschew traditional song structure, and instead vamp on an extended groove. However, vocals are required and lyrics must be sung in English.

Examples: Parliament-Funkadelic, Rick James, Sly and the Family Stone

Soul/Gospel/Hip-Hop/R&B/Rap

Once a battle of East versus West, it was the music that prevailed as today's Hip Hop artists push beat and verse farther than ever. Grab a mic and record the results—you might just start another movement.

Gospel

Gospel is spiritual in nature and characterized by dominant vocals, often choirs, singing lyrics based on scripture. This is a specific categorization of Christian music, but based more in a soul tradition.

Examples: Yolanda Adams, Mary Mary, Kirk Franklin, Staples Singers

Hip-Hop

The Hip-Hop Channel is for music that closely resembles Rap, but is less lyric-centric and often features more danceable rhythms and melodic choruses or vocal lines. Hip-hop music is also more club-friendly than Rap.

Examples: Kanye West, Soulja Boy, Lupe Fiasco, Lil' Wayne, Wale

Rap

The Rap Channel is the most lyrical-centric music of the urban genres, and does not primarily feature danceable rhythms or melodic choruses. The subject matter is typically darker with grittier themes.

Examples: Eminem, Nas, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, NWA, Mos Def

Soul

This is for music that closely adheres to the historical definition of rhythm and blues. Soul is often a fusion of funk and gospel music, though in order to be considered soul (and not funk) the vocals, not the backing tracks, must be the focus of the song. The instrumental accompaniment is based around a chord progression. Vocals are required and lyrics must be sung in English. Vocals in the Soul Channel often include ornate vocal embellishments and spontaneous improvisation.

Examples: Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Al Green

Electronica

EDM – Electronic Dance Music – is taking over. Long a thriving underground scene, EDM has broken through to the masses. Break out the laptops, synthesizers, sequencers, and arpeggiators and make us MOVE.

Electronica

All kinds of electronic music are welcome here, from techno to house to electro-pop. Entries may contain some non-electronic elements, but the dominant features must be electronic. Vocals are optional but, if included, must be sung in English.

Francophone

Mais suis, all of the above genres would sound even sweeter performed in French!

Francophone

Broadly speaking, any music with a significant majority of lyrics sung in French are welcome in this channel. Rock, pop, jazz, hip-hop, electronica, country…as long they are en français.

NOTE: Vocals are required for all entries and lyrics must be sung in English, with the exception of the Francophone channel competition. Any entries not complying to the above definitions are subject to removal from the competitions.

If you're unsure if your music fits a particular accepted genre, check out our genre descriptions. Still unsure? Contact us at bestfit@ourstage.com and we'll help you out.

Additional Requirements For All Entries:

  • All entries must include vocals and be accompanied by musical instrumentation;
  • The Entry must be acceptable for radio airplay with clean lyrics;
  • Entrants must completely fill out a profile and their OurStage EPK;
  • Entries must be more than 30 seconds and no more than 15 minutes in length;
  • Illegal, Infringing or Abusive Message Content, described as: unlawful, harmful, tortuous, defamatory, libelous, obscene, invasive of the privacy of another person, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful, racist, infringing, pornographic, violent or otherwise objectionable or inappropriate as determined by OurStage;
  • Violations of Third Party Rights, described as: content that contains personal information about any individual, violates the privacy/publicity of any other individual or entity, or anything that you are under a contractual obligation to keep private or confidential; impersonations of any person or organization, including and without limitation, the personnel of OurStage; misrepresentation of an affiliation with another person or organization; slanderous or libelous comments; infringements on copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other intellectual property right of a third party.

Prizes

What is the artist prizing for the Intel® Canada "Superstars" Competition?

For purposes of these Official Rules, Competition prize winners shall be referred to as the “Prize Winners”.

The number one (1) ranked artist in each of the Rock, Singer-Songwriter and Country Competition channels will receive prize packages as outlined below:

  • One (1) Shure PG42 Slide Address Condenser Microphone;
  • One (1) Inspiration by Monster® Headphones;
  • One (1) Avid Pro Tools 10;
  • One (1) Fender® DLX Player Stratocaster®;
  • One (1) One-hundred ($100) dollar Best Buy gift card;
  • One (1) One Intel Inspired Ultrabook valued at no less than $699.

    • Total Estimated Retail Value for prize = $2806.42 CDN.

Total Estimated Retail Value for all three (3) prize sets = $8,419.26 CDN.

The number one (1) ranked artist in each of the Pop, Urban, Electronica and Francophone Competition Channels will receive prize packages as outlined below:

  • One (1) Shure PG42 Slide Address Condenser Microphone;
  • One (1) Inspiration by Monster® Headphones;
  • One (1) Avid Pro Tools 10;
  • One (1) Casio WK-6500 Keyboard;
  • One (1) Four-hundred fifty ($450) dollar Best Buy gift card;
  • One (1) Intel Inspired Ultrabook valued at no less than $699.

    • Total Estimated Retail Value for prize = $2806.42 CDN.

Total Estimated Retail Value for all four (4) prize sets = $11,225.68 CDN.

Total Estimated Retail Value for all seven (7) prize sets = $19,644.94 CDN.

The Grand Prize Winner from within the top twenty (20) ranked artists in the Competition final round as selected by the Judging Panel will receive:

  • One (1) Shure PGXD24/SM58 wireless vocal system;
  • One (1) Fender® AM Standard Telecaster®;
  • One (1) Fender® Mustang III 100-Watt Guitar Combo Amp;
  • One (1) Inspiration by Monster® Headphones;
  • One (1) Avid Pro Tools 10;
  • One (1) Casio Privia (PX-130BK);
  • One (1) Five hundred ($500) dollar Best Buy gift card;
  • One (1) Intel Inspired Ultrabook valued at no less than $699.

    • Total Estimated Retail Value for prize = $5090.51 CDN.

Total Estimated Retail Value for all prizes = $24,735.45 CDN.

Prize Distribution:

All prizes will be awarded no later than November 25, 2012.

Is there a prize for judging in the Intel® "Canada Superstars" Competition?

One (1) Prize Winners from within the Intel "Canada Superstars" Sweepstakes Competition will be awarded:

  • One (1) Fender® Modern Player Telecaster® Plus;
  • One (1) Fender® Mustang II 40 Watt Guitar Combo Amp (the “Grand Prize”).

Why was my submission removed from the Intel® Canada "Superstars" Competition?

If your submission was removed from the Intel® Canada "Superstars" Competition, then your entry was deemed unsuitable for the competition according to the rules stated in the FAQ's or in the Intel® Canada "Superstars" Competition Rules.

An artist submission may also be removed if the artist has submitted the same song into another Intel® Canada "Superstars" Competition Channel.

How many songs can I submit into the Intel® Canada "Superstars" Competition Channel?

An artist may submit only 1 (one) unique track into the Intel® Canada "Superstars" Country Competition, Intel® Canada "Superstars" Electronica Competition, the Intel® Canada "Superstars" Francophone Competition, Intel® Canada "Superstars" Pop Competition, Intel® Canada "Superstars" Rock Competition, Intel® Canada "Superstars" Singer-Songwriter Competition and the Intel® Canada "Superstars" Urban Competition. If an artist submits the same song into multiple "Superstars" Channels, OurStage will remove the song from the genres deemed inappropriate.

GENERAL INFORMATION

How does the ranking engine work?

The ranking or judging is done via two patent-pending algorithms that serve up top ranking, middle ranking and newly uploaded material in a channel in a fair and unbiased fashion for someone to judge. We are careful to make sure that each media item in the channel gets equal exposure. This we guarantee.

Depending on how much our users like something (i.e. rank favorably), and how long they want to keep on judging, the ranking engine will try to get users to determine just how much a particular item is liked over other ranked items. This is why users may see the same item coming up during several battles.

Our site users who act as judges cannot request material to rank. And they have to view or listen to the material served for a minimum of 15 seconds each before they can rank one item over another. After all of the rankings from all of the users are tallied, the best music bubbles to the top!

What are the system requirements?

OurStage.com uses the latest in Internet web-browsing technology. As a result, we need our viewers to have at least Adobe Flash 8 installed; Version 9 is preferred. If you aren't sure whether or not you have Flash installed, or if your version is out-dated, you can check by going to Adobe's Flash site.

We also highly recommend using Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox for Windows operating systems, and Safari, Firefox, or Chrome for Mac. AOL's built in browser will not display all of the images on our site correctly, so AOL users should consider using one of the previously recommended browsers. Additionally, we suggest using a broadband Internet connection to view OurStage.com due to the speed requirements necessary for streaming video and audio.

If you are using Internet Explorer 6 you will experience severe compatibility issues, ones that cannot be resolved without upgrading your browser to a newer version of Internet Explorer or switching to another browser we are compatible with.

What browsers is OurStage optimized for?

The OurStage experience is optimized for Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox on Windows operating machines, and Safari, Firefox or Google Chrome on Macs. Beware, however, as OurStage no longer provides support and has extremely limited compatibility with the Internet Explorer 6 browser.

What should I know before uploading my songs and videos?

First and foremost, you keep all the rights to your material. Neither OurStage nor Intel® make any claim to your songs or videos.

Be aware, though, that your submitted material is subject to the OurStage Terms and Conditions. Please be sure to read this document as it contains important information. Note that once your song has completed a competition, it can be hidden from search and from view on the site, but it will remain in our archives.

What formats should I use to submit my song?

Upload the highest-quality audio file available, which may be an uncompressed .wav or an MP3 with a bit rate of 256 kbps or greater. Do not upload a music file that has copyright protection embedded because this will prevent the file from working on our site.

Accepted upload formats: .mp3, .wav, .ogg, .m4a

CONTENT REMOVAL POLICIES

Can I remove my song?

To remove a song from your profile, please email our Community team and let us know what you'd like removed.

Copyright infringement:

Copyright infringement is a violation of the OurStage Terms and Conditions. You must have the copyright or permission of the copyright holder in order to upload media (music or video). If a media item violates OurStage's Terms and Conditions, it is immediately removed from OurStage, and a notice is sent to the user responsible for the post. Since this is a manual process, we may not be aware of all media items that violate OurStage's Terms and Conditions. If you find a questionable media item, be sure to flag it.

Contributors: Once we get a report of a violation, the media item in question will be removed if and when the claims are validated, and you will be sent a takedown notice. Requests to reinstate an item must be made after-the-fact. You can appeal any decision by e-mailing our community team at community@ourstage.com.

If you are a trademark or copyright holder and you believe that your rights have been violated in any way, please complete and mail a signed copy of the form below to our designated agent at:

OurStage Inc.
Attn: DMCA Agent Paula Schmitz
519 CR 455
Thorndale, Texas 76577

Our agent information is provided pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 512(2).

Upon receipt of a fully completed and signed notification form, we will disable access to the allegedly infringing materials and will promptly notify the individual who posted the materials that access has been disabled as is our obligation under the Copyright Act. In the event your notification is (1) unsigned or (2) not on our form and therefore does not contain the authorization language of our form, we will work with you to obtain a properly executed notification. However, we will not be able to respond to your request, if any of the other information is missing from your notification. Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 512(g)(2), the individual who posted the materials may provide us with counter-notification that the materials in question were removed or disabled as the result of a mistake or misidentification of the materials. This counter-notification must (1) be signed, (2) include the individual's name, address and telephone number, (3) include a statement that the individual is making the counter-notification under penalty of perjury and (4) state that the person consents to the jurisdiction of the federal district court where his or her address is located. If we receive such a counter-notification, and determine that we would like to restore access to the materials, we will send you notification stating access to the materials will be restored within ten to fourteen business days. Access will be restored between the tenth and fourteenth business day after we receive a counter-notification unless you inform OurStage that you have filed a court order to restrain the individual who posted the material from engaging in further infringement activity on our network and servers. If we determine that we do not want to restore access to the materials, you will not receive any further notification.

You can access the Notification Form here.

FLAGGING ITEMS FOR REVIEW:

We appreciate the input of our users when they come across an item of concern. Please use the following three categories when flagging media on OurStage: Copyright Violations, Offensive and Off-topic.

Copyright Violation: Use this flag to alert OurStage of a media item that violates another artist's copyright. This can include sampling, repurposed images, uploading material not owned by that user, etc. (To learn more about Copyright law in the United States, please feel free to check out the US Copyright Office's FAQs.)

Offensive: This flag is for materials which users might find offensive due to language and/or graphic sexual or violent content.

Off-Topic: Use this flag for materials that do not adhere to the rules of the competition.

All flagged items will be reviewed so that the appropriate action is taken. Users are always notified when their media is moved, removed, or, in extreme circumstances, their account suspended or banned. Be aware that no immediate action will take place until we've had a chance to review the item in question.