LOOONG post ahead, I needed to talk about a lot so buckle up lol.
Newgrounds Audio DeathMatch
We're currently almost 3/4 of the way through the audition submission phase with 107 submissions currently qualifying! There's still conversations with us judges that we might shift from 32 to 64 competitors for round 1, but I will keep all competitors informed on if that change will happen or not. If you haven't submitted yet and are wanting to, you still have a week to do so! Audition submissions end at 11:59 pm EST July 18, and you can edit/revise your current submissions up until that time. Check up on the previous news post for rules, scheduling and prizes; head over to the discussion thread if you wanna talk and make memes with other competitors; and submit your auditions over at the audition thread!
But what if I'm under 18 years old...?
The question has honestly been floating around for a bit from other users, and I haven't responded yet to it because I didn't have a solid answer. This year, the limit was placed for competitors of the ADM to be 18+ because of the cash prize. While there is a lot of good talent on Newgrounds from people under 18, the issue comes into play of giving said people money - it's not that we don't want to give money to them, but more from the fact that issues can arise if you give a minor a large amount of money (more likely around $200) without their parents knowing, some of those issues potentially being legal issues. I also didn't know how to implement a "anyone under 18 needs parent permission" system without having loopholes or potential backfires, so that's why the age limit was there.
That said, there was a tiny thought that came up from us judges about putting the same restriction on judges. We aren't getting payed for judging entries, but rather we're volunteers who wanted to help and have good histories on giving reviews to audio and/or creating audio that shows some of the elements in action here on NG. The answer is still blurry, but as of writing this the one spot remaining is currently pending from someone who asked about it. If it opens, the discussions will continue and I will let you know about what it leads to.
With other ADM things, the prize pool is still open for donations and most likely will remain open until the final round - more details are in the rules post. Also, HUGE shoutout to this year's artist, @travsaus , for making this year's art that showed up on the NG frontpage! While I won't be posting the image here since I will only post it up for the different submission threads, you can find it here. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the discussion thread or send me a PM. If you're looking for other competitions, TaintedLogic will also be starting up the Newgrounds Underdogs Audio Competition soon, so be on the lookout for that in the audio forums too! (I'll be there to judge for it :D )
Originally, I planned for that to be the busiest and biggest thing I would go through this year. But on the same night that the NGADM Audition Round began, something else launched...
Bob & Bosip: Some Questions, Info and Other Stuff
A few hours before the beginning of the NGADM, a mod for Friday Night Funkin' (NEEEEEEWGROOOUNDS FOOOOREEEEVEEEEERRRR!!!) known as the Bob and Bosip mod released to the public. I worked alongside AmorAltra and a team of great developers to create a part of the OST for the mod, namely the Tutorial remix and Song 2 of Week Bob (also known as Swing). The night that it released... it blew up. There are currently a couple of videos from people who have played the mod that has hit over a million views, and the mod itself is sitting at over 50k downloads. I didn't expect the mod to go big, but dang it went big lol.
If you haven't played it yet, or if you don't know what the mod is, you can go download and see more information here! There's plenty of Newgrounds musicians involved with the project as well, so you'll be supporting them too :)
With all that blowup, though, I do wanna address a few things that haven't been asked but are bound to be at some point in time. Might as well take the time now to answer them before things get really hairy lol. As a sidenote, a lot of these also pertain to my other songs, but if you're in doubt you can always ask.
Q: Can I officially release your song on-
A: NO!
NO!
No.
no.
Why not? Simple answer: it's not yours and you don't have permission. It's about as bad as creating merchandise for a large intelectual property (say, a well-known TV cartoon series) without consulting and getting permission from the company that made the property. Not only are you taking something without permission, but in most cases you have the option to make money off of that stolen work, which is a huge nono in any industry. Please do not officially release the two songs - or any song from the OST, for that matter - without permission. And no, I most likely will not give permission for an official release on a platform even if you ask nicely because I don't wish to give that permission to just anybody. There is one person who I have given permission to upload the songs on YouTube; more info on that later. And no - it isn't just me with that mindset; quite a few of the other B&B musicians have the same idea. Don't believe me?
NOTE: Loops, music videos and anything of the sort count as an official release!
Q: Can I use your songs on a large project (i.e. animation, game, etc.) or something that will be monetizable?
A: Please contact me to discuss the details. If you don't do that, the answer is a guaranteed no. Mainly, I want to know a) what the song will be used for, and b) what the context is that the song will be played in; while my songs are free, I don't want them floating around for anyone to just use especially for larger and profitable content. 90% of the time my answer will be saying yes and giving written permission to use and credit the song; however, I can say no if I feel uncomfortable with what it's used for and the context of the project (if I do, I'll make sure to include a reason when I say it and not just say "no have a nice day").
NOTE: General YouTube videos (other than official releases) and Twitch streams do not fall in this category, but rather the next one.
Q: Can I use your songs for anything else not mentioned above (general YouTube/Twitch streams, reaction videos, talk videos, remixes, etc)?
A: Short answer: Sure! Just make sure you give credit.
Long answer: As long as the project doesn't fit into any of the above items, you can use it for whatever you wish! You don't have to ask me for permission, but you can let me know if you want - I'm always interested in finding out where it goes and how it's used. That said, though, please make sure you give credit somewhere in the content or its description. By credit, I mean including the song name, artist (Splatter, Splatterhead, SplatterDash, whatever you feel like for it lol), and a link if possible. For example:
Song Name: Swing (Instrumental)
Artist: Splatter
Link: https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/1048005
As long as those three things are included (or two if a link isn't possible), you can use it for smaller things like background music for YouTube videos, Twitch streams, Discord calls and anything else. You also have permission to remix it if you want!
Q: What if I use your songs without permission for things where I need it?
A: Well, first is a message from me asking to either remove monetization (if you have it on) or replacing/removing the song. If there's no compliance, then the flagging/reporting of the content starts up. That should be as far as I need to go, but I can and will go further if needed.
Q: Where can I find official releases of the two songs?
A: Here on Newgrounds, you can find the official releases of Swing, the Instrumental of Swing, and the Instrumental of the Tutorial remix. Becuase the Tutorial remix ripped the vocals from the original Tutorial, I chose not to upload the full tutorial song since that most likely goes against Audio Portal Guidelines. On YouTube, I've given AmorAltra permission to upload the full versions of Swing and the Tutorial Remix to his account. The Swing video is a standalone, but you can also find it with the Tutorial remix in the full OST video. Other releases - including those songs being found on another platform and the release of future B&B songs - will be announced here as they happen.
Q: I got another question or I'm wondering about something...
A: Feel free to PM me! My inbox is always open if you have questions or wanna clarify something.
More Funkin'
Other than week Bob, there's more that have been in the works for a bit. For starters, the Bob & Bosip mod is far from finished. The whole team has a lot of ideas that we wanna do, and while I can't tell you about much of them, just know what we're making is gonna be something unlike any mod out there so far :D
Besides that, I've also continued working with @JRetiroX on his mod, VS Terrance! There's been plenty of things going on with the mod, and you can find a small bit of it in the first update here. I'll also mention that we're looking for a programmer for the mod, more info here!
Also, I'm working with my friend @RetroUpgrade for the music on his mod, Elanor Takeover! Things are going well there, and there's help needed too. Anyone who is interesting in animation, art cleaning, and coding can find more info on his help thread here!
Yeah, between the different FNF mods, the NGADM, and a few other IRL things, I've been keeping busy. Luckily, with the mods I'll be able to create and release some good music this year. I'll also see if I can squeeze in a piece or two that isn't FNF related to break the cycle a bit. But ye, that's what's been going on with me, and I'll see if I can keep posted on things!