Send us a video and show us why you're the BEST PEP BAND in the region!

THE FORMAT
March Music Madness is a video/social competition. Each band director will submit a video of their pep band performing at a basketball game by Friday, February 15th. We will then create a bracket of the schools competing in the tournament.

There will be two brackets for the competition, 1A/2A and 3A/4A.
The brackets will be randomly drawn and announced on Wednesday, February 20th with the competition starting on Monday, February 25th.

The tournament will be broken into 4 rounds with the following dates:

Round 1: Monday, February 25th – Wednesday, February 27th
Voting starts on Monday, February 25th at 12:01 am and ends on Wednesday, February 27th at 11:59 pm.

The winners of Round 1 will be announced on the morning of Thursday, February 28th with the second round of voting starting at noon that day.

Round 2: Thursday, February 28th – Sunday, March 3rd
Voting starts on Thursday, February 28th at 12:00 pm and ends on Sunday, March 3rd at 11:59 pm.

The winners of Round 2 will be announced on the morning of Monday, March 4th with the third round of voting starting at noon that day.

Semi-Finals: Monday, March 4th – Wednesday, March 6th
Voting starts on Monday, March 4th at 12:00 pm and ends on Wednesday, March 6th at 11:59 pm.

The winners of the semi-finals will be announced on the morning of Thursday, March 7th with the fourth and final round of voting starting at noon that day.

Finals: Thursday, March 7th – Saturday, March 9th
Voting starts on Thursday, March 7th at 12:00 pm and ends on Saturday, March 9th at 11:59 pm.

The winners of the competition will be announced the following week.

HOW TO ENTER & WIN
The information that everyone is waiting for - the way the contest works! Each school will vote to try and rack up the most likes (or “thumbs up”) votes for their video on YouTube. At the end of each round we will tabulate the results of the links (based on YouTube’s tracking) and announce which school had the highest number of votes for the voting period. Highest number of thumbs ups wins the round.

For the following rounds, the point tally starts over (though the thumbs up won’t disappear from your video). Each school advancing to the next round starts with a clean slate, against their next pep band opponent. Though the more thumbs ups you get, the more cred you’ll have in the voting.

All entries are due on February 15th no later than 5 pm.  In order to get your entry in on time we need to receive a link to a download of your video entry at marketing@westmusic.com.  There have been some questions about how to submit your video entry so we’ve put together these quick instructions.

Video Requirements
Don’t forget the following requirements for your submission:

  • Video should be no longer than 2 minutes.
  • We are looking for creativity and school spirit. Show us what makes your school unique and your pep band the best in the land.
  • Every video must include at least one song performance by the pep band.
  • Video must include footage of the pep band performing at a basketball game.
  • Please make sure your school is identified in the video.
  •  Submit a link to download your video to marketing@westmusic.com by 5pm on Friday, February 15th.
  • Video must be in .wmv, .avi, .mov, .mp4 or .mpg file formats. Videos must not  exceed 500MB total size.

How do I send in my video entry?
We recommend submitting you video entry using either YouSendIt or Dropbox.  Both of these services are free to use and set up an account and will allow you to upload a large video file and send along either an invitation to share your video with marketing@westmusic.com or send us the video directly. There are other file sharing tools available online, so if there is something else you are familiar with, just let us know.

We ask that you not send us a link to your video on YouTube.  The reason being that we will need to download the video and recompile it for the contest into a single location for easy viewing as well as add in an intro and outro.  We ask that you send us the original source file to make sure we have the highest quality submission at the start so that every submission looks great for the contest.

If you have any additional questions about the contest, don’t hesitate to contact us at marketing@westmusic.com.  We’re looking forward to everyone’s entries and can’t wait to see the results!

CONTEST STRUCTURE
We will announce the brackets on Wednesday, February 20th to the general public. At that point, it is up to the teachers, students, band boosters, etc. to spread the word and get people ready to start voting for their local high school.

PRIZES
West Music is giving the winners of each bracket a $300 West Music Gift Card to support their school music program. The second place winner will receive a $200 West Music Gift Card. Videos will also be featured on the West Music website, Facebook page, and YouTube Channel.

RELEASE REQUIREMENTS
We want to make sure that everyone has permission of the students appearing in your video submission. Please check with your school and make sure the proper media release is in place for any students that appear in the video. By submitting your video for the contest, you are indicating that you have the necessary media releases in place for all students appearing in your video. Most schools and districts already have a media release policy in place that people sign off on at the beginning of the year. Please confirm before submitting your video.

When submitting your video to the contest, you agree to allow West Music to reproduce and share this video in future marketing and publicity without reservation.

ADDITIONAL TERMS
As a condition for entry, entrants agree to release, waive, indemnify, and otherwise hold harmless West Music and all persons associated with the contest from any liability associated with your video and this contest to the fullest extent of local or state laws. Entrants also agree to comply with all federal, state, and local laws.