Jukebox Fanworks Exchange

A note: since I've had 3 similar conversations on this topic recently, it seems like a general post would be useful.

When writing your requests, please treat each piece of music as its own fandom.


What does that mean?

The FAQ currently says:

...The piece of music must be able to stand on its own without reference to a longer work. You can nominate songs from musicals or operettas or other media – but if it would be necessary to understand the whole musical, or the whole operetta, etc, in order to appreciate the piece, then that piece of music is not appropriate for this exchange.

Songs should be considered separately from their artists. Prompts should include musician RPF only if the song or music video can be considered to have an autobiographical or self-referential element. People who appear in music videos are generally to be treated as characters, not as their real-life or RPF selves...

and,

Songs and music videos are the only canons you can nominate or request in this exchange. Just as a song can include a whole world, participants are encouraged to focus on those worlds.



So: please don't ask for works in other fandoms that use the song video or lyrics in some way. If a piece of music from a larger work (opera, movie, concept album with an official story behind it) has been nominated, please don't ask your creator to create a work that requires understanding of the larger specific work - you are pretending that the nominated piece stands on its own.

If you ask for another fandom or for a larger fandom, you are essentially asking your writer to produce a crossover. In general exchange etiquette, those are the VERY optional kind of optional details. Here, they contradict a goal of the exchange: ideally, when works are revealed, anyone should be able to see and appreciate a work with no more background knowledge than the requested song.

I am making this post not because people are wilfully breaking rules, but because the existing rules are perhaps providing insufficient guidance.

Hello!

FIRST: the full Jukebox 2015 schedule is under the cut.

( Schedule )


SECOND: I am going to open the challenge to podfic artists and visual artists this year.

Here's how it's going to work.

For visual artists:
Visual artists will be required to create one work of minimum 700x700 pixels, or up to three smaller pieces that add to a similar total area. The work must be original and complete.

The work that an artist creates must be a response to their recipient's prompt for a song or music video that is part of this year's tag set. (Same requirement as for writers.)


For podfic artists
Podfic artists must record a story that is based on a song or music video. It must be a minimum of 1,000 words in length. The writer must have given permission for their story to be recorded (either blanket permission, or permission specific to this exchange).

Now the complicated part.

It doesn't make sense to me to match podfic artists & recipients on specific fandoms, because there aren't enough existing stories about songs. So matching is going to have to work more loosely.

Recipients are encouraged to list specific stories that they are interested in receiving as a podfic. However, podfic artists are encouraged to see these as suggestions, rather than restrictions. Recipients are not guaranteed to get a specific story they have requested as a podfic.

Recipients are strongly encouraged to list themes and genres that they're interested in. Podfic artists should keep these in mind when choosing a story to record. Prompts like, "I love stories about ghosts and fairies, and similar supernatural creatures," or "I like stories grounded in the real world - no supernatural elements please," or "I'd prefer slash if possible," or "I'd prefer a story with a female protagonist," are encouraged.

Podfic artists are also encouraged to list themes they are fond of/ not fond of, so that I can tweak matches to try to ensure that artists & recipients have some point in common, or at least not diametrically opposite taste.

Podfic artists must abide by their recipients' Do-Not-Wants.


THIRD: I am going to structure offers and requests in the following manner.

-You can offer podfic only
-You can offer art only
-You can offer fanfic only
-Or you can offer any combination of the above.

-You can request fic only
-You can request fic or art
-You can request fic or podfic
-You can request fic or podfic or art
-HOWEVER, your requests must include a fic request. That is, you cannot request art only, podfic only, or podfic or art only.

(Note: this year I am increasing the maximum number of requests to 8.)

I realise that that could be disappointing to visual artists who only want to receive visual art, or podfic artists, ditto. I have two reasons for this restriction:

-As a mod, I want to be the final line of defense, so to speak, for last minute pinch hits, and fic is the only type of gift I can produce.

-This is the first year of including other media. I see the requirement of a fic request as an intermediary step that allows me some safeguards - especially in matching, because I anticipate that the majority of people will sign up to write.

Finally...
I'm still pondering the problem of anon periods, which I understand have a different impact on visual and podfic artists from their impact on writers. Suggestions welcome.

These rules are open for discussion for a few days - please, please feel free to comment! - and then I will consolidate them into an edited FAQ.

I could use some help with promotional materials. If anyone's willing to help make banners and promote Jukebox on Tumblr, for example, that'd be neat. I am willing to trade beta services? :)

I will put up a brainstorming post at some point around March 20.

What's this fest about?
Ask for a song and receive a story.

Jukebox is a challenge festival for fanfic writers. It is based on a theme of songs and music videos, and it uses a gift exchange structure, like Yuletide and many others. When you sign up, you will prompt several possible stories using songs for inspiration, and you will commit to writing a story for a recipient who will be assigned to you.

The goals of this fest are:

• Write a story (or more, if you feel inclined)


• Get a story


• Share and learn about music


• Read and comment on many creative interpretations of song narratives.

What’s the schedule of the fest?
Brainstorming: 15 to 24 July
Nominations: 24 July to 1 August
Signups: 4 to 11 August
Assignments go out by: 13 August
Assignments due: 23 September (six weeks)
Collection opens: 25 September
Authors revealed: 4 October

( Much more below the cut )

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment here (anonymous commenting is enabled) or email the mod.