Today I would like to announce the opening of a cover/utattemita contest that I hope will help generate lots of interest in the one of the best Vocaloid producers out there today. Since arriving on the Vocaloid scene by releasing one of the most beautiful rock songs I have ever heard, Vocaloid producer keeno has treated fans to lots of beautiful and emotional music that features his masterful tuning of Miku Append Dark (and other Appends at times). So to help commemorate the release of his major debut album, “in the rain”, and so that international fans can get together to show keeno how much we appreciate his wonderful music, I will begin accepting entries for this contest from today until December 15th, 2013. This contest isn’t just for fun after all, and there most definitely will be prizes involved. As of this moment I am still working on getting some things in order so for right now I’ll only be able to let you know the first place prize, but I think it is something that might get people excited:

1st Place: A brand-new First-Press copy of keeno’s “in the rain” debut album along with the the enclosed keeno keychain bonus plus some Vocaloid goods obtained here in Japan (Goods details TBA November 1st)

2nd Place: Vocaloid Goods obtained here in Japan (to be announced by November 1st)

“Pickup” Cover Prize (not awarded for 3rd place exactly but rather to a cover singer who I’d like to encourage and motivate): Vocaloid Goods obtained here in Japan (to be announced by November 1st)

Judges for the contest will include me as well as several experienced translator and cover-singer friends who will be introduced as the contest period goes on. Rules for entry are pretty simple.

1. Contact me via the blog, Facebook, Tumblr or Youtube and let me know that you will be entering the contest and what name/YT account/Soundcloud account/ect. that you will be using. You can wait to do this until your song is ready, but please let me know what country you will be entering the contest from, especially if it’s a bit of a smaller or less common place (It’s best if we both know from the outset whether mailing the package to you from Japan is practical. I will cover all shipping costs and I’m pretty flexible but I am not going to be filling out a novel full of customs forms and paying $250 dollars, that’s just too much sadly. I also recommend that you research this yourself a bit so I don’t disappoint anyone)

2. Create a cover track featuring one of keeno’s songs and make it publicly available somewhere on the web (YT, NND, Soundcloud, ect). The off vocal tracks for drop, bitter, fix, longing, glow, and crack are available here(piapro account will likely be required, there are English account creations guides available on the web). The off vocal for Keeno’s collaboration work with mikitoP, “kiss”, can be found here. Romaji for these songs should all be widely available on the web (and in the case of “drop”, on my blog), but if there are any problems please don’t hesitate to contact me. Don’t forget to let me know and give me the link when your cover entry is ready! If there are other off vocals available, please let me know!

Accepted Entries:

-Japanese Covers

-English/Other Foreign Language Translyric covers

-Group Chorus Covers (Any Language)

-Mashups (Any Language)

-Vocaloid Covers (Not to be harsh about it but these are going to have to be pretty amazing to be in contention)

-You can also create/make your own PV to go along with your work, but this is not expected and not a requirement.

3. I will then add your cover to a continuously updated playlist that will exist both on my Youtube channel and here on the blog. Not only that but I will be sure to help publicize your work as part of this contest using things like the Descent Subs Facebook page, tumblr, YT, twitter, ect. I haven’t been contacted keeno before, but I will also try to let him know about this event.

4. Come December 15th, me and the other amateur judges who are helping out will take a few days to determine who will receive the 3 prizes. We will of course be taking things like singing ability, production quality, and fan opinions into account.

5. Once contest winners are announced, we will have to get in contact once more and I will begin the process of shipping your prizes to your address of choice.

As with any contest some basic ground rules are necessary:

1. I apologize to fans and followers living in Japan but I would like to restrict this contest to international, non-Japan entries only. There are of course multitudes of talented Utaite living in Japan and thousands of wonderful keeno utattemita covers have been released on NND, but I want the focus of this contest to be on keeno fans and talented cover singers who are living throughout the world. I want keeno and Japanese fans to be able to get a feel for international fans’ passion for Vocaloid and keeno songs. If you are currently living or studying in Japan but call another country home, I will make an exception. If you would like your song featured but are fine without getting a prize, I will accept Japanese entries like that gladly.

2. I am sure some potential entrants will have already created covers of keeno songs, but for the contest I would like to ask that everyone create a new cover work.

3. When you upload your cover, please provide a NND link to the original video uploaded by keeno. Also I would request that you provide a link to the location where you found the off vocal. Finally be sure to link to this blog (more specifically the contest page and eventual playlist) as well.

4. Please refrain from removing or taking down your video until at least Dec, 31st, 2013 if you wish to be considered for prizes.

5. Finally, I am not going to be releasing any criteria for the judging portion of this contest. However all entries will be publicly available, accumulated in a playlist, linked on the blog, and publicized by me so it’s not like the judges won’t be accountable for their decisions.

6. This is mostly just a placeholder for other issues that might crop up, but I really hope that everyone will extend their cooperation and understanding during the course of this contest. I have never done something like this before, but I want to share some of my love for keeno and Vocaloid with others by running this contest. Of course prizes are awesome, but just contributing and helping raise awareness of keeno and Vocaloid is a good thing too, right? Who knows, this might also be the first step to becoming a well known Youtaite/Cover singer. So I wish everyone the best of luck and thank you in advance for patience!

Well I look forward to seeing entries popping up in the near future! Let’s all band together and show the Vocaloid community how many talented and wonderful keeno fans there are! I might even contribute a (terrible) cover myself! Don’t forget to tell your friends and publicize this event wherever you feel like there might be interested Vocaloid fans! If you can translate some of the info from this contest and share it on in other languages I would appreciate that as well.

For those who might not be interested in entering the contest but would still like to support keeno by purchasing his debut album, be sure to visit these sites below to listen to samples and see purchase options:

keeno’s Official Album Release Site

EXIT TUNES Official Album Site

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the contest or obtaining the album! For those who already have the album be sure to keep an eye on the blog for more translations! I will be releasing translations and romaji for all the remaining untranslated songs on the album over the course of the contest! Good luck!