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International Blues Challenge 2024

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The Nashville Blues And Roots Alliance is proud to announce we are now officially an affiliate of the Blues Foundation and will be sending artists to perform at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN in January 2024. The world’s largest gathering of blues musicians will take place on Beale Street, with over 20 clubs hosting the challengers and fans.

 

This is a great opportunity for blues artists to showcase their talents to new fans and industry professionals as well as a chance to win some great prizes. Here are the prize packages the winners from 2023 received.

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There are three categories for submissions (one act will be selected for each category):

 

  • Band - Any group with three or more musicians, including vocalists.

  • Solo/Duo - No more than two musicians, including vocalists.

  • Youth - Any artist under the age of 21 at the time of the IBC event. The youth program is not a competition, but a showcase for young talent.

 

Requirements for submission:

 

  • You must be a Nashville Blues And Roots Alliance member with an Artist membership level.

  • You must be based within 250 miles of Nashville, TN.

  • You must have not competed in the IBCs more than 3 times total. If you competed in the last 2 previous years, you must wait one year to re-enter.

  • You must never have received a Blues Music Award nomination.

  • Video submissions must be received by July 31st, 2023.

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To enter the International Blues Challenge you must participate in and win a local challenge sponsored by a current Blues Foundation affiliated blues society. The Nashville Blues And Roots Alliance will be holding its competition over the summer with the following activities:

 

  • We will accept initial submissions via our website with online videos. Artists will need to submit a link to an online video of them performing a single song not longer than 5 minutes in length. 

  • Once acts are selected from initial submissions, we will host a series of challenge events at local venues where acts in each category will play short sets for our selected panel of judges.

  • Winners from each of those events will compete in our local finals at the end of the summer with a winner selected for each category.

  • During the fall we will hold showcases with all the winners to help promote them and secure donations toward covering expenses.

  • Winners will then compete at the final challenge in Memphis, TN on January 16-20, 2024.

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Submit Your Video Entry For the Blues Challenge Here!

 

For more information on how the local competitions will be executed and the rules of the final challenge, please view the Blues Foundations guidelines here. We suggest reading these guidelines to understand how the acts are judged and what to expect at the local challenges as well as the final event in Memphis.

 

View Official IBC Rules and Guidelines Here
 

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