The SongCircle's contest has quickly become a hotbed for discovering aspiring artists and has helped launch the careers of previous grand prize winners Kate Voegele (Interscope), Company of Thieves (Wind-Up/Sony), Mieka Pauley, and Reed Waddle.

In 2010, contestants will compete for over $25,000 in cash and prizes for the best original songs which includes a recording, publishing and full label services joint venture agreement with SongCircle Music distributed by EMI, cash awards up to $10,000, guitars from Gibson and Martin, studio sessions with a top record producers, and more. The songs will be judged based on structure, melody, lyrics, uniqueness and performance/presentation.

The "top 12" finalists will be invited to perform live in front of a panel of music industry judges from major publishers, booking agents, record companies, producers, and media executives at the City Winery in New York City on November 18 and 19th. The contest is open to all premium level members of the SongCircle community, except where prohibited by law. Premium members can enter songs for free as a feature of their paid memberships. SongCircleMusic.com offers two premium level memberships as well as a free membership that is open to all; however, free members may not enter any songs in the Contest.About SongCircle(sm):

Different from any of its competitors, SongCircle Music is a hybrid online and offline community that offers musicians the opportunity to perform at live showcases in major U.S. cities, expose music through our unique SongCircle chart ranking and multi-media system to garner attention of industry executives and mass targeted audience, attend SongCircle's music educational events, network online, and utilize marketing tools to help build an audience and fanbase. The newly expanded and remodeled company's online platform also acts as a virtual "farm team" to identify and direct the best aspiring artists through the unique SongCircle(sm) music charts. Through its live showcases, SongCircle(sm) has helped launch the careers of notable artists such as Kate Voegele, Company of Thieves, Norah Jones, Jesse Harris, Lisa Loeb, Vanessa Carlton and Gavin DeGraw.Led by Tina Shafer for over 20 years, SongCircle Music (formerly the New York Songwriters' Circle) has been producing and directing semi-monthly shows at the legendary Bitter End club in New York City's West Village and is one of the most popular music events in New York City attracting not only the best up and coming songwriting and performing talent from around the world, it is also becoming a beacon for top music industry executives looking to discover "the next big thing."