You know one or two rounds can probably be done by anyone, sustaining momentum/interest and staying ahead is the real trick.
The worst thing that could happen to RiffMasters would be a new start, three people participating, then watching it die slowly.
I thought about just adding to the original, making it super casual, but deadlines, duels and side hustle variety kept it exciting.
Then the points system cajoles players to take part. All that takes hours and hours of engagement-farming and backstage management.
In hindsight, I was pretty pleased with how the points ystem worked, side hustles for participation, and bonus duel points working as a
handicap system, rewarding reluctant participation. I mean, I'm a poster boy for that, being short of both talent and skill, but dogged
participation, and a couple of lucky rounds kept me in it, and I didn't even have to duel once.
I think it's either you have ten people commit, then keep them engaged however you can, have the ability for anyone to jump in and out at will,
but keep the challenges, general thread interesting and entertaining enough to continue to draw listeners and prospective new participants in.
The whole genre-bending idea, added a fair bit. I'm no a fan of cover songs either, but I think participants need some sort of structure that
inspires and forces us to think outside the box, and encourage vocals, too. Makes a huge difference in adding personality to a musical piece
and for relistenability. To compare musical submissions themes or guidelines make for an actual playing field and apples-to-apples measurments.
I've seen similar type "guitar music participation contests" in other places. What invariably happens is too many submissions end up being
"Sport Highlights Shred Bed" or "Doomy Metallica on Depressants" instrumentals. We can all agree those can be fun for a bit, but get old real fast.
They tend to be single-listen only pieces except maybe for our ownselves, hard for the rest to re-visit a whole bunch of those for judging.
Like fudge brownies: quite delicious as a treat, but you sure as hell can't live on them for too long. It just becomes a faster, shreddier contest,
and for some that's a great showcase for highlydeveloped skills, but that's not a contest I'm super hyped to jump into.
That's where the western movie theme, ambient chill-out, love scene soundtrack or a TV show theme rounds kept it entertaining/engaging.
Probably some players hated those ideas, but they encouraged creativity and I think rocked the field out of musical ruts.
I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself that I need something like RiffMasters to get me off my arse to record, but it sure worked.
Also it's summer, and for whatever reasons my biz is requiring a lot of extra attention just to remain viable this year.
