The NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition is one of North America’s premier showcases of emerging performers and songwriters across an array of genres.

Our goal is to identify the truly exceptional artists and to work closely with them to develop their careers and introduce their music to a broader, international audience, and to build a supportive community of performers and songwriters across all genres of music

Our independent and award-winning record label, established to work hand in hand with truly exceptional talent that we identify within our community of artists.

The contest is open to songwriters who are 18 years of age or older on the date of song submission. Any entrant who is a minor in his or her jurisdiction of legal residence will be required to obtain and submit written permission from his or her parent or legal guardian to participate in the contest. Employees of NewSong Music, their families, subsidiaries, and affiliates are not eligible.
For the purposes of the competition, a song must have both lyrics and music and can be of any genre. All submitted songs must be original, unpublished (or self-published) songs that have been written or co-written by the entrant(s). An unpublished song is defined as being recorded and self-released by the entrant(s) and/or not co-published by a commercially active music publisher. Co-writers are subject to the same eligibility criteria. Past grand prize winners of the international NewSong Performance and Songwriting Competition are not eligible to enter the contest. All other previous entrants and finalists are eligible.
Artists from anywhere in the world are eligible to enter. See the website for other stipulations and costs to apply.

Finalists:

A total of eight (8) finalists will be selected to perform in the live performance finals of the 2022 LEAF Singer-Songwriter Showcase and Competition, held at the spring 2022 Spring LEAF Retreat on Saturday, May 14, 2022 in Black Mountain, NC (right outside of Asheville). The finalists will be selected from their advance audio submissions by a panel of music industry judges. There, each finalist will perform two original songs in the first round.

Winner:
Judges will select three of the eight finalists to return to perform two additional, original songs. Judges will then select an overall winner.