The first round are for songs released in January 2025. The second round is February 2025 and so on.
This time there are 25 points to vote with.
And two (2) songs for you to select each month!
Is that too many songs to be able to pick each month?
Will other people pick your favourite songs/artists before you do?
Will people still pick popular artists everyone knows?
Will the playlist be overly long and unwieldy?
Will 25 points be too many to give out?
Have Smashing Pumpkins released anything this year?
Will @Octobadger still have 98 other artists un-picked for each month?
Hopefully one of those answers is a no.
Tune in to find out!
Youâve got a week to pick your first songs.
Iâve been quietly workshopping a theory that youâve been running these side leagues so that we exhaust our best picks when they donât count, allowing you to cruise to victory unchallenged on a cloud of chamber pop in the main event.
Not sure thereâs a critical mass of people willing to vote for chamber pop!
Especially as Iâm sure Iâll end up using some of my chamber pop picks in this league anyway.
Never done this before but going to try it now. I listened to all the playlists from this last year despite not playing and found loads of good stuff.
Does the game stop people from choosing the same songs as each other, or is there a risk several people pick the same songs?
Also whatâs the aim of the game? Simply to pick the best songs from the month and rake in the points? Or to pick obscure favourites and introduce people to stuff⌠while also potentially raking in the points by blowing everyoneâs minds? I guess somewhere in between? I suppose being able to choose 2 songs means I can attempt to do both!
The autumn league (currently in its final round) has been my first taste of Music League. Iâm not doing brilliantly but I think I can answer your questionsâŚ
It wonât let you submit a track that someone else already submitted. If youâve picked the same artist as someone else â but a different song â it will warn you that theyâre already in the playlist, but it wonât stop you. So at that point itâs up to you whether you stick to your guns or pick something else.
Once everyone has submitted their songs, we all listen to the playlist and award points as we see fit. Itâs entirely up to you what you base your votes on â a lot of players prioritise new discoveries over old favourites, but you do occasionally see really well-known songs racking up loads and loads of points. And of course everyoneâs taste is different; for example, Iâm not personally interested in ambient music or present-day hip-hop, but others very much are and will vote accordingly.
So yeah, itâs difficult to predict what will do well and if youâre playing to win then I donât really have any tips (note that Iâm currently 28th out of 30-something in the autumn league). I think the main goal though is just to discover and shed light on great music, if you focus on that youâll have a good time regardless of how many points you get
Great summary; Iâd just say that while Music League will let you pick another song by an already chosen artist, my experience is that most people here prefer if you donât duplicate artists within a playlist.
(Avoid that angst by only picking artists with 100 monthly listeners, and glory in your six-seven points per round)
Iâll be aiming for album releases, but happy with album or single release dates! Maybe Iâll pick a single if it was somehow a poor album month. Or if I can figure out the mental gymnastics, maybe I might attempt a single if I know the album itâs from is from a jam packed album later in the year. A big If there though!
I was unsure about the two track choices thing initially but Iâve been writing out a list of albums by month they came out and there are some months where I could do with 5 choices
Itâs all about the taking part not the winning. Iâm pretty sure @paulo13 will be sending out participation trophies for all at the end of the league.
My first port of call is my single/tunes list for each month and then I check my album list. I try and keep my choice from the singles/tunes list just as a little rule for myself.
