ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
OFFICIAL RULES
Please review these rules before submitting. By submitting music or participating in Artist Spotlight, participants agree to the applicable submission, competition, voting and prize rules below.
Music Rights & Permission
By submitting music, you confirm that you own the recording or have authorization to submit and publicly play it. You grant Artist Spotlight and Diamond District Music permission to play the submitted recording during the show and to use reasonable excerpts for Artist Spotlight promotional content.
Submission Does Not Guarantee Advancement
Submission guarantees consideration according to the selected submission tier. It does not guarantee a particular review score, Spotlight Board placement, Top 10 position, Finals advancement, audience votes, favorable judging or a prize.
Submission Tiers
- Open Submission — FREE: 1 song in the regular review queue.
- Skip the Line — $5: 1 song with priority ahead of free submissions after payment verification.
- Priority Spotlight — $10: Priority placement plus a 2-song LIVE review.
- Artist Takeover — $20: Immediate priority plus a 3-song LIVE review and a 30-minute Saturday Artist Takeover in the next available feature slot.
Paid tiers purchase only the advertised queue, review and promotional benefits. Payment does not purchase higher scores, votes, advancement, favorable judging or a prize.
Official Competition Song
For multi-song packages, Song #1 is the official competition entry. Additional songs receive the applicable LIVE review and exposure benefits but do not create additional competition positions or additional opportunities to win the weekly prize.
Monday–Thursday Qualifying
Qualifying competition songs are reviewed and scored during Monday–Thursday programming. Eligible artists may be placed on the Spotlight Board according to their official Host Review score.
The Spotlight Board remains competitive throughout qualifying. Placement on the Board does not guarantee a Top 10 position.
Weekly Submission Cutoff
The cutoff for entry into the current week's competition is Thursday at 9:00 PM.
Submissions received after the cutoff roll into the following week's competition.
The cutoff applies to all submission tiers. Purchasing Skip the Line, Priority Spotlight or Artist Takeover does not override the weekly competition cutoff.
Thursday Top 10 & Score Freeze
The weekly Top 10 is finalized at 11:00 PM Thursday from the eligible Spotlight Board.
Artists may move on or off the Spotlight Board before the final lock. A finalist is not official until the Top 10 has been locked.
Once the Top 10 is locked, the week's Host Review scores are frozen. Scores are not changed during Friday Finals.
Friday Finals Attendance
Finalists do not have to be present in the LIVE broadcast to advance or win.
Artists are encouraged to attend, interact with the audience and promote their Finals appearance, but absence alone does not disqualify an otherwise eligible finalist.
Friday Finals Format
Each voting round is a new vote beginning at zero. Votes from previous rounds do not carry forward.
- Top 10 → Top 5: 10 minutes
- Top 5 → Top 3: 7 minutes
- Top 3 → Top 2: 5 minutes
- Top 2 → Winner: 10 minutes
Votes received after the host officially closes a voting round do not count toward that round.
Audience Voting & Artist Promotion
Finalists may invite supporters to watch the LIVE broadcast and vote.
Attempts to automate votes, duplicate votes, circumvent voting controls, manipulate voting results or otherwise interfere with the integrity of the competition may result in affected votes being invalidated and may result in disqualification.
Ties
If an advancement position or championship result is tied after the applicable audience voting round:
1. The higher frozen Thursday Host Review total receives the higher position.
2. If the Host Review totals are also tied, the tied artists enter a fresh 2-minute sudden-death audience vote.
3. If the sudden-death vote is also tied, the higher Replay Value score is the final tiebreaker.
$250 Weekly Cash Prize
The Friday Finals winner receives the $250 weekly cash prize, subject to eligibility and verification.
The winner is announced during the Friday Finals broadcast and contacted privately using the information supplied with their submission.
The winner has 7 calendar days to respond and claim the prize. Payment information is verified privately and should never be posted publicly in LIVE comments or chat.
If the winner does not claim the prize within the claim period, the prize may pass to the eligible runner-up under the published competition procedure.
Weekly Closeout
After the Friday winner becomes official, the completed competition is closed and the next weekly competition begins with a fresh voting round, Spotlight Board and Top 10.
Previous voting totals do not carry into the new competition. Winner and results information may be retained for Artist Spotlight records and winner history.
Competition Integrity
No purchase is necessary to enter Artist Spotlight. Paid submission tiers provide only their specifically advertised priority, review and promotional benefits.
Artist Spotlight / Diamond District Music may invalidate fraudulent votes and enforce these published rules as reasonably necessary to protect the integrity of the competition.
$250 WEEKLY CASH PRIZE
FREE ENTRY AVAILABLE • REAL AUDIENCE VOTING • WEEKLY WINNER
Winner identity and payment information are verified privately. The winner has 7 calendar days to claim the prize.