RPM Music Challenge in February

The RPM Challenge is an annual event which challenges musicians to record an album within the month of February. The album must consist of 10 songs or 35 minutes of original music, and with 2008 being a leap year, musicians have 29 days to meet the challenge. The objective of the RPM Challenge is to motivate musicians to action, with the belief that breaking out of a pattern of procrastination often leads to great things.

The RPM Challenge is not a competition, so there are no prizes other than the immense satisfaction of getting the creative juices flowing, with the possibility of turning out some great music. Past participants have been amazed and motivated by what they can achieve under pressure. Working to a deadline often helps musicians to focus on nothing but the music, and instead of sitting around waiting for inspiration, they have found that getting actively involved in making music becomes the very inspiration they need.

The albums that are submitted by the closing date of 29 February 2009 will be made available by RPM for download, streaming and sharing via the Internet, thereby giving musicians the opportunity to have their music heard worldwide. In 2007 more than 850 albums were recorded during the 28 day RPM Challenge and are available for the world to listen to.

The inaugural year of the RPM Challenge in 2006, which invited bands on the New Hampshire Seacoast to participate, resulted in 165 albums being produced. In 2007 the RPM Challenge was extended to musicians all over the world. The response was outstanding, with more than 2,000 bands signing up from a variety of locations, including Auckland, Tokyo, Ottawa, Oslo and Antarctica, and more than 850 albums being completed.

The RPM Challenge is loosely based on the concept of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in which writers challenged one another to write 1,700 words per day over a period of 30 days. NaNoWriMo has had some excellent results, showing that often the more time spent on an activity, the better the results.

Organizers and participants are looking forward to hearing the results of the 2008 RPM Challenge which could very well reveal plenty of hidden talent among musicians worldwide.