My Song For Change 2014

Rules

My Song for Change Talent Search (the “Contest”)
Official Contest Rules and Regulations (the "Contest Rules")

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCE OF WINNING. INTERNET ACCESS AND A VALID EMAIL ADDRESS REQUIRED.

1. CONTEST PERIOD:

The Contest begins at 12:00:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (“E.S.T.”) on February 17, 2014 and ends at 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time ("E.D.T.") on June 1, 2014 (the "Contest Period"). Make Music Matter Inc. (“MMM”) is the official time-keeper for the Contest.

2. ELIGIBILITY

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. The Contest is open to all residents of Canada who have reached the age of sixteen (16) at the time of entry provided that any entrant under the age of majority in the province or territory in which they reside (“Underage”) require a parent or legal guardian to accept responsibility for the Contest and the Contest Rules on behalf of such entrant. Employees, directors, officers, agents and representatives of Western Union Financial Services (Canada) Inc. (“Western Union"), MMM, and each of their respective affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies, distributors and other suppliers of materials and services related to this Contest, and each of their immediate family members (spouse, in-laws, grandparents, parents, siblings, grandchildren and children, regardless of where they live) and/or those living in the same household (whether related or not) of each are ineligible to enter the Contest. If asked by Western Union or MMM (collectively, the “Contest Sponsors”), an entrant to the Contest must provide valid proof of eligibility by way of government-issued photo identification.

3. HOW TO ENTER:

Internet access and personal email address required. To participate in the Contest enter online using a computer, mobile phone and/or other digital device with internet access by accessing the contest website during the Contest Period at the following internet address: www.mysongforchange.com (the “Contest Site”). No other means of submission will be accepted.

Although online access and an email account are required in order to participate, no purchase is required in order to enter the Contest. Many public libraries, retail businesses and others offer free access to computers and a number of Internet service providers and other companies offer free email accounts.

At the Contest Site follow the links and instructions to upload an original musical composition with a theme to inspire positive change using one of the following formats: Lyrics Only, Audio Only, or Performed (audio and video), complete the online entry form in full, including your name, email address, telephone number and birth date and agree to the Contest Rules. If you are Underage you must further provide the name and address of one parent or legal guardian who will be accepting responsibility for the Contest and Contest Rules on your behalf. Completing these steps and following the Contest Rules will qualify an uploaded composition as an “Entry” into the Contest. The individual who submits the Entry, or alternatively the nominated parent or legal guardian who acts on behalf of an Underage individual, is an “Entrant” into the Contest.

Multiple entrants are not permitted to share the same email address. Each Entry must be submitted separately by the Entrant him or herself. Normal Internet access, phone, and usage charges may apply. Each Entry must be manually key stroked and manually entered by the Entrant; bulk, third-party, automated and/or repetitive electronic submission of Entries (including but not limited to Entries made using any script, macro, bot or sweepstakes/contest service) will be disqualified. Any attempt by any Entrant to submit Entries by using multiple and/or different identities, forms, registrations, email addresses, logins, or any other methods will void that Entrant’s Entries, and that Entrant may be disqualified at MMM’s sole discretion. Entries originating at any other website are not permitted and will be disqualified. In the event of a dispute as to the identity of an Entrant, the authorized account holder of the e-mail address used to enter will be deemed to be the Entrant. The “authorized account holder” is the natural person assigned an email address by an Internet access provider, online service provider or other person or organization responsible for assigning email addresses for the domain associated with the submitted address. Each Entrant may be required to show proof of being an authorized account holder. Contest Sponsors shall have the right at any time to require proof of identity and/or eligibility of an Entrant to participate in the Contest. If such proof is not to the Contest Sponsors’ satisfaction, the Entry will be deemed ineligible. Proof of sending (such as an automated computer receipt confirming delivery of e-mail or "thanks for entering" message) does not constitute proof of actual receipt of an Entry by Contest Sponsors for purposes of this Contest. Only eligible Entries actually received and verified by the Contest Site during the Contest Period will be included in the Contest. Illegible, unintelligible, incomplete, garbled, lost, late, misdirected, forged, altered, or mutilated Entries will be disqualified. Entries may require the express consent of participant to accept communications from MMM regarding the Contest in order for eligibility. Participation in the Contest constitutes Entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to the Contest Rules and Contest Sponsors’ decisions, which are final and binding in all matters related to the Contest.

4. PRIZE AND ODDS OF WINNING:

There is one (1) prize (the “Prize”) available to be won as follows: the winning Entry will be produced in a professional recording studio with Sam Roberts. A video of the song will be produced, with the winner included in the video. Production of the song and video will take place for a two (2) day period between August 15, 2014 and October 15, 2014 in Toronto, Ontario. Winners residing outside of the Greater Toronto Area ("GTA") will be provided with a round-trip (coach class) air and ground transportation from a major airport to the recording studio in the GTA, and one (1) night (double occupancy) hotel accommodations.
Approximate retail value of the Prize is $12,000.00 CAD. The odds of winning depend on the number of eligible Entries received during the Contest period.

The Prize is non-commercial, non-transferrable, not redeemable for cash, and no substitution will be made except at MMM’s sole discretion. The Contest Sponsors reserve the right to substitute the Prize or a component of the Prize for one of equal or greater value if the designated prize should become unavailable for any reason. Contest Sponsors make no representations or warranties with respect to any part of the Prize, including, but not limited to, the production of the audio and/or video and the quality and length of the final product.

5. WINNER SELECTION:

The winner will be chosen in two stages – Online Voting and Final Judging – as set out below.

Online Voting: The voting begins at 12:00:01 a.m. E.D.T. on June 2, 2014 and ends at 11:59:59 p.m. E.D.T. on July 25, 2014 (the "Voting Period"). Any person registered on the Contest Site (“Voter”) can vote for a favourite Entry, or the Entry that best meets the judging criteria. Limit of one (1) vote per Voter per email address. Voter does not need to submit an Entry to be allowed to vote. Entrants may be Voters. Online voting will determine the top ten (10) finalists (the “Finalists”). The Finalists will be the ten (10) Entrants whose Entries have received the most votes on the Contest Site. Only votes submitted on the Contest Site towards the Entries during the Voting Period will be counted, regardless of any other expressions of support Entries have received.
Final Judging: The judging begins at 12:00:01 a.m. E.D.T. on July 26, 2014 and ends at 4:59:59 p.m. E.D.T. on July 31, 2014 (the "Judging Period"). Judging shall be completed by a panel of judges (the “Judges”) selected by Contest Sponsors in its sole discretion. Only the Finalists will be reviewed and judged by the Judges.

Judging criteria shall be based upon the following:
- Lyrical Creativity (readily understandable, cohesive, original, fresh lyrics)
- Melody (fresh, creative, pleasing to the ear)
- Structure (song’s components/segments are the right length)
- Dynamics (song builds nicely; “goes somewhere”)
- Relevance to the theme (inspiring positive change)

The relative weight given to each judging criteria will be at the sole discretion of the Judges, either individually or collectively. The potential “Winner” is the Entrant who submitted, or submitted on behalf of an Underage individual, the Entry decided to be the best Entry by the Judges.

The potential Winner will be notified by e-mail and/or telephone within approximately two (2) days of the end of the Judging Period at the email address and/or telephone number provided by Entrant in his/her Entry. Before being declared a Winner, the Entrant must correctly answer, without assistance of any kind, whether mechanical or otherwise, a time-limited, mathematical skill-testing question and be required to sign and return to Contest Sponsors within ten (10) days of notification, a Declaration of Compliance and Liability and Publicity Release ("Declaration") confirming compliance with the Contest Rules, releasing Contest Sponsors, their respective parents, related and affiliated companies, advertising and promotional agencies, participating retailers, and all of their respective directors, officers, owners, partners, shareholders, employees, agents, representatives, successors and assigns from any liability in connection with the Contest or the use or misuse or possession of any component of the Prize, availability for audio and video recording from August 15, 2014 to October 15, 2014, and providing any additional information that may be required by Contest Sponsors in order for Prize fulfillment. If a potential Winner cannot be reached for any reason whatsoever, fails to comply with the Contest Rules, fails to sign and return the Declaration within the required time period (if applicable), fails to provide proof of eligibility (if requested), or fails to correctly answer the skill-testing question within the time allotted, the potential Winner may be disqualified and forfeit the Prize. All Declarations are subject to verification by MMM. In the event that a potential Winner is disqualified or the Prize is forfeited for any reason, MMM may, in its sole discretion, award the Prize to an alternate Finalist, who will be subject to disqualification in the same manner, or the prize may remain un-awarded. Only two (2) alternate Finalists will be chosen, after which the Prize will remain un-awarded, in MMM’s sole discretion. The Prize will be fulfilled as set out in Section 4 of the Contest Rules.

The Winner will be declared on the Contest Site and other media as decided by Contest Sponsors in its sole discretion.

6. ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:

i. Entries SHALL NOT have won any previous award or been submitted in any other competition or contest administered by the Contest Sponsors, and cannot have been previously published and/or previously produced work;
ii. Entries SHALL NOT contain material that violates or infringes another’s rights, including but not limited to, material that violates privacy, publicity, or intellectual property rights, or that constitutes copyright infringement;
iii. Entries SHALL NOT include any unlicensed copyrighted materials, including but not limited to music, films, books, television programming, etc., or identifying descriptions of any media property, other than material in which such Entrant owns the copyrights;
iv. Entries SHALL NOT contain logos, brand names or trademarks, logos, insignia, location signage, artwork, or sculptures;
v. Entrant represents and warrants that they have obtained all rights necessary to upload their Entry and enter the Contest; that they do not have any contract or representation for music or artistic performance; and they are not and have never been a professional musician;
vi. Entries SHALL NOT contain material that is, as determined by MMM’s sole discretion, tortious, defamatory, slanderous, or libelous;
vii. Entries SHALL be in keeping with the Contest Sponsors’ image and SHALL NOT be obscene, indecent, or otherwise offensive, as determined by Contest Sponsors in their sole discretion;
viii. Entries SHALL NOT contain material which is (or promotes activities which are), as determined in the Contest Sponsor’s sole discretion: lewd, pornographic, inappropriate, violent, self-mutilating (e.g., relating to murder, the sales of weapons, cruelty, abuse, etc.), discriminatory (e.g. based on race, gender, religion, natural origin, physical disability, sexual orientation or age, or other protected status), illegal (e.g. underage drinking, substance abuse, computer hacking, etc.), hateful, offensive, profane, or harassing; or contain material that is threatening to any person, place, business, group or world peace; or contain words or symbols that are widely considered offensive to individuals of a certain race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or socioeconomic group; or contain images, words or text portraying nudity, acts of violence, or acts that are or appear to be unlawful or dangerous;
ix. Entries SHALL NOT include any persons other than the Entrant;
x. Entries SHALL NOT invade publicity rights or privacy of any person, living or deceased, or otherwise infringe upon any person’s personal or proprietary rights, including but not limited to intellectual property rights, and the right to submit or use same shall not be restricted;
xi. Entries SHALL NOT include material that is unlawful, in violation of, or contrary to the laws or regulations in any province or territory where the Entry is created; and
xii. Entries SHALL be the Entrant’s original idea (modification of a work is not an original idea).

Any of the above entry requirements may be waived by Contest Sponsors in relation to any particular Entry or Entrant in their sole discretion.

7. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY:

By entering into the Contest, Entrants agree to release, indemnify, defend and hold harmless Contest Sponsors, and each of their respective related companies, parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, and their respective agents and agencies, as well as employees, directors and officers of any of the foregoing (“Released Parties”) from and against any liability for any injuries, losses or damages of any kind (including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential or punitive damages), and any claim or cause of action, including, without limitation, personal injury, death, or damage to or loss of property, arising out of, in whole or part, directly or indirectly, from participation or attempting to participate in the Contest or from acceptance, possession, misuse, award or use of any prize, or while participating in, traveling to, and/or preparing for any Contest or prize-related activity. No responsibilities are accepted by the Released Parties for any additional expenses, omissions, delays, or cancellations resulting from any acts of any governmental or like authority.

The Released Parties are not responsible for: (1) any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by Entrants, printing, electronic or human errors or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest; (2) technical failures of any kind, including, but not limited to, malfunctions, interruptions, or disconnections in cellular networks, phone lines or network hardware or software, failed, incorrect, incomplete, inaccurate, garbled or delayed electronic communications or entry information, any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, failures or technical malfunction of any computer online systems, servers, providers, computer equipment, software, e-mail, players or browsers, whether on account of technical problems, traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website, or on account of any combination of the foregoing; (3) the unavailability or inaccessibility of any transmissions or telephone or Internet service; (4) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the Contest; (5) technical or human error which may occur in the administration of the Contest or the processing of Entries; (6) any injury or damage to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from Entrant’s participation in the Contest or receipt or use or misuse of any prize; or (7) late, lost, misdirected, illegible, incomplete or mutilated Entries or for theft, destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of Entries. If for any reason an Entrant's Entry is confirmed to have been erroneously deleted, lost, or otherwise destroyed or corrupted, Entrant’s sole remedy is another Entry in the Contest. If it is not possible to award another Entry due to discontinuance of the Contest, or any part of it, for any reason, Contest Sponsors, in their sole discretion, may elect to hold a random drawing from among all eligible Entries received up to the date of discontinuance for any or all of the prizes offered herein. No more than the stated number of prizes will be awarded. In the event that production, technical, seeding, programming or any other reasons cause more than the stated number of prizes as set forth in these Official Rules to be available and/or claimed, Contest Sponsors reserve the right to award only the stated number of prizes by a random drawing among all legitimate, un-awarded, eligible prize claims. Entrant agrees that under no circumstances will Entrant be permitted to obtain awards for and Entrant hereby waives all rights to claim punitive, incidental and consequential damages and any other damages, and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

8. PRIVACY POLICY:

The personal information you submit when you enter the Contest is collected by Western Union and will be subject to the Western Union Privacy Statement ("Statement"), available through westernunion.ca. Except where prohibited, Western Union may disclose your personal information to third parties that may be located in countries such as the United States, as explained in the Statement. Information disclosed may include financial background; identification, such as name and address; transaction information; and other information relating to financial matters. Recipients may include financial institutions; retailers; companies that process transactions or provide other services for Western Union; government agencies; and direct marketers. You may opt out of (direct Western Union not to make) certain disclosures. Details on how to opt-out are provided in the Statement.

9. PUBLICITY:

Except where prohibited by law, accepting the Prize constitutes Winner’s consent to the Contest Sponsors’ use of Winner’s name, likeness, photograph, voice, statements, opinions, biographical information and/or city and province of residence for advertising and promotional purposes in any media or format that the Contest Sponsors may conduct relating to the Contest, worldwide, whether now known or hereinafter developed, including but not limited to the World Wide Web, at any time or times in perpetuity, without further compensation, notice or consideration.

10. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY:

Each Entrant grants Contest Sponsors the perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide right to use, reproduce, distribute, display, publish, adapt, sublicense, edit, dispose of, modify and/or prepare derivative works of such entry and the concepts embodied therein in any way, in commerce and in any and all media worldwide, without limitation or compensation to Entrant, who may be required to sign a release to that effect. Entries become the property of the Contest Sponsors and will not be returned or acknowledged.

Any derivative works including, but not limited to, master audio recordings and video recordings of the Prize shall be the property of the Contest Sponsors and the Winner shall transfer, convey and assign the necessary intellectual property rights to effect such right, title and interest in the derivative works to the Contest Sponsors.

11. GENERAL CONDITIONS:

Contest Sponsors reserve the right to cancel, suspend and/or modify the Contest, or any part of it, at any time and without prior notice or obligation for any reason whatsoever. Contest Sponsors reserve the right, in their sole discretion, to disqualify any Entrant they find to be tampering with or attempting to tamper with, directly or indirectly, the entry process, the operation of the Contest, the Contest Site or to be acting in violation of the Contest Rules or any other promotion or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner. Contest Sponsors reserve the right, at their sole discretion, to disqualify any individual found to be: (a) violating the Contest Rules; or (b) violating the terms of service, conditions of use and/or general rules or guidelines of any Contest Sponsors' property or service. Any person who supplies false information, obtains Entries or votes for the Entries by fraudulent means, or is otherwise determined to be in violation of the Contest Rules in an attempt to obtain the Prize will forfeit the Prize and may be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Any attempt by any person to undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest may be a violation of criminal and civil law, and, should such an attempt be made, Contest Sponsors reserve the right to seek damages from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law.

12. GOVERNING LAW:

The Contest is subject to all applicable federal, provincial, territorial and local laws and regulations. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of the Contest Rules, or the rights and obligations of the Entrant and the Contest Sponsors in connection with the Contest, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with the laws of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein.

13. MISCELLANEOUS:

The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of the Contest Rules or the Declaration will not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. In the event that any provision of the Contest Rules or the Declaration is determined to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable or illegal, the other provisions will remain in effect and will be construed in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or illegal provision were not contained herein. MMM’s failure to enforce any term of the Contest Rules will not constitute a waiver of that provision. MMM reserves the right to correct any typographical, printing, computer programming or operator errors. For Entrants, to the extent there is a conflict between the Contest Rules and disclosure or other statements contained in any Contest-related materials, including but not limited to the Contest entry form, or print or online advertising, the Contest Rules prevail, govern and control.