from Songwriter's Review, August 1949
Capitol Records' stupendous contest for songwriters got underway with a bang last month with literally thousands of songwriters besieging music stores for contest entry material. With the first announcement appearing in this magazine, letters poured in from all parts of the world seeking advance information.
Capitol's contest will continue until October 31. Prizes include $1000 advance royalties per song (six songs altogether), publication contracts with Ardmore Music, subsidiary of Capitol, and recording of the winning songs by Capitol artists.
Judges in the contest will be the writers of the six songs, plus songwriters Mack Gordon and Sammy Cahn.
To Aid Unknowns
In announcing the contest, Capitol Records states:
"There are literally millions of persons in the country who have either written a song or feel they could, if given an opportunity, to write commercially acceptable tunes. However the vast and overwhelming majority of these hopefuls have little, if any, chance to get a song of theirs published once it is written, for the large and successful music publishing firms, understandably enough, have scant time for the unknowns and concentrate their efforts on the output of the well-known and established writers.
"Capitol Records feels that undiscovered talent should be given an opportunity to assert itself and to compete in the open market. Capitol was founded on the principle of untapped talent."