GBB 2023 Wildcard Competition

The Grand Beatbox Battle 2023 will take place in the EX-THEATER in Tokyo, Japan, on the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st of October 2023, with the 7toSmoke Battle and Afterparty happening on the 22nd of October 2023 at another venue, the Spotify O-EAST.

After postponing the Grand Beatbox Battle in 2022, Swissbeatbox decided once again to make the event one day longer, making the main GBB 2023 battles into a four day event! The 7toSmoke afterparty will be an additional and official fifth day.

Below is a list of major changes – if you would like more information about these changes, the categories themselves, or reasons why we made them, please see below under the relevant category, or read our GBB23 FAQ.

Please make sure that you read everything in this document with care and detail. If you miss a piece of information that is important for the application process, and that in turn leads to a disqualification of your wildcard, we will not be making any exceptions. It is up to YOU to make sure you inform yourself about all rules and regulations regarding the GBB23 wildcard application process!

GBB major changes

1. The main event is one day longer (Four Day Event)
   1. The event will be held on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday (18th – 21st October 2023)
   2. The 7 To Smoke and afterparty will be held on Sunday 22nd October and is treated as a separate event.
2. We have added and modified some of the categories:
   1. The solo loopstation category will now become a one-device category, allowing only a BOSS RC-505 mark i or a mark ii, as well as one basic MIDI controller.
   2. A new category called the Producer category will be added.
   3. A U18 Category Championship for participants up to 18 years old will be added. Anyone over the age of 16 is eligible for all the categories, however, they can apply to both U18 and others as long as they are under 18.
3. The categories, wildcard spots, and total participants for the 2023 edition are:
   1. Solo – 11 wildcards (21 participants)
   2. Loopstation – 7 wildcards (8 participants)
   3. Producer Showcase – 5 wildcards (6 participants)
   4. Tag Team – 6 wildcards (8 participating teams)
   5. Crew – 5 wildcards (6 participating crews)
   6. U18 – 8 wildcards (8 participants)
4. We will not hold the tag team loopstation battle for GBB23. This is not a permanent cancellation, merely a postponement to a future GBB.
5. Every category will have its qualifications through wildcards. Only the solo category will have live events that will qualify besides wildcards. Every continent will have one qualifying battle (please see FAQ for more info).
6. People already qualified for the GBB23:
   1. GBB21 top 3 in Solo and Tag-Team
   2. GBB21 Loopstation top 2
   3. GBB21 Crew Winner
   4. GBB21 7tosmoke winner – qualified for the Solo category.
7. If any of these pre-qualified people can’t participate or cancel, they will be replaced with a wildcard winner from GBB23.
8. Besides the U18 category, you must be over the age of 16 to participate at the GBB23.
9. For the U18 category, if you are 16 or 17 at the time of the event, then you can enter both U18 and the main Solo category with one wildcard entry. Judges will judge the wildcard in both categories. If you make it into both categories after the end of the entire wildcard competition, you MUST forfeit your position in the U18 category and compete only in the main Solo category. If you do not make it into the Solo category at the end of the second round of judging (please see below), but qualify for the U18, then you will be able to participate in this category as normal. If you make it into both, and decide not to battle in the Solo but just in the U18, you will be disqualified from both, as you have now taken a spot away from someone else who could have made it into the second round – by agreeing to enter the second round of wildcards, you are agreeing that if you win, you forfeit your spot in the U18.
10. The individual judge’s results will still be shared, but anonymously. Artists, teams and crews can reach out to judges directly and ask for feedback about their wildcards privately.
11. The pre-eliminations of the 7 To Smoke will happen on the day of the event itself. There will be an open elimination for about 2 hours. More info tba. GBB participants, judges and everyone else is allowed to enter the 7 To Smoke.
    For the elimination, you need to be 18 years old plus (unless you are a GBB participant).
12. Finally, all wildcard winners will receive a cash prize. However, this comes with a certain amount of terms and conditions. More information on this will be posted at a later date, but the basic understanding is that this money is part of an investment in the artist to come to GBB23. If you don’t make it to the live event for any reason, except for something outside of your control, you will be expected to return this cash prize, as it is part of an understanding and agreement that you will do everything in your power to be at the GBB23 live event.
    1. The main reason for this is that, if for some reason you don’t come to the event, then the next ranked wildcard applicant will replace you as a participant, and is therefore entitled to that prize money. If the reason for the cancellation is anything other than something that was well outside your control (eg. the airline cancelled your flights etc.), then you will be obligated to return that prize money so that the participating applicant will receive it. If it wasn’t your fault, you will be obliged to show relevant evidence to prove that this is the case.

Wildcard Competition

Second Round (Loop and Solo)

Another change we want to highlight is that the wildcard competition for solo and loopstation will include a second round. As you may have noticed, the wildcard competition for Solo and Loopstation categories over the years has gotten more and more competitive and fierce, with such amazing talent making it into the top 50 (and more) every year. This has always been a point of disappointment, both for the public and the competitors, as many people who deserve to be in the competition miss out. Unfortunately, this will always be the case, as there just aren’t enough spots to accommodate all the amazing competitors out there. However, we have created a method that will hopefully give everyone a fairer chance to get into the GBB!

After the first round of wildcard submissions is over, the judges will create their rankings as per usual, giving us an overall ranking. From this ranking, the top 25 for Solo and top 15 for loopstation will be picked to go into a second round wildcard competition, where they will have 2 weeks to upload a second wildcard. Then the judges will again create their ranks as per usual from these top 25 and 15 wildcards (respectively), giving us a second ranking. After this, the average rankings from both rounds will be combined (meaning that both rounds are weighted at 50% for your final score) to give a final top 25 for solo and top 15 for loop. From this we will have our final wildcard winners – top 11 in Solo and top 7 in loop!

General Rules

The wildcard competition for Solo, Tag-team, Producer Showcase, Solo Loopstation Battle, Crew- and U18 categories will be open for submissions from midnight on the 1st of January 2023 until 11:59 pm of the given date of the ending of each category.

Submission

To participate in the wildcard competition, participants must upload their wildcards to YouTube and then post the link in the submission form available below.

Wildcards can only be registered ONCE – if you have uploaded a wildcard earlier in the registration window and then decide later that you want to upload a new one, this new wildcard will not be accepted. Instead, we will only judge the original upload. If you delete your original upload and try to replace it with a new one, you will forfeit your wildcard and not be accepted into the competition. This is to avoid confusion in the registration and judging process that happened at GBB19 – wildcards were replaced with newer versions that were not registered correctly, and some people’s wildcards were not judged at all. So MAKE SURE that the wildcard you upload is your FINAL version, as you will not be able to edit or re-upload it later.

Recording

Any recording method is allowed for the wildcards – that is to say, you can use anything from a smartphone camera to a professional setup with a separate microphone and camera. You need to be clearly visible on camera (no masks or visual effects covering your face or mouth). No lip syncing or other video techniques are allowed – every wilcard for every category must be live filmed and recorded at the same time! You may process your audio recording with basic dynamic (compression), EQ plugins, and reverb. Automated processing, such as EQing and compressing the kick and snare differently, is not allowed; the entire recording must be processed the same. Also, distortion, delay, or any other time-based or frequency distortion effects are strictly forbidden, as these alter the integrity of your audio recordings.

These things will be strictly monitored, so if you try and use any illegal processing methods without telling us, we WILL find out, and you will be DISQUALIFIED from the wildcard competition.

You must submit a copy of the raw audio and the raw video (with camera audio included) when you submit your wildcard. For loopstation, producer category, tagteam, and crew, you must also submit a screen capture of your recording taking place, as well as a raw copy of your camera audio. This is to check for cheating and for the integrity of the application.

If the original raw audio/screen capture/raw video is not present when you submit your wildcard, your application will not be accepted.

Introduction

All participants MUST introduce themselves in the video as follows – “My name is [ARTIST NAME], and this is my [CATEGORY – e.g. Solo, Loop etc.] wildcard for the GBB 2023 World League.” If this statement is not included at the beginning of the video, it will not be accepted. This is to avoid people using previous uploads or shoutouts as wildcards for this event – your wildcard MUST be a unique video made specifically for entry into the GBB23: World League event. It is also designed this way to encourage creativity and innovation within the beatbox community.

The title of the Wildcard Video must be labelled as follows: 

[ARTIST NAME] – GBB23: World League [CATEGORY] Wildcard (OR) Grand Beatbox Battle 2023: World League [CATEGORY] Wildcard (e.g. Pepouni – GBB23: World League Solo Wildcard).

For Solo and Loopstation round 2, you will be contacted directly with more information.

Duration

Finally, the length of the beatboxing time in the wildcard video must be no longer than plus 10 seconds of the length of that category. I.e. If the wildcard is allowed to be 3 minutes long, then you are allowed a maximum of 3 minutes and 10 seconds of beatbox time in that video. This does not include your intro or outro in the video, only the beatbox time of your wildcard.

If you are over the allowed amount of time, every second you beatbox overtime will take 1 rank off of your final ranked result (starting with the first second being too long). That means, the judges will not punish you for being over the allotted time, but once the final rank score has been confirmed, your rank will be reduced by the amount of seconds you have gone overtime.

Undertime will not be punished, however, you are punishing yourself by not taking full advantage of the allowed time to show your skills and music, and those that take full advantage of the time gioven will have a better chance to win a wildcard spot.

Prices

Each category will give away cash prizes to support all the participants to help cover their flights.

Violations

If we suspect that any rules have been broken, we will review the application of the wildcard. If we cannot verify the legitimacy, for example, illegal processing or lipsyncing, you will be disqualified, so please make sure you keep all relevant files on hand, both the raw audio, the raw camer, the project file where the audio was mixed (if you did not mix it, then please discuss it with your sound engineer to make sure he keeps a copy of the project), and the screen capture of your recording.

Wildcard Category Overview and Rules

Following are the specific rules, guidelines, and application dates for each wildcard category.

Solo Battle

1. Beatbox time: 2 minutes + 10 seconds
2. Wildcard Competition dates and announcements:
   1. Round 1:
      1. Applications open from 1st January (00:00 am CET) – 4th February (11:59 pm CET)
         Judge Announcement Round 1: 26th February (time tba)
   2. Round 2:
      1. Applications open from 2nd March (00:00 am CET) – 16th March (11:59 pm CET)
      2. Judge Announcement: 26th March (time tba)
3. Wildcard Judges:
   1. To be announced
4. A minimum of 11 wildcards will be chosen.
5. The top 25 will be invited to enter the round 2 wildcard competition of this category’s wildcard contest.
   1. The participation of the round 2 qualifiers is optional – therefore, we need confirmation within 72 hours after the top 25 from round 1 is announced.
6. You must submit an original raw (unprocessed) version of your audio recording, along with a raw copy of your main camera file, which also includes the camera audio.

Tag-Team Showcase

1. Beatbox time: 2 minutes + 10 seconds.
2. Wildcard Competition dates and announcements:
   1. Applications open from 1st January (00:00 am CET) – 11th February (11:59 pm CET)
   2. Judge Announcement: 24th February (time tba)
3. Wildcard Judges:
   1. To be announced
4. A minimum of 6 wildcards will be chosen.
5. You must submit an original raw (unprocessed) version of your audio recordings (both channels, if you recorded using multiple microphones), along with a raw copy of your main camera file, which also includes the camera audio.

Loopstation

1. Beatbox time – 3 minutes to 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
2. Wildcard Competition dates and announcements:
   1. Round 1:
      1. Applications open from 1st January (00:00 am CET) – 4th February (11:59 pm CET)
      2. Judge Announcement Round 1: 25th February (time tba)
   2. Round 2:
      1. Applications open from 1st March (00:00 am CET) – 15th March (11:59 pm CET)
      2. Judge Announcement Round 2: 25th March (time tba)
3. One main loopstation device allowed:
   1. BOSS RC505 mki
   2. BOSS RC505 mkii
4. One simple MIDI controller allowed (TBA).
   1. Pre-approved MIDI devices:
      1. Launchpad Pro MK3
      2. Arturia Beatstep
      3. Arturia Keystep
   2. If you have one that is not on the approved list, please reach out to us as soon as possible via [email protected]
5. You can use these devices to their fullest extent, as long as you follow the below rules.
6. All sounds must be generated live through the human voice or body via the microphone.
   1. No pre-recorded samples (this includes the use of the metronome so that it is audible to the public – this is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN).
   2. Only one connected microphone.
7. The output must be limited to one stereo pair. No multiple output signals will be allowed.
8. Wildcard Judges:
   1. To be announced
9. 7 wildcards will be chosen.
10. The top 15 will be invited to enter the round 2 wildcard competition of this category’s wildcard contest.
    1. The participation of the round 2 qualifiers is optional – therefore, we need confirmation within 72 hours after the top 15 from round 1 is announced.
11. You must submit an original raw (unprocessed) version of your audio recordings, along with a raw copy of your main camera file, which also includes the camera audio. The camera angle must also include the entirety of your setup, including and especially the back of the loopstation so we can confirm the setup and recording process.

Producer Showcase

To simplify the issues with judging the loopstation battles in regards to using extra devices, we have decided to split the category into Loopstation and Producer categories. In the Producer category, you will be allowed to use unlimited devices and controllers, creating whatever custom setup you want. However this comes with a few restrictions regarding the use of your setup, as follows.

1. Everything must be either vocally sourced or vocally triggered.
2. Everything must be performed live – i.e. no pre-recorded samples.
3. The judging system will be weighted towards vocally sourced performances, balanced with all other categories (technicality, musicality, showmanship, originality etc.). Simply put, the more you use non vocally sourced elements, the more you will be punished in the final scoring.
4. The output to the FOH (mixing desk) or recording must be a stereo signal, no multichannel outputs allowed.

You will be required to break down your full setup to the judges beforehand, to make sure that everything is within these guidelines.

Following are all other relevant details and rules:

1. Producing time – between 4 – 5 minutes.
2. Wildcard Competition dates and announcements:
   1. Applications open from 1st January (00:00 am CET) – 11th February (11:59 pm CET)
   2. Judge Announcement: 4th March (time tba)
3. This category will not allow the use of only one looper; it needs to include at least one extra audio processing device.
4. No limit to the number of extra devices.
5. All sounds must be sourced or triggered by the mouth.
   1. Re-sampling is allowed, for example, sampling your voice into a sampler and playing that back.
6. No pre-recorded sounds.
7. Midi devices of all kinds are allowed.
8. No instruments
9. You must email [email protected] with your full setup and signal flow of each device (the approval process may take up to 96 hours).
   1. If you do not get official approval for your setup, your wildcard will not be accepted.
10. Wildcard Judges:
    1. To be announced
11. 5 wildcards will be chosen.
12. You must submit an original raw (unprocessed) version of your audio recordings, along with a raw copy of your main camera file, which also includes the camera audio.
    1. The camera angle must also include the entirety of your setup, including and especially the back of the final output so we can confirm the setup and recording process.
    2. If this is not possible, then you will also need to include a screen capture of your live recording.

Crew Showcase

1. Beatbox time: 3 minutes + 10 seconds
2. Wildcard Competition dates and announcements:
   1. Applications open from 1st January (00:00 am CET) – 18th February (11:59 pm CET)
   2. Judge Announcement: 11th March (time tba)
3. The number of members for a crew is minimum of 3 people maximum of 5 people.
4. Wildcard Judges:
   1. To be announced
5. Minimum 5 wildcards will be chosen.
6. You must submit an original raw (unprocessed) version of your audio recordings, along with a raw copy of your main camera file, which also includes the camera audio.

U18

1. Beatbox time: 2 minutes + 10 seconds.
2. Wildcard Competition dates and announcements:
   1. Applications open from 1st January (00:00 am CET) – 4th February (11:59 pm CET)
   2. Judge Announcement: 26th February (time tba)
3. U18 is open to ANY age under 18 to submit wildcard
   1. If you turn 18 before the event itself, (before 22th of October 2023) you cannot enter the U18 category.
   2. If you are 15, BUT will be 16 by GBB23, you can ALSO enter the solo wildcard
   3. If you are 16 or 17 at the time of the event, then you can enter both U18 and the main Solo category with one wildcard entry.
   4. If you WIN a wildcard spot in U18 and SOLO, you must select only ONE category. Judges will judge the wildcard in both categories. If you make it into both categories after the end of the entire wildcard competition, you must forfeit your position in the U18 category and compete only in the main Solo category. If you do not make it into the Solo category at the end of the second round of judging, but qualify for the U18, then you will be able to participate in this category as normal.
4. Wildcard Judges:
   1. To be announced
5. 8 wildcards will be chosen.
6. You must submit an original raw (unprocessed) version of your audio recording, along with a raw copy of your main camera file, which also includes the camera audio.

Submit your Wildcard

Have you read and understood everything related to your category? Alrighty then, we’re excited to see your Wildcard for GBB 2023.

Contractual Obligations

Participating in GBB will lead to the acceptance of everyone joining the competition and being available for the SBX team to sort out any questions about the artist or judge at GBB. Everyone will sign a contract that video and audio rights belong to SBX for the GBB23 competition itself, and every artist will provide any necessary information needed to come to a proper realisation of the event GBB, e.g. give personal information (secured address to ship prizes, give email and contact so we can reach out share important information such as time table or GBB rules), so the team can prepare (vegan, vegetarian, any sickness, religious orientation), book flights in time, give consultation about any questions in terms of musical rights to get to full clarification (e.g. artist is signed at the label, but is allowed to perform or is allowed in case of winning the event to do further projects with SBX if wanted and both sides agree (go on tour, record an artist week etc.))

Further contractual information will be shared with wildcard winners and GBB participants, judges and hosts.

If those standards are neglected, and arrangements and engagements are broken, SBX has the right to plan the event GBB for the individual case and situation of the artist differently or even disqualify an artist, team or crew from the event or take videos down (e.g. we cannot monetise videos and their label gets part of it, we can always make a deal, but we need income, or all Japanese beatboxers first say they are coming and after everything is announced they say they don’t and cancel the event for us!)

Monetising videos is extremely important for SBX since the entire history of GBB is based on it. Without the income from YouTube, we cannot develop the project GBB, so we need every video to monetise. We take orientation from our slogan; we love beatbox and the beatbox family, where we reinvest our income to make the event next year better. If we are blocked and lose money, we risk to be not able to continue our business appropriately, so we kindly want to ask everyone to understand those circumstances by agreeing to these terms and conditions.

Safe space

Everyone that wants to participate, either as wildcard participants, already qualified participants (through battle qualification or previous GBB qualification), judges, part of the SBX team, part of the GBB team, volunteers, participants as a fan of the event, sponsors; everyone has to accept that SBX is not tolerating insults (such as disruptive disrespect, personal attacking, mental and physical disturbance, racism, bullying, other indignities and offences) to one another or any form of harassment (such as sexualism, gender, primitive behaviour, mental and physical violence and such, more to define). We are beatboxers and want to prove a good example and keep a clean image of beatboxing. The GBB exists to help an artist to get closer to a successful career and reach personal milestones, so we cannot tolerate any of the mentioned disruptions. Our team will check every report (more info tba). Any given case will be analysed and has to be tangential to the event or the involved people (participants, judges, SBX & GBB team). The following actions can happen depending on the case:

1. Disqualification of the current year for GBB, or suspension for a certain period (eg current year of GBB and next year)
2. Permanent exclusion of all our future events, permanent suspension
3. The board can decide, depending on the given situation of a given case, how long the perpetrator is going to be banned from GBB and events organised by SBX!
4. SBX can punish for specific cases or take actions, e.g. exclude participants from prizes, tours and other given programs and projects for a year period of time (we will decide case by case, this is important)
5. Options for punishment – verbal warning, ejected from the venue for the day or the entire event without refund, or temporary or permanent ban from SBX events, depending on the case.