Rules and questions

How to take part?

Press “Take part”: everything happens on that page. You sign in once with your FreeWillWave account, verify your YouTube channel (a code to paste in its description), then submit your track in the category of your choice.

A public or unlisted YouTube video is enough. The track must be original: your own creation, not a cover, a remix or an adaptation. One exception: a public-domain poem or text set to your own music. You must hold the necessary rights.

You can have up to 20 tracks in the contest at any one time, each in one category. Removing a track frees a place, and a winning track no longer takes one. All of them stay on your artist page, month after month, with nothing to submit again.

Which tracks go to the vote?

Each artist has at most two tracks in the vote of an edition. On your artist page, you give a star to your No. 1 and your No. 2, and you can move them until submissions close.

If you do not choose, the public’s pre-scores choose for you: your tracks with the most pre-score points go through. In case of a tie, the track submitted first goes through.

When submissions close, we count the artists: up to 100 artists, No. 1 and No. 2 go through; above that, only No. 1. Your other tracks stay available to listen to, marked “not in the vote”, and have a new chance at the next edition.

And during submissions?

The pre-vote is open: listen to the tracks and already give them a score from 1 to 10, once a day per track. These pre-scores order the list, with no points or rank shown. You cannot pre-score your own tracks.

They give no points in the vote, which starts from zero at each edition. They have one other use: choosing the tracks in the vote of an artist who has not chosen. Each edition counts its own pre-scores.

How to vote?

Continue with FreeWillWave, listen to the tracks and give a score from 1 to 10 to those that best carry the spirit of the contest. The scores appear after 30 seconds of listening: the countdown runs while the track plays and stops when you pause.

You can score each track once a day during the vote, so the same track can get your score every day. Each person votes with a single account: two accounts with the same email are treated as one account. You cannot score your own tracks.

During the vote, only the number of votes is shown, including to the artist. Rankings are revealed with the results.

How to share a track?

The “Share” button is on each track’s page and in the player. The link opens the vote on that track.

When you are signed in, the link carries your code: if someone creates their FreeWillWave account by following it, you are the one who invited them. If they followed several links, the last one counts. Someone who already has an account does not change. Signed out, the link still works, without your code.

Does the contest come back every month?

Yes. The Wave comes back every month, with the same categories, the same prizes and the same rules. Each edition has its submissions and pre-vote, then its vote, then its results. The dates are at the top of this page.

An edition with fewer than 10 artists when submissions close continues for one more month, once: submissions stay open, then the vote and the results move one month later. The vote then opens, whatever the number of artists. This applies to every edition, including the first.

You move your stars from one edition to the next with nothing to submit again. A winning track does not come back to the vote.

Where to see the results?

On musicalcontest.com/results, with one page per edition: the winners and the ranking. They are announced during the day on the 1st, once the winners of the ranking without AI have been checked.

Full rules

The spirit of the contest

The Wave celebrates a beginning: humans are finding each other and starting to act together to build solutions that contribute to everyone's happiness and respect.

Your track is invited to carry this positive energy. It can make people dance, smile, feel moved or find courage: what matters is what it makes listeners feel.

One contest, every month

The Wave comes back every month, with the same categories, the same prizes and the same rules. Each edition has its submissions, its vote and its results, from the 1st to the last day of the month, Paris time.

Edition 1, the founding edition. Submissions and pre-vote: November 1–30, 2026. Vote: December 1–31, 2026. Results: January 1, 2027 at 6 p.m. Everyone with a published track when submissions close receives a founding badge that can never be earned again.
Edition 2. Submissions and pre-vote: January 1–31, 2027. Vote: February 1–28, 2027. Results: March 1, 2027. January also honours the winners of edition 1.
Edition 3. Submissions and pre-vote: February 1–28, 2027. Vote: March 1–31, 2027. Results: April 1, 2027.
And so on. From February, a vote and a submission period run at the same time. On the 1st of each month: results of one edition, opening of the vote of the next, opening of submissions for the one after.

Fewer than 10 artists. An edition with fewer than 10 artists when submissions close continues for one more month, once: submissions stay open, then the vote and the results move one month later. The vote then opens, whatever the number of artists. This applies to every edition, including the first.

Results are announced on the 1st at 6 p.m. Paris time, once the checks described below are done.

Who can enter?

Anyone of legal age with a free FreeWillWave account, the account that opens FreeWillWave, Humans.team and MusicalContest.

Your YouTube channel must be verified on your profile before you submit.

You must hold the rights needed to present your track and allow it to be played as part of the contest.

Your tracks

You can have up to 20 tracks in the contest at any one time; removing a track frees a place, and a winning track no longer takes one. Each track enters a single category. All of them stay on your artist page and keep their own page, where anyone can listen to them, month after month, with nothing to submit again.

Submit a YouTube video from your verified channel, public or unlisted. All musical styles and all languages are welcome. Tracks can be sung or instrumental. The video is embedded with the official YouTube player.

Original tracks only

The contest only accepts original tracks: the music and the lyrics, if any, are your own creations. You can create them alone, with co-authors who agree, or with artificial intelligence.

Covers, remixes and adaptations of an existing musical work are not accepted, even with permission or if the work is in the public domain.

One exception: you can set a public-domain poem or text to music, if the music is your own creation. Name its author or origin in your track's description.

If a track does not follow this rule, it is withdrawn from the contest, and you can submit another one during the submission period.

Tracks made with artificial intelligence

When you submit, you state whether your track was made with artificial intelligence. Tracks made with AI carry an "AI" badge.

The contest has two separate rankings: tracks made with AI and tracks made without AI. Each ranking has its four categories and its winners. The voting rules are the same for everyone. What each winner receives is described under "Rewards".

Your tracks in the vote

Each artist has at most two tracks in the vote of an edition, whatever their ranking or category.

Your stars. On your artist page, you give a star to your No. 1 and your No. 2. Only a published track can receive a star. You can move your stars until submissions close (November 30, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Paris time for edition 1).

If you do not choose. The public's pre-scores choose for you: your two tracks with the most pre-score points go to the vote. If you only choose your No. 1, your No. 2 is your track with the most pre-score points among the others. In case of a tie, the track submitted first goes through. An artist with a single published track goes to the vote with it.

How many tracks go through. On the day submissions close, we count the artists, meaning everyone with at least one published track, including winners of earlier editions:

up to 100 artists: No. 1 and No. 2 go to the vote;
more than 100 artists: only No. 1 goes to the vote.

Until then, your No. 2 is marked "in the vote if there are 100 artists or fewer".

The organiser, Serge Brocteur, takes part under exactly the same rule. His tracks, from FreeWillWave's album "The Wave" (music produced with Suno) and Humans.team's album "Ibiza · The Return" (music produced with ElevenLabs), all remain available to listen to.

The other tracks. They stay on your artist page and keep their own page, marked "not in the vote". The contest list and the voting screen show the tracks in the vote.

The next editions. You move your stars from one edition to the next without submitting again, and a track that did not go through has a new chance. A track that has won a prize cannot come back. If a track in the vote becomes a winner of the previous edition on the very day that vote opens, your next track with the most pre-score points takes its place.

Your artist page

Each artist has a page on MusicalContest, with their photo and name, a link to their FreeWillWave, a link to their Humans.team if they have one, their tracks in the vote, the number of votes, share buttons, and all their other tracks.

The page says whether each track in the vote was chosen by the artist or by the public.

When you are signed in, your own page also shows your stars and, during the pre-vote, your pre-scores and how many you received. These are visible only to you.

Pre-vote

During submissions, you can already give tracks a score from 1 to 10, with the same rule as the vote: one score per track per day, one account per person. These pre-scores order the list of tracks, with no points or rank shown.

Pre-scores give no points in the vote. They have one other use: choosing the tracks in the vote of an artist who has not chosen. Each edition counts its own pre-scores.

Voting

Registered members of Humans.team or FreeWillWave can vote, on the contest page on humans.team or on musicalcontest.com.

Voting means giving a track a score from 1 to 10. You can score each track once per day (the counter resets at midnight UTC, 1 a.m. in Paris), so the same track can get your score again every day of the voting period.

Each person votes with a single account. Humans.team and FreeWillWave accounts using the same email address are treated as one account.

Artists score the tracks of other artists: a track cannot receive a score or a pre-score from its own artist.

The vote starts from zero at each edition. During voting, only the number of votes is shown, including to the artist. Rankings are revealed with the results.

Each share link opens the vote on that track.

How the winners are chosen

Each track adds up points: the sum of all the scores it received during the vote.

In each category, the winner is the track with the most points. In case of a tie, the track with the most votes wins; if still tied, the track submitted first.

In each of the two rankings (with AI and without AI), a winner is chosen in each category where at least one track received a vote, so up to four winners per ranking and eight in all.

In each ranking, the Grand Prize goes to the winner with the most points among its winners (same tie-break rules). So there are two Grand Prizes; each is an additional distinction, not an extra winner.

Checks before the announcement. Each winner in the without-AI ranking is checked before the results are announced, and may be asked to show how the track was made. A track found to be made with AI moves to the with-AI ranking, and the next track in its category takes its place.

Rewards

Winners in the ranking without AI receive:

A Humans.team Awakening Pack, gifted: the 60-day programme, My New Me and your personal site on humans.team. It is yours as soon as you activate it.
An interview presenting their world.
A FreeWillWave birth portrait.
Their track played on FreeWillWave and Humans.team.
A winner badge.

Winners in the ranking with AI receive:

A Humans.team Journey Pack, gifted: the 60-day programme and My New Me. It is yours as soon as you activate it.
A FreeWillWave birth portrait.
Their track played on FreeWillWave and Humans.team.
A winner badge.

The winner badge appears on your artist page, and on your Humans.team mini-site if you have one.

If you already have the Pack you win, you can give it to the person of your choice.

If you win two prizes, you receive both; you can give the second Pack to the person of your choice.

Every broadcast or feature offered needs your consent. You can accept some rewards and decline others while keeping your title. Any tax on a reward is the winner's responsibility.

Your rights

Your music stays yours.

By entering, you allow your YouTube video to be embedded on the contest pages. Any other use requires your prior consent.

Removing the video from YouTube withdraws your entry.

Respect for everyone

Only submit original tracks for which you hold the necessary rights.

A non-original track, hateful or illegal content and vote manipulation can lead to disqualification. A track withdrawn during the vote is not replaced.

Key dates