Utata - Winter Project 2013

Top of the Pops
Position	Artist	Album
1	What is Musical Notes?	Musical Notes is the BIG PROJECT for Winter 2013. Past BIG PROJECTS have included Just One Thing, A Conversation, Color Story, and Nocturnal Photographer. By Musical Notes we mean words about music. We want you to assemble some music, create the photographs that turn it into an album, and then write some words to go with it.
2	What do you mean by "assemble some music"?	We're not asking you to actually hit the studio and record an LP — although that would be pretty awesome — we simply want you to put together a list of songs that make up an album. They could be real songs. They could be imaginary songs. They could be that bunch of terrible soppy lovesongs you wrote when you were seventeen and haven't the heart to throw away.
3	What kind of album?	Any kind of album. It could be the album you always wanted to make. It could be the album you always wished somebody else had made. It could be the worst album you can possibly imagine. Could it conceivably have been pressed into a disc of vinyl, folded in cardboard and sold to the public? Then it's an album.
4	Can I use an existing album?	No. You might use songs from an existing album, but make up your own thing.
5	So where do the photographs come in?	We want you to produce the photographs for your fantasy album. As a minimum we would expect you to produce a front and back cover. You may also want to produce an inside image for a gatefold album, or some publicity shots, or a publicity flyer, or a tacky band t-shirt. The front and back images must be square format — because LPs are square, man — but the other shots can be whatever shape you like. You can submit between 2 and 6 images.
6	Can my Musical Notes have no words?	If you mean can your album be instrumental, then yes. If you mean can your project be just photographs, then no. The Big Winter projects, like A Conversation and Story Tellers, are wordy projects. We would like you to produce 500-1000 words related to your album. These words could be the liner notes for the album, they could be a fictional account of the album's fractious and booze-fueled production, they could be a newspaper review of the album or a retrospective on the imaginary career of the artist. If your heart is kindled by a poetic spark then you could even write the lyrics.
7	Can I submit more than one project?	No, we are looking for one album per person, please.
8	Are there any categories?	No, we are going to be one big, happy musical family.
9	OK. I think I understand all that. But what the hell is an "album", Grandad?	Go ask your Grandad
10	Can I use archival photographs or do they all have to be new?	Just new photographs for this Big Project, please.
11	Can I use someone elses's photographs?	No, please only submit photos which you took and for which you have full copyright. Model releases may be necessary.
12	Will collaborative works be accepted?	Unless it's a collaboration with David Bowie then we would like Musical Notes to be a solo project.
13	Will submissions be edited or published as is?	Whatever you write, that's what we use.
14	What size will images be displayed?	Images will be displayed fluidly based on Flickr's large size, with a maximum width of 1600 pixels wide. If your photograph is portrait or square orientation, it will not be resized wider than its large size.
15	What tags do I use?	In order for us to pull your photos from Flickr and display them on the Utata project page, you'll need to tag your photos properly. The tag `utata:project=musicalnotes` should be used for all photographs. You must include your photographs in a specific order, using the tags `utata:entry=1 utata:entry=2 … utata:entry=6` The entry tags must be added or your project may not show up or display erratically.
16	Can I use other formatting tags?	As for previous Big Projects, tags can mark which part of a description of a photo is seen by Utata: `utata:startdesc=[marker]` and `utata:enddesc=[marker]` replacing `[marker]` with whatever characters you choose as your marker. This is detailed in this Utata discussion.
17	Can my photos be marked private?	In order for your photos to appear on Utata project pages, they must be public, not private.
18	Can I opt out of Flickr's API permissions?	No, in order for us to access your photographs using tags, you must opt-in to Flickr's API permission. If you don't know whether you are opted in or not, go here and check. You must have the “Hide your photostream from searches on 3rd party sites that use the API?” unchecked in order to participate.
19	Do I have to be a member of Utata?	Yes, you must be a member of Utata and you must have a Utata.org member page, if you don't already. We will be using the name you have indicated on your member page, if you wish your name to be different for the project, you will need to change your member page details.
20	What is Utata's policy on nudity?	Utata.org only publishes Flickr photos marked “safe” in accordance with Flickr community guidelines. See the following from the Flickr FAQ on Content Filters: What are content filters? Where do I set the safety level on my photos? How do I know if I'm doing the right thing?
21	What is the deadline for this exciting project?	The project is going to be published in the morning (by that, we mean “sometime after sunrise and before noon, Eastern Standard Time”) on March 11, so in order for your work to show up on the site, you will need to have everything uploaded and appropriately tagged before then.