Cover A Classic Motown Song And Win Prizes In Local Detroit Contest

DETROIT — A local cover song contest will give musicians a chance to cover a Motown classic. The top ten finalists will have the opportunity to perform their winning performances in a Grand Finale Showcase at the Motor City Casino’s Soundboard Theatre on April 20, 2023.

Legendary Motown songwriter and record producer Sylvia Moy’s Masterpiece Sound Studios is asking musicians to cover one of ten Motown classics in any genre, including Classic Motown, R&B, Country, Latin Rhythm, Native American, Middle Eastern Rhythmic, Hip-Hop/Rap, Jazz, J-pop/K-pop and Reggae/Dance/Afrobeats.

Participants must select one of these classic Motown hits: "My Baby Loves Me," "Nothing's Too Good For My Baby," "I Was Made To Love Her," "Ain't That Askin For Trouble," "It's Got To Be A Miracle," "Heaven Sent You (I Know)," "I'm Still Lovin You," "You've Made Me So Very Happy," "Whole Lot Of Shakin In My Heart," "Which Way Is The Sky."

The competition is open to any amateur individual or independent singer, musician, singing group or band, from across the United States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. There is no entry fee and participants must submit their covers in .mp4 or .mov (Apple) video files by Sep. 5, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern. Songs can be submitted here.

Judges will rank the cover songs based on originality/interpretation, sound quality, overall performance, showmanship and audience appeal. Three lucky contest winners will also win cash awards by Sony Music Publishing for their master recording for sync opportunities. Contest finalists will be announced Nov. 14.

"The Cover Song Contest is a perfect opportunity to promote and preserve the legacy and mission of our sister, Sylvia Moy, by reintroducing these iconic Motown songs and celebrating the extraordinarily talented songwriters who wrote them," Masterpiece Co-Manager Celeste M. Moy said.

A cover song is a new recording or rendition of a song by an artist other than the original composer or performers. A cover song is not a remake, meaning an attempt to reproduce the exact sound of the original songs.

Instead, a cover song aims to re-create the original song in a new way, such as performing it in a different genre or style. Sometimes these interpretations achieve more success than the original versions.

Masterpiece Sound Studios is Detroit’s historic state-of-the-art commercial audio/visual recording studio founded by the late Sylvia Moy, who died in 2017.

Moy was an extraordinary composer and artist who was honored and inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame multiple times over the years. She was also the first woman in Detroit to build a commercial recording studio.