Red Bull Bedroom Jam 2010: FAQs
1. What is Red Bull Bedroom Jam?
a. About Red Bull Bedroom Jam
b. What opportunities are open to bands who enter?
c. Who can take part?
d. When do I have to have entered by?
2. I'm in a band, how do I take part?
a. Getting started
b. Technical specifications / video file types
c. What next?
d. I've entered Red Bull Bedroom Jam before, can I re enter?
3. How does Red Bull Bedroom Jam work?
a. The four stages of Red Bull Bedroom Jam
b. How do I influence the charts?
c. The Judges
4. I'm not in a band, can I still take part?
a. I've registered, but not received an email. What next?
b. What are the best parameters for my encoding software?
c. Why is my QuickTime movie not streaming?
d. Which codecs do you currently recommend?
e. I'm having other technical issues
6. I have a question that's not answered here!
1. What is Red Bull Bedroom Jam?
a. About Red Bull Bedroom Jam
Red Bull Bedroom Jam encourages young people to pick up instruments, perform and realise their musical potential.
b. What opportunities are open to bands who enter?
The cream of the artists who enter get the chance to stream a live performance from their bedroom to the world, play on the Red Bull Bedroom Jam stage at some of the UK's biggest festivals (Download, T In The Park, Underage Festival and more to be confirmed), be tour support for an established act, and even record a full album at Red Bull's brand new studios in London.
c. Who can take part?
Any UK or Ireland-based band can enter as long as they have at least one member who will be aged 19 or under on 7 June 2010.
d. When do I have to have entered by?
The last band to play a Red Bull Bedroom Jam Live Show will be announced on 24th May. Bands uploading after this date will not be eligible to take part in Red Bull Bedroom Jam 2010.
2. I'm in a band, how do I take part?
a. Getting started
Go to http://www.redbullbedroomjam.com and click 'Register'. Fill in your details to become a member of the website and check your email to get your password.
Log in to your account from any page on the Red Bull Bedroom Jam website, then click 'Create A Band'.
Fill in the details of your band including name, location, biography and your MySpace and Twitter web addresses, where applicable.
Upload a video of your band performing. This could be anything from a camera phone recording to a professionally shot video. As long people can see and hear you, they can rate and comment on you. It's the talent that matters, not your promo budget!
b. Technical specifications / video file types
The Red Bull Bedroom Jam website accepts a wide variety of video formats and footage, but for best results please ensure the video is a .mov, mpeg2, mpeg4 or 3gpp.
c. What next?
Once your page is live, either send the web address or use the 'Share' buttons on the right hand side to spread the word. The more people watch, comment on and rate you video the higher you're likely to soar up the Buzz Chart!
The Buzz Chart is what measures the hype around your band. The more people are talking about you and watching your videos, the bigger the hype.
So tell the world, anyway you can!
d. I've entered Red Bull Bedroom Jam before, can I re-enter?
If you've entered Red Bull Bedroom Jam before and played a Live Show (ie the Red Bull team came to your house and filmed you), or if you've been chosen for any other RBBJ experiences, unfortunately you cannot re-enter
However, because bands grow, change and develop, the slate is wiped clean for 2010 and so if you've entered before and not 'won' a Bedroom Jam experience you can create a brand new band page for yourselves and take part again in 2010.
Also, you'll notice the way bands are voted to the top of the charts has also changed so make sure you read about it and let your fans and followers know via Twitter, MySpace, Facebook etc.
3. How does Red Bull Bedroom Jam work?
a. The four stages of Red Bull Bedroom Jam
Red Bull Bedroom Jam is made up of four stages:
The Live Stage
This is the first stage. Each Monday at 4pm the band at the top of the Buzz Chart will be confirmed to play a Red Bull Bedroom Jam Live Show. We'll call the band at 4pm to confirm they're available. If they're not, they lose their place, and it goes to the band in the second spot. For more details on this click here [T&Cs link].
This announcement will be made on the RBBJ website after that evening's Live Show at approximately 6:30pm. The band will then play a Live Show the following Monday afternoon at 5pm, live from their bedroom!
The Festival Stage
Each band that plays a Live Show is taken off the Buzz Chart and added to the Festival Chart. This chart works in exactly the same way as the Buzz Chart measuring the hype, talk and activity around your band.
On 7th June the band at the top of the Festival Chart will be confirmed to play on the Red Bull Bedroom Jam stage at Download, T In The Park, Underage Festival, Hevy Festival and maybe more! Of course, the final bands to join the Festival Buzz Chart will be at no less an advantage as hype is measured in real time.
They'll be joined by six other bands selected from the rest of the Festival Chart, and one Wild Card band from the rest of the site, by our esteemed panel of judges (see below). These band will also play at all of the above festivals.
The Studio Stage
Later in the year, three of the eight bands who played the festival stage will be selected by the judges to for The Final Buzz Chart.
Then, the fans will vote (in exactly the same way as with The Buzz Chart and Festival Chart) which band they want to make a record for free in Red Bull's brand spanking new studios in London.
Built in late 2009, they'll be one of the first acts to use the recording space and record with an expert producer.
The Tour Bus Stage
The band who record an album at Red Bull's studios will also get the chance to go on tour with an established band, as their support act. Without mentioning the huge exposure, the wealth of experience you'll gain, living on the Red Bull tour bus with your mates could well be the most fun you've ever had!
b. How do I influence the charts?
Both the Buzz Chart and the Festival Buzz Chart work in exactly the same way. They measure activity relating to your band across a range of websites to work out the buzz around your band.
This includes:
- Number of views on your Red Bull Bedroom Jam band page
- The rating on your Red Bull Bedroom Jam band page
- The comments on your Red Bull Bedroom Jam band page
- Tweets sent on Twitter that mention your twitter ID eg @youmeatsix
- Page views on MySpace
- Number of plays on your MySpace music player
All of these stats are collated and the Buzz Chart spits out a ranking relative to the other bands who've uploaded. The aim, of course, is to be number one!
Please note: bands on the Festival Chart move up and down in exactly the same way, relating to views and comments on their original video upload.
c. The Judges
One band will be picked by the public to play a number of UK festivals in 2010 using the Buzz Charts explained above.
An esteemed panel of rock-loving judges will then use all their rock knowledge and experience to select another seven bands from the 16 bands that played a weekly Live Show. All eight will then play at each and every festival!
So who are they?
- Download Festival organiser, Andy Copping
- Fightstar frontman Charlie Simpson
- The Agency Group's Beckie Sugden
- Rock Sound editor Darren Taylor
a. Have your say
The fans are just as important to Red Bull Bedroom Jam as the bands.
Without fans, bands would play to empty venues! egister on the homepage and then get watching and, most importantly, rating and commenting. Fans know a good band when they hear them and so you need to score each video and then comment underneath.
Keep it polite though eh? If you didn't like a band, why not offer them some helpful advice rather than just slag them off!
5. Troubleshooting
a. I've registered, but not received an email. What next?
Sometimes the confirmation email can take a little while to arrive. Leave it an hour or so and if you still haven't received an email send an email to webmaster@redbullbedroomjam.com
b. What are the best parameters for my encoding software?
We recommend encoding your video using the following parameters:
Connection speed: High broadband
Frame rate: 25 fps
Bitrate: 450 kbps
Frame size (pixels): 610w x 345h
c. Why is my QuickTime movie not streaming?
Quicktime files are the most prone to problems, the most common of which is that the files have not been hinted for streaming at the encoding stage. The hint tracks tell the server exactly how to package the media data for the network. Please note: To hint a movie you must purchase QuickTime Pro. If you choose to do this, follow these steps, or instead encode as a different format.
- Open the movie in QuickTime Player.
- If the movie is not self-contained, choose Save As and save it as a self-contained movie-otherwise, the hinted movie will contain references to the media tracks in the original movie, which would also have to be on the server.
- Choose Export from the File menu. Name the movie using the .mov suffix.
- Simplest hinting method: If the movie is already compressed and the data rate is set, choose Movie to QuickTime Movie from the Export pop-up menu. Choose Default Settings from the Use popup; these usually work fine. Hit OK and you're done.
d. Which codecs do you currently recommend?
The table below shows our current recommendations. There is a trade-off between the quality of the codec, which increases with time, and its adoption by the general public. It should also be noted that these recommendations are at a very general level, specific applications may differ.
Format Windows Media
Video codec Windows Media 9
Audio codec Windows Media Audio 9.1
Format Real Media
Video codec Real Video 10
Audio codec Real Audio 10
Format QuickTime
Video codec Sorenson 3
Audio codec QDesign Pro 2
Format MPG2
Video codec MPG2
Audio codec -
e. I'm having other technical issues
Simply send an email to webmaster@redbullbedroomjam.com
6. I have a question that's not answered here!
That's fine – just email us at webmaster@redbullbedroomjam.com explaining your question clearly and we'll do our best to help you out. If it's a common question, we'll also be adding them to this page complete with answers.
If it's a technical question please tell us what kind of computer and web browser you're using, and as much detail as possible that could help us solve your query.
