Mandriva sound contest announced

To promote the upcoming release of Mandriva Linux 2007, Mandriva today announced a contest to find the best session startup and logoff music for the new release and all subsequent 2007 updates.

The contest begins Thursday, which coincides with a holiday called World Music Day, which is celebrated in many parts of Europe. A Web page with contest rules and a place to submit audio files will be up this evening, according to Romain D’Alverny, the technical lead for the contest.

“This is a simple way to get people’s attention from outside of Mandriva and the Linux world,” D’Alverny says. “People who may be interested in such a contest may not even be Linux users.” He says that contestants may use any type of audio creation tool to create the sound clips, which must not be longer than five seconds. “Of course, using free software and providing details about the making of it would be interesting as well,” D’Alverny says. “What counts for now is the result, and its availability under a free copyleft license.”

The winner must agree to release his or her work under either the Creative Commons or the Art Libre license. “Perhaps this will shed some light on copyleft licenses for artwork as well as for software,” he says. “There are alternatives to an ‘all rights reserved’ position; this still needs to be stated every day.”

There will be no cash or any other kind of prize for the winners, except for a hearty thanks from Mandriva, and a mention in the software credits and the Mandriva Web site. Alverny says that alone should provide the winners with visibility. Update: Mandriva says the winner will also choose between a lifetime silver membership to the Mandriva Club, or a free copy of PowerPack+ 2007 and other software.

Mandriva employees will select the winning sounds with a vote. “What we are looking for is something that sounds really nice,” D’Alverny says. “The more contestants with distinct backgrounds and ideas, the better.”