For all you electronic music producers, making beats in your bedroom and playing house parties for your friends—this one’s for you. Following the monumental success of The Untz Challenge last year, TheUntz.com and its partners are bringing back the annual competition which pits DJs, producers, and electronic artists of all stripes in a battle royale for a boatload of prizes and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Once again, for 8 weeks this fall, fans of electronic music will vote for their favorite tracks in a March-Madness style tournament. Beginning today and continuing for the next two weeks, The Untz will be accepting submissions for the competition. Artists, performers, and producers of all skill levels and strata are encouraged to enter. It takes just a few minutes, and it could change your career forever.

The magnitude of this year's prizes has escalated dramatically. For the past few weeks, TheUntz.com has been releasing one piece of the finalists' prize pack at a time. On the gear side of things, our top 4 finishers will choose from a quartet of amazing live performance and studio hardware. Up for grabs are the X10 DJ mixer, U2 workstation and USB media player, and the DJM-303 twin USB mixer—all from DJ Tech—as well as the impressive Novation TWITCH DJ Controller. When all is said and done, the grand prize winner also gets 30 free hours of studio time with Tyler Crawford Unland of What! Music. Over the course of 4 days, our winner will work closely with Unland in his Ft. Collins studio to craft their very own EP.

The final prize, which has been kept under wraps until now, will prove to be the most coveted of them all: an opening spot for Lotus in 2012. Playing around 100 shows annually around the US, the band will determine the best date and market for the Challenge's winner, and they will get to open that show for Lotus' throngs of devoted fans. The huge force in live electronic music is experiencing their biggest year in a decade-long career, headlining festivals big and small (including RE:Generation, North Coast, and Summer Camp, among others), co-headlining Red Rocks with The Glitch Mob, and producing their seventh studio album. The eponymous 11-track album (Download link: lotusvibes.bandcamp.com/album/lotus), which has received much critical acclaim, was released on SCI Fidelity just two weeks ago. Without a doubt, this is a golden opportunity not to be taken lightly.

Now then, here are the rules and regulations of the competition:

• ORIGINAL, UNRELEASED tracks must be submitted to The Untz Challenge SoundCloud DropBox (www.soundcloud.com/theuntzchallenge) by 11:59 pm PST on October 7^th.  We have setup a specific SoundCloud account for The Untz Challenge, and will only accept submissions to this specific DropBox.  No exceptions.
Send me your sounds
• Please submit only ONE track per DJ/producer/group. If you submit more than one, only your first entry will be considered—and it will annoy us to no end, which is not a good thing.
• DO NOT submit MIXES, REMIXES, or STOLEN WORK. (Yes, we understand DJs create mixes, but we want ORIGINAL, SINGLE tracks for this particular competition.)
• The Untz staff will (using a double-blind method) compile a list of the 64 best submissions, which will then be randomly assorted into 4 brackets, REGARDLESS of genre or style.
• Voting by the public will take place following the weekly schedule set forth at the bottom at this article

One of the main objectives of TheUntz.com is to give exposure to promising talent in the electronic music scene. The spirit of competition fostered by these annual challenges is all in good fun, because at the end of the day, fans from around the world are going to get a chance to hear amazing, cutting-edge productions from tomorrow’s biggest stars. It goes without saying, but cheating will NOT be tolerated when it comes time for voting. Last year, we saw it all, so this is just a friendly reminder that big brother is watching, and he knows his programming. Just because this is an electronic music competition, it doesn’t mean we want robots voting. Immediate disqualification is a harsh penalty, so make sure you stay within the boundaries. Now—all seriousness aside—let the games begin!

Important Dates for The Untz Challenge II
October 7 - Tracks due by 11:59 pm PST
October 12 - Bracket 1 Voting Begins
October 18 - Bracket 1 Voting Ends 11:59 pm PST
October 19 - Bracket 2 Voting Begins
October 25 - Bracket 2 Voting Ends 11:59 pm PST
October 26 - Bracket 3 Voting Begins
November 1 - Bracket 3 Voting Ends 11:59 pm PST
November 2 - Bracket 4 Voting Begins
November 8 - Bracket 4 Voting Ends 11:59 pm PST
November 9 - Bracket (Final) Voting Begins
November 22 - Bracket (Final) Voting Ends 11:59 pm PST

*Unfortunately, with an expanded prize package and the nature of the finalists’ winnings, additional complications have presented themselves. TheUntz.com must regrettably restrict entrants in the competition to only residents of the U.S. and Canada. This is greatly upsetting to us, especially considering the global nature of last year’s competition which resulted in intercontinental first and second place finishes. However, we at The Untz promise to include our worldwide audience in future events, and pledge to continue our reach to our fans and friends around the globe.

Please send questions about The Untz Challenge 2 to: challenge@theuntz.com