What is Moodswing?
For artists and rights holders, it's simple:
Fans add your music to their voice messages.
Your music earns while they talk.
Moodswing lets people add music underneath their voice messages, based on their mood, to enhance their conversations.
10 billion+
voice messages sent every day. All in silence.
Licensing deal with Sony Music in place
Music used for illustration purposes only
The campaign
Moodswing of the Year — the world's first voice message x music contest.
Fans make a Moodswing: a voice message with music playing underneath it. The best one in the world wins a US$100,000+ cash prize. For our launch we are looking for one major Sony artist to headline the campaign and choose the winner. It runs for two months in early 2027 — a defined campaign with an end date, not an ongoing ambassadorship — and we intend to run it every year.
What the artist gets
A full campaign fee
Paid to the artist, set on reach and final scope, funded entirely from a sponsorship. This is a commercial engagement, not a promotional favour — nothing is asked of the artist or the label financially. Confirmed with full terms once the sponsor is signed.
2,800
Music video plays
Rotation across five TRACE channels over the two-month campaign. Committed inventory on TRACE's international network.
A campaign built around the artist
Sponsor-funded media across television, digital and retail — the artist is the face of it, with their music and the competition. Plus a global winner announcement they deliver. Significant media the artist does not pay for.
Priority placement in the app
Featured prominently throughout the campaign and carried through to the winner announcement.
It earns
Entrants choose from the whole licensed Sony catalogue. Every message made with Sony music is reported and earns — during the campaign, and for as long as the tracks stay in the app afterwards.
How the competition works
01
Fans record a voice message
02
They pick any track from the catalogue
03
We shortlist the entries
04
The artist picks the winner
US$100,000+ cash prize.
What the artist commits to
01
A shoot with our crew
We produce the campaign content. Location, dates and scope agreed with the artist's team.
02
Social across the campaign
Announcement, campaign moments and the winner reveal.
03
Press and interviews
Support around launch and the winner announcement.
04
Judge the winner
We shortlist. They choose, and announce it.
Scope reflects the level of the engagement and is agreed with the artist's team. Includes name and likeness in sponsor media across television, digital and retail. All content is subject to Sony Music Entertainment approval.
The detail
The artist approves the sponsor
Likely a mobile network operator, though the category is open. We share the sponsor and category for the artist's and the label's approval before anything is signed.
One campaign, not a lock-in
The commitment is to this campaign and its dates. A sponsor will normally ask the artist to hold off competing brands in their own category while it runs — that window is agreed with the artist's team up front. Everything outside it stays open.
Usage is time-limited
Name and likeness in campaign media for the campaign period plus a short tail, agreed in advance. Nothing runs indefinitely.
Approval on everything
The artist's team approves all creative before it runs, and Sony Music Entertainment approves anything using their repertoire.
Open worldwide
Anyone can enter, excluding territories where prize competitions are restricted. Sponsor media concentrates in the sponsor's markets, but the contest itself is global.
Timing
Campaign live for two months in early 2027, with the winner announced at the end. Shoot and asset dates set well in advance around the artist's schedule.
Where this is right now. The campaign is funded by a sponsor, and we are in those conversations currently. We are approaching artists first so that we can go to a sponsor with a name rather than a concept. What we would ask of an interested artist at this stage is a letter of intent, subject to terms — nothing binding, but enough to take to a sponsor. Confirmed terms, fee and dates follow once the sponsorship is signed. We are asking for expressions of interest by 15 September.
