The DIANA AI Song Contest took place for the third time in Cologne in October 2023 as part of Cologne Music Week. The event was divided into the DIANA Songwriting Camp and the DIANA Ceremony. The four competing teams, who had written songs and created music videos in collaboration with AI tools within the previous two days, presented their works in the beautiful Christuskirche in Cologne. The show was rounded off by a brilliant live performance by the artist FLOSS, the exciting voting to determine this year's winning team, and the ceremonial presentation of the DIANA trophy and other prizes.
Congratulations to Team #2, NOLA and Aufmischen, who took home the 2021 DIANA trophy.
Ralph H. Christoph is one of the founders of the c/o pop festival and now Director of the c/o pop Convention. The former journalist and editor (including SPEX - Das Magazin für Popkultur) also initiated and supervised numerous projects in India, China, Brazil and Colombia, among others.
Jovanka v. Wilsdorf, Berlin, is the initiator and co-founder of the DIANA AI Song Contest and the Female* Producer Prize and gives masterclasses and talks on the topics "AI in Music Composition" and "Artist Development" on international stages. She is a songwriter at BMG Rights Management with her own song-publishing house and works as an artist coach and creative consultant for various music companies as well as for the Musicboard Berlin.
Ella Rohwer is a freelance cellist and the managing director of PRO MUSIK - Association of Independent Music Creators.
Ella Rohwer is a classically trained cellist with a hybrid artistic identity encompassing the realms of pop, crossover, theater, and contemporary music. In addition to her work as a live and studio musician, she arranges and conducts string ensembles in various contexts. Since 2023, she has also been serving as the managing director of the PRO MUSIK Association, which is dedicated to representing the interests of independent music creators.
Diana Ezerex is a musician and songwriter who has made a name for herself by touring as a support act for artists like Cory Wong and Fanta 4. She gained recognition through nominations at the International Songwriting Awards. Her success in addressing social issues through pop culture is highlighted by features in publications such as Rolling Stone Germany, ZEIT, and ZDF.
While her debut album delved into topics like incarceration (including concerts in prisons since 2017), she is currently focusing on more personal themes, including identity, belonging, and racism.
Thomas Venker lives and works in Cologne. He is a co-editor and co-editor-in-chief of Kaput Magazine for Insolvency & Pop and a co-curator of the concert series "Köln ist kaput" and "Talking Kaput." In recent years, Kaput has been awarded the Rocco Clein Prize for Best Music Magazine (2015), the Independent Record Producers Association VUT Award for "best experiment" (2016), and three times the Anchor, the music journalism award of the Hamburg Reeperbahn Festival, in 2018, 2019, and 2020 for contributions by the authors.
Before founding Kaput in 2014, he was the editor-in-chief of Intro Magazine for 14 years, which was Germany's most widely circulated magazine at the time (with 150,000 printed copies). In 2008, Intro received the Grimme Online Award for its pioneering online presence.
Currently, he is also a member of the editorial team at Chart Magazine – Notes to consider, regularly writes for a portfolio of magazines and newspapers, moderates panels and symposia for cultural institutions, runs the art record label Edition Fieber, and is part of the curatorial team for the Monheim Triennale.
In addition to his journalistic work, he teaches music journalism and artist marketing at several German universities, including the Institute for Pop Music at the Folkwang University of the Arts, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, and the University of Paderborn.
Meet Howard Ouyang from AIVA!
Photo: Ryan Hue
We have the pleasure of bringing you, the DIANA attendees, a live tutorial from the Techmaster of AIVA on the first day of the DIANA writing camp. AIVA is one of the most powerful AI music tools around, and you can use it in a variety of ways to get inspired and combine it with the other amazing AI music tools from our DIANA partners.
We look forward to this opportunity and say THANK YOU, Howard.
Application for 2023 is closed!
The application emphasizes musical work and creativity. Prior experience with AI tools is not required. The selected AI tools are designed to be easily grasped by any interested musician/producer. They serve as a source of inspiration and offer an extraordinary songwriting approach that facilitates the production process and fosters creativity. Participants will be introduced to the creative use of the provided AI tools in a preparatory workshop.
You are submitting the following material via the Application form:
two of your songs (via direct link or download link)
a short, meaningful letter of motivation as to why you would like to participate
a short CV
optional: lyrics for one song
a picture of yourself or your project
A five-member jury from the music and tech industry will select the participants by the beginning of September.
Please note to not submit a group application, the teams will be put together by the jury.
