Battle of the Bands

Put on your best battle armor and crank your amps up to 11, Anime Expo's Battle of the Bands is here to rock the house! All amateur bands in and around Southern California are able to enter to win the chance to go up against a select number of finalists to go head to head to see who is the biggest and baddest band at Anime Expo!

Sign-up is now closed, all entries have been received.
  1. Participation by professionals is prohibited. Any performers found out to be as such will be disqualified. A professional is monetarily compensated for his or her work as a singer or musician.
    1. Bands and individual musicians who have also participated in tours in any way, shape or form are also disqualified.
    2. Bands and/or individual musicians who were represented at any time by any type of record label, independent or otherwise are not allowed.
    3. Bands who have fully produced EPs or albums are not allowed.
    4. Bands who participate in several convention concerts will be subject to investigation but are still able to audition and participate.
       
  2. No band may have any members that were in any winning band(s) or have won in any AX competition from previous years.
    1. Discovery of previous winners attempting to participate will be automatically disqualified from this and other competitions within the convention.
       
  3. There must be a minimum of three (3) members per band, no more than eight (8) members per band are allowed.
    1. If chosen as one of the finalists, all band members must perform during the event, no exceptions.
    2. If a band mate is unable to perform that band will not be able to replace them unless authorized by Anime Expo ® Battle of the Bands Management.  Decisions made without authorization of management will result in automatic disqualification.
       
  4. Each group may perform multiple songs as long as they fall within the following categories:
    1. ONLY Anime/Video Game/Jrock/Visual-Kei related songs are allowed.
      1. No originals (As per the rules of previous events like AX Idol, we want to hear your interpretations of anime/Jrock songs)
      2. Songs from games like “Rock Band,” “DJ Hero,” “Guitar Hero,” etc are NOT allowed.
    2. Anime TV series/OVA/Movie/Video Game (Opening/Ending/Main Theme/Soundtrack)
    3. Vocaloid songs are allowed ONLY if they are part of the “Vocaloid: Project Diva” Video Game series.
       
  5. Auditions must include an mp3 audio recording AND live video recording of your performance, and a jpeg photograph of the performers.
    1. Mp3 should a pre recorded demo, but does not have to be studio/CD quality.
    2. Live video recording must be recent (within 3-6 months) and display ALL current members that would perform in finals if chosen to do so.
       
  6. Performances must be no longer than ten (10) minutes in length.
     
  7. Finalist performances must be done in a “band” format, no a Capella performances are allowed.
     
  8. The finalists will be contacted by BotB staff to confirm their participation in the at-con performance. A list of the finalists will then be posted on the Anime Expo® and BotB websites.
    1. If chosen as one of the finalists, your performance piece will be the same as your audition piece.
    2. A full set list will then be required from the bands for approval.
       
  9. If a member of a finalist band is also participating in AX Idol, no song from their existing set may be used for that competition.
    1. Reuse of any song will result in disqualification from both competitions.
 
Stay Tuned! Our list of awards & prizing will be coming soon!