Moog Announces Factory Mural Contest

Moog Music has announced an updated Moog Factory Mural Contest.

The original contest offered a top-of-the-line Moog One to the prize winner, but was criticized by some for asking artists to work speculatively. The new asks artists to submit a “a brief written proposal, concept, sketch, or link to your portfolio’, and then Moog will work with the selected artist to create a mutually-agreeable contract.

Through February 28th, 2021, Moog will be accepting submissions for an original design that will be the new face of the Moog factory in downtown Asheville, North Carolina.

Here’s what they have to say about the contest:

“Locals and visitors of Asheville have come to know our factory by the iconic synthesizer mural that has adorned the building’s exterior for more than eight years. Now, we’re ready to breathe new life into the public artwork that represents who we are and the instruments that our employee-owners build inside these four walls. (This is where you come in!)

We invite you to submit a brief written proposal, concept, sketch, or link to your portfolio — whatever you feel will help us understand why your unique style and vision is best for the home of Moog Music.

Email your submission to [email protected] with the subject line “Moog Factory Artwork Submission” along with your name, preferred contact information, and anything else you’d like for us to know about you!

Any artist whose submission is selected will be contacted to form a fair, agreed-upon contract and compensation package.

For a better understanding of the space and to view the template the final artist will complete please download this building template.

To be clear, we do not own or have the right to reproduce any artwork or concepts submitted as part of this project, with the exception of the selected work.”

See the Moog site for details:

Create a new design for the side of the Moog Factory, and you could win a Moog One.

“Calling all artists and designers: Imagine your art as the new face of Moog Music’s headquarters!

We are excited to be accepting artist submissions for a design that will be the new face of the Moog factory in downtown Asheville, NC. Locals and visitors of our vibrant city have come to know our factory by the iconic synthesizer mural that has adorned the building?s exterior for more than eight years.

Now, we?re ready to breathe new life into the public artwork that represents who we are and the instruments that our employee-owners build inside these four walls. This is where you come in!”

The contest winner will get a Moog One 16-voice polyphonic analog synthesizer and their artwork displayed on the Moog factory.

Details are available at the contest site.

Update: Moog has put the contest on hold, based on feedback:

“We’ve been working to revise the scope of this project so that it is fair, accessible, and worthwhile for anyone who is interested in participating. Over the last few days, we’ve been engaging in some truly insightful conversations with artists and designers to better understand the range of viewpoints related to our initial guidelines and outreach.

We appreciate your patience as we rework this—based on community feedback—to be the inspiring, creative, and fun opportunity we were so excited to share with you. We anticipate announcing the revised details early next week. Have a safe weekend!”

Some had raised objections to the contest – based on both accurate and inaccurate readings of the licensing terms – and others on the idea that Moog was undervaluing the work of artists.

 

 

25 thoughts on “Moog Announces Factory Mural Contest

  1. better check the fine print: every participant loses copyright of their work. the grand prize ‘winner’ grants indefinite use of his work to moog. so, most people work for free. and the winner works for cheap. great thing!

    1. This is not true. The rules state that Moog reserves the right to publish copies of submitted works “for non-commercial purposes” (most likely a blog post that lists their favorite entries) and that the artist retains ownership. As far as the winning artwork goes, the wording is a bit of a mess legally. It reads, “Moog Music, [sic] owns and may reproduce the grand prize winner’s’ [sic] work for purposes of marketing, promotion, discussion, and education in media.”

      It’s up to individual artists to decide if an $8000 synthesizer is sufficient payment in return for the winning mural.

      1. The rules explicity grant all rights of the winning work to Moog: “Moog Music, owns and may reproduce the grand prize winner’s’ work for purposes of marketing, promotion, discussion, and education in media, and may license, under these conditions, to others only for the same purposes.”

        Moog would do better to commision an artist directly and pay them fair market rates for their work. Especially considering the context of a global pandemic that has particularly adversely affected the income of artists.

          1. I’ve checked, and you are right. But they also claim rights to the 5 runner ups: “Moog Music also reserves the right to reproduce selected images for non-commercial purposes—for example, on the Winners page of the website and catalogues, indefinitely,”. They claim for ‘non-commercial purposes’, but using the designs in their catalogue clearly is for a commercial purpose. . .

            Anyway, looks like Moog has shut this down after realising trying to exploit artists during a global pandemic is bad PR for an instrument manufacturer.

    2. I don’t work as a professional designer / illustrator but I’m still going to enter in my free time.

      The way I see it, I might get a very expensive synth for nothing more than a couple of hours of my time not spent watching Netflix and Moog are therefore quite welcome to the artwork if they want it.

      Even if I don’t win (quite likely), it’s still going to be a fun and enjoyable exercise.

    1. Very classy, Moog, the new policy. A bit more respect for graphic designers, artists… This is the first time I witness a widthdraw like this. Very wise :).

      1. I’d say WEAK, not wise. They gave in to bullying by entitled elitists. This isn’t about graphic designers and artists; it’s about musicians. Moog isn’t an advertising / marketing / design agency. They make synthesizers. The point of such campaigns is to engage with their core customers, not create work for other industries. Stay in your lane.

  2. As a professional designer, one tip to those interested in entering… if it’s going to be used on as large a surface as the side of a building, make the design using vector art (Like Adobe Illustrator) as opposed to a raster app like Photoshop. I’ve done a lot of freeway billboards and trade show displays, and you’ll want art that can scale to larger sizes without losing fidelity…

  3. A mural?? Uh, no! This is where one puts a massive modular all-weather synthesizer!! Why use paint when you can have real circuitry? Then have a big keyboard in front of it.

  4. WOW. What bunch of whiners. This is REALLY SIMPLE: if you don’t want a Moog One, and you think your work is worth more than that, DON’T ENTER THE CONTEST. I can’t believe the level of entitlement here. If you can get big commissions for your work, congratulations, you’re in the 0.01% of all artists out there. In the meantime, quit ruining it for the rest of us. Moog has every right to protect themselves from liability by making sure they have the right of reproduction. You have every right to ignore their offer if it isn’t good enough for you. Good luck to you and your precious artwork and ideas; I’m happy to take opportunities that resonate with me, and take them at face value. GET OUT OF MY WAY.

  5. Completely agree with A is for ART. Can’t believe an $8,500 synthesizer isn’t ‘good enough’ for some people. What, do you use hundred dollar bills as toilet paper? Having ANY Moog synthesizer would be a dream. Some people don’t have a realistic grasp on the worth of money or have an oversized ego.

  6. Soo… what Moog has done here is basically make this contest MORE exclusive, not less. If you’re a professional designer, with a, “portfolio”, a design-focused website, history of success, etc., and if you’re really good at writing briefs and proposals, you can apply to negotiate for a possible maybe chance to design something. But if you’re an ordinary super-creative MUSICIAN, whose focus is mostly on MUSIC, with a passion for visual arts and Moog synthesizers, go to the back of the line. You either pivot your whole life around pretending to be a, “designer”, or just go back to making music and forget about participating in a really cool Moog contest. As ALWAYS, people who scream about “fairness” end up rewarding their own elitism, at the expense of everyone else. IRONIC. Moog, you FAILED. You should have stuck to appealing to musicians (we’re the ones who buy synths, after all) and told the whiners to go back to their ivory towers.

  7. This is garbage… Can’t believe some entitled brats ruined this, I was looking forward to entering. Good job everyone who cried about $8,500 not being enough! Guess the art can’t speak for itself now.

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