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FAWM in the Off-Season

Since FAWM is a February challenge, the website is in "hibernation" for most of the year. That means that the website is effectively offline, and wiped clean for the following year.

However, there are several ways to connect with FAWM and fawmers year-round.

Online FAWM groups and chats

A few "quasi-official" groups, chats, and sub-communities exist where fawmers stay in touch all year long. The main ones are:

There are many other unofficial FAWM groups across the Interwebs. Some are local to a city/scene, others focused on particular genres/interests.

You are also welcome to create your own unofficial FAWM group or chat!

Tip

Some local FAWM scenes coordinate "FAWM Over Parties" (FOPs) to meet up and share their new songs in March or April. Keep an eye on the FAWM forums or the online groups/chats above for planning threads.

Social media

FAWM sometimes posts announcements, video projects, memes, and songwriting ideas throughout the year on social media channels. Currently, the most active are:

There are also Facebook (fawmchallenge), TikTok (@fawmchallenge), and (@fawm), although these legacy accounts are effectively dormant and left as-is for posterity.

Tip

You can try posting using the tags #fawm or #fawmchallenge on any social platform! Odds are good that you will be able to find and connect with fellow fawmers just about anywhere.

Fawmstock

Fawmstocks are multi-day "in real life" gatherings for fawmers.

In-person collaboration, real-time skirmishes, bonfire cookouts, song circles, and open mics are commonplace. Some Fawmstocks have been organized by FAWM staff, but many were independently organized by enthusiastic fawmers. These generally occur over a long weekend (2-4 days) during the summer at a retreat center of some sort.

In 2020 and 2022, FAWM moderator @ductapeguy organized a "Virtual Fawmstock" of online meetups, fawmer-led workshops, and livestream open mics.

Info

There is no set or regular schedule for Fawmstocks. The online groups and social media links above are the best way to stay up-to-date about future plans and announcements.

FAWM plans to compile a list of resources and best practices for those interested in hosting Fawmstocks and similar fawmer gatherings, and will make them available on this help site once they are ready.

50 Songs in 90 Days (50/90)

The 50 Songs in 90 Days or (50/90) challenge (also known as the "50 Song Challenge") is an annual challenge similar to FAWM during the summer, but three times as long.

The goal is to write 50 new songs in the 90 days from July 4 through October 1.

This began independently of FAWM, and actually predates it. It apparently started in 2000 as a personal project of David Robinson, who explained in 2001 how it came about after a conversation with Pat Pattison (professor at Berklee College of Music):

"The original idea for the 50 Song Challenge came from Pat Pattison, who mentioned he had once written 50 songs with Josh Leo over the course of a summer. They were writing for a publisher, so the level of songs they came up with had to be obviously pretty high. I thought it was a neat little challenge, and decided to see if I could do it."

The challenge attracted participants across Usenet and Yahoo groups like /50songchallenge and /50songs90days. Songwriters from those groups discovered FAWM in 2007, and after finding kindred spirits, recruited fawmers to try 50/90 that summer. They then asked those of us who run FAWM if the platform could be adapted for a "FAWM-powered" 50/90 challenge in 2008.

Thus FAWM "adopted" the 50/90 challenge and hosted it for the last 17 years. It has been mainly organized by either @burr (2008-2009), @ericdistad (2010-2021), and then @burr with @beto (2022-2024), with the help of the regular FAWM moderators as well.

Note

The FAWM team decided to take a "sabbatical" from hosting 50/90 in 2025, so the challenge is currently on hiatus.

We will use the extra time to reflect on what year-round FAWM songwriting events might look like moving forward.

Rocktober (cover songs)

Rocktober is a challenge to record cover songs (or cover an entire album!) during the month of October. It was proposed by fawmer @jackdawfactories as a way to keep up the momentum after the first FAWM-powered 50/90 in 2008.

While not an "official" FAWM event, Rocktober has been organized by various fawmers off and on for years in various forms.

The latest iteration is hosted by FAWM developer/developer @beto at rocktober.club.

Song Fight!

Song Fight! is an online songwriting contest. Each week someone provides a title, anyone can write a new song for that title, and email an MP3 by the deadline. The following week all the songs are posted, listeners vote, and a "winner" is crowned.

While unaffiliated with FAWM, there is significant overlap between the two communities. In fact, the notion of a Skirmish (née "Song Skirmish") actually began in FAWM 2010 as a mini-challenge instigated by fawmer/songfighters (see History). Skirmishes were also originally weekly before evolving into multiple times daily throughout February.

Anyway, lots of fawmers keep up with each other year-round at songfight.org.