These are the core practical rules for Vanguard Music Championship — Season 1: Open Signal.
Full legal rules are available in the Event Terms, Universal Event Rules, Event Privacy Notice, and other applicable Vanguard documents.
---
- Individual participation only.
- Participants must be 14+.
- Participants aged 14–17 need parent or legal guardian authorization.
- One participant may submit one Round 1 entry.
- Submissions must follow the deadline, format, duration, and round requirements.
- Submissions must be original or properly licensed.
- Participants are responsible for beats, samples, loops, collaborators, credits, artwork, vocals, likenesses, and all third-party materials.
- Do not submit stolen, plagiarized, infringing, misleading, unsafe, or unlawful content.
---
This is a competitive music event.
Rap battles, diss tracks, punchlines, direct criticism, opponent references, and strong competitive language may be part of the format.
That does not mean anything goes.
Vanguard is here to build a serious competitive culture — not a random comment war.
Treat this like a professional battle arena:
- compete hard;
- write sharp;
- bring energy;
- challenge opponents through the work;
- respect the event, the audience, the Judges, and the culture.
The goal is to raise the level of the scene, not to destroy the community around it.
---
Within a round or battle submission, participants may use:
- diss lines;
- punchlines;
- satire;
- parody;
- direct competitive references;
- criticism of another submission or battle performance;
- strong language, where allowed by the round and platform rules;
- aggressive or confrontational artistic delivery.
Battle language should stay connected to the event, the round, the performance, the public competitive persona, or the artistic context.
A strong diss is part of the sport.
Real-world harassment is not.
---
Do not use the Event, Vanguard Platform, comments, messages, submissions, or public channels to engage in:
- real-world threats;
- intimidation;
- stalking;
- doxxing;
- targeted harassment;
- hate-based conduct;
- discrimination;
- bullying outside the competitive format;
- private-life attacks unrelated to the battle;
- publication of personal information;
- attempts to pressure, bribe, manipulate, or influence Judges;
- coordinated attacks on Participants, Judges, Organizers, or the platform.
The line is simple:
Attack the performance. Attack the bars. Attack the round. Attack the public battle angle.
Do not attack someone’s safety, private life, identity, family, address, or real-world wellbeing.
---
Explicit language, mature themes, and aggressive battle content may appear in this Event.
If your submission contains explicit language, mature themes, or content that may not be suitable for all audiences, you must flag it where the submission form asks you to do so.
Explicit content may still be reviewed for compliance with Event rules.
Flagging explicit content does not allow unlawful, threatening, hateful, harassing, or rights-infringing material.
---
AI-generated or artificial vocal performance is not allowed.
This includes:
- AI vocals;
- AI rap delivery;
- AI singing;
- AI speech;
- text-to-voice;
- text-to-rap;
- text-to-singing;
- voice cloning;
- voice conversion;
- voice replacement;
- synthetic lead vocals;
- synthetic backing vocals;
- synthetic ad-libs;
- artificial vocal likeness.
The Event is intended to evaluate real human vocal performance, rap delivery, authorship, and creative execution.
---
Do not cheat, manipulate, rig, or abuse the Event process.
Prohibited conduct includes:
- fake accounts;
- bot activity;
- vote manipulation;
- collusion;
- plagiarism;
- impersonation;
- submitting stolen or infringing content;
- bypassing platform controls;
- interfering with other participants;
- misleading claims about affiliation, sponsorship, identity, or official status;
- trying to influence Judges outside official Event channels.
Win through the work.
Not through manipulation.
---
Judges may critique submissions, compare performances, explain decisions, and discuss strengths and weaknesses in the Event context.
Participants may disagree with results, but disagreement must remain professional.
Do not harass, threaten, pressure, bribe, insult, or intimidate Judges, Organizers, platform staff, contractors, or other Event roles.
If you believe there is a real technical, rights, cheating, AI-voice, conflict-of-interest, harassment, or integrity issue, report it properly.
Do not turn it into a mob campaign.
---
A participant or submission may be rejected, removed, restricted, disqualified, or lose advancement/prize eligibility if there is:
- a rights issue;
- plagiarism;
- prohibited AI voice use;
- cheating;
- fake account activity;
- vote manipulation;
- harassment;
- threats;
- doxxing;
- eligibility problems;
- technical non-compliance;
- fraud;
- abuse;
- violation of Event rules;
- violation of platform rules;
- another Event-integrity problem.
Enforcement may include warning, request for correction, removal of a submission, disqualification, loss of advancement, loss of recognition, prize forfeiture, account restriction, or other reasonable action.
---
If you believe there is a serious issue, contact Vanguard.
Reports may involve:
- rights infringement;
- plagiarism;
- prohibited AI voice use;
- cheating;
- vote manipulation;
- harassment;
- threats;
- doxxing;
- Judge conflict of interest;
- technical error;
- eligibility issue;
- other Event-integrity concerns.
Contact:
connect@vanguardnetwork.org
Please include:
- your name or stage name;
- your account email or username, if applicable;
- the Event name;
- the relevant Round or submission;
- a clear description of the issue;
- screenshots, links, files, or evidence where relevant.
---
Battle hard.
Write sharp.
Respect the arena.
Protect the culture.
Diss tracks are part of the format.
Harassment, threats, doxxing, cheating, fake accounts, stolen work, and AI vocals are not.
