SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
- This year's theme: HYPERFOCUS: This year, we want a compilation that is quick, has lots of variety and is constantly changing. We also want as many participants as possible. Therefore, our theme this year is SHORT TRACKS.
- Maximum track length: 2 minutes or less, or 1 minute or less for multiple submissions (more on #3).
- Multiple submission rules: You may submit more than one track but only if those tracks are 60 seconds or less in length each. We are allowing up to 2 submissions per artist, not counting collaborations (more on #4). We want as much music and people on this release as possible.
- Collaborations: We love it when people tag-team tracks! It fosters community and helps make new ideas. You may collaborate with whoever you want on the album. If you are collaborating with another artist, that track does not go towards your total submission count. (i.e. if you already submitted 2 tracks or 1 2-minute track, a collaboration can still be submitted.)
- Exclusivity Window: We ask that artists allow us to host the track exclusively for 2 months. That time frame is usually when we make 90% of our donations for a relase. After that, artists may do what they will. (NOTE: This restriction does not apply to promoting the release. More on #6.)
- Self-Promotion: Many artists love to show their work off and of course, we have NO problem with free publicity. You may preview or talk about your submission on social media all you like, provided that people cannot download it audio format. Any promotion in visual formats (i.e. Instagram, Youtube, TikTok) is 100% OK and appreciated, even within the exclusivity window.
- ANY CHIPTUNE-INJECTED GENRE PERMITTED!: We love all types of music and prefer to let our artists run wild. This is a chiptune compilation, so make it work as you will, of course. If you are adding guitars, vocals, drums, whatever, we welcome you. However, do list any outside collaborators so we may credit them.
- ANY AUDIO FORMAT: If it can play on a PC, we can take it, though since we do master these releases, an uncompressed format is preferred. However, a compressed preview is fine to include as well though not required. MP3, WAV, AAC, FLAC, OGG, whatever. We do ask that you do NOT run normalization or mastering tools beforehand, as we do this after all submissions are accepted.
- NO UNLICENSED SAMPLES: Please do not use any samples or snippets from songs you do not own without permission. We can't afford copyright lawyers!
- NO AI TOOLS PERMITTED: We will NOT accept AI-generated or AI-enhanced submissions. Period. Not only do we have qualms against such tools, but the hostility out there against is extremely toxic and will put bad vibes on our compilation almost instantly. Sorry.
- NO PREVIOUS RELEASES: We want new, original works. We want fresh material. Remixes or re-imaginings of works you have released are permitted, provided they are NOTABLY different from the original. (Don't just submit a remaster or an edit of an old track. Cheater.)
- NO ABLEISM OR MISINFORMATION: "CURING" talk, ableist chatter, autism misinformation (vaccines) or any adjacency to element of the previous is not permitted and titles or tracks that reference or even hint at this will not be accepted. There is enough misinformation out there and we have zero tolerance or want for contributing to such. (Criticizing these things is OK though, such as LazyNerd204 did on Volume 2 with "Vaccines Did Not Make Me Talented", or for example, talking about the difficulties you may have as an autistic or neurodiverse individual.)
- DEADLINE: OCTOBER 31ST, 2026 (may be subject to change)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
If you have questions, please read this before signing.
HOW CAN I CONTACT C4A?
You can get in touch with us through email or join our Discord! We also have a direct email submission link in case you have trouble with uploads, just make sure you put SUBMISSION in your subject line.
WHO IS C4A?
C4A (Chiptunes 4 Autism) is a fundraiser and neurodiversity positivity promoter. We are not a full non-profit yet, but we are working on it. We haved raised thousands for charities such as Rise Above the Disorder / Anxiety Gaming and the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network.
We were founded and are run by an actually autistic family (autistic mom and dad and three neurodiverse kids!) based in Fort Worth, Texas, USA. We have no executive branch, no VPs or anyone making profit off our work. We are planning a channel to discuss neurodiversity and issues in the neorudiversity community as well as other objectives to help autistic people.
In the meantime, our current activities include hosting compilations on Bandcamp (and later Spotify once a certain threshold is reached) and using those funds to support our efforts and our favorite causes for neurodiversity. We also infrequently host live music events and musical instrument / sensory petting zoos in public spaces.
We would like profits this year to go towards a grant that will help an autistic person go to school or start a small business, if enough funds materialize.
Disclosure: we are looking to become a full nonprofit one day and want to start using our funds to be the catalyst for change ourselves in the lives of other autistics. Until then, we send the majority of our funds (after very small operating expenses) to places like ASAN and YouAreRad.org.
We do NOT SUPPORT Autism Speaks. We find their language to be negative towards autistics and ableist at large, nor do we think they would use our funds efficiently.
WHAT DOES C4A DO WITH MY SUBMISSION?
By submitting your music, you authorize us to distribute it on Bandcamp and other streaming services to raise funds to cover operations costs, nonprofit activities and the other causes we support!
We see your music submission as a LIMITED LICENSE. That means that we are essentially using your music, with your permission, to raise funds for our causes. We do NOT claim copyrights, creative credit or license music EVER without the original artist's expressed permission.
We only ask for a TWO-MONTH window of exclusivity if artists want to re-distribute their tracks later. We don't do contracts or any legal malarky. (We promise we won't come after you if you release it on Bandcamp or Soundcloud later.)
I am dead serious about this. I am not a lawyer nor can I have provide legal help but I have filed federal fraud claims before against people who have tried to steal or misappropriate our artists' music. I will die on that hill.
DOES IT HAVE TO BE "PURE" CHIPTUNE?
(What is that, exactly?) We are not here to be gatekeepers. We are fond of chiptune and nerdy-adjacent genres and welcome those for the cause! We have also featured synthpop, chiptune-injected rock, nerdcore hiphop (thanks, Lex) and even ambient tracks on our compilations. We don't even mind if your track is in another language (though do let us know if it's NSFW. See below.)
I'M NOT IN THE UNITED STATES. CAN I STILL SUBMIT?
Absolutely. We have proudly featured artists everywhere from Indonesia to Illinois. All are welcome!
WHY IS C4A CREDITED AS AN ARTIST ON COMPILATIONS ON SPOTIFY?
This is a requirement for compilations distributed through our aggregator. The rights to those tracks remain with their original artists.
We also do this so we can put all our tracks together in one place and so people can find us easily. We ARE autistic, you know.
DO I HAVE TO USE MY LEGAL NAME?
Our aggregator *says* you have to do so but many artists choose not to do so and many people have different names they prefer than their birth names, which we do our best to respect. It is mainly for legal copyright purposes. You may use an alias or preferred name but we are required to put SOMETHING there.
CAN I USE AN AI-GENERATED TRACK?
We are not accepting AI-generated submissions of any sort. Our moral qualms against something that may exploit the works of others goes against a lot of what we believe. Also, people just don't want it. Neither do we. Sorry. And yes, we can check if you are lying. Also, since we don't pay artists, I am not sure why anyone would want to do this..... but you never know.