All the comments are appropriately skeptical to the concept, but I don't think this is a scam along the lines of "talent auditions". Because I know the organizer, who I think is pretty community-minded. So I just dropped said organizer a line to ask where the money goes.

I kinda think it's not so much a scam as a habit that could start to seem normal around here, people are forever organizing these musical events as ongoing contests for a spot on a compilation CD. The CD's themselves seem to fall into a deep hole once they're released.

But I'll report back when I get a reply.

Willie-O
Ouch!. Damn sharp fencepost up my #$%^&*(