The competition has kicked off, with submissions closing on 8 December.
Rhodes Music is calling on composers and producers worldwide with The Custom Keys Challenge – a scoring competition with a hand-built Rhodes Custom Shop piano up for grabs.
Catch up on all the latest news here.
Here’s the brief: create an original soundtrack for a new Rhodes short film using Rhodes sounds as your foundation. Participants can draw from the Rhodes MK8, V8/V8 Pro, or Anthology libraries, with room for additional textures and instruments, but Rhodes needs to stay front and centre in the mix.
Entrants will receive an official re-edit of the Rhodes Custom Shop trailer from the Rhodes Custom Keys page. Once you’ve crafted your score, upload it to YouTube with the title “Rhodes Custom Keys Challenge Submission | [Your Name]” and tag it with #RhodesCustomKeys, then submit the link via the official form on rhodesmusic.com.
Rhodes will narrow the field to the top 10 entries through internal judging, then hand the decision over to the community. A public vote on Rhodes’ YouTube channel will run from 22 December through 19 January 2026, with the winner announced the week of 20 January.
“We are thrilled to announce The Rhodes Custom Keys Challenge. We look forward to hearing entries from around the world and uniting our community with the warm sound of Rhodes,” said Matt Pelling, CEO of Rhodes Music.
Beyond the Custom Shop piano grand prize, second through to fifth place will score the full Rhodes Software Suite plus a Rhodes t-shirt, while sixth through to tenth place can claim any two Rhodes Software products.
Whether you’re a bedroom producer or seasoned composer, this is your chance to showcase your skills and potentially land one of the most iconic instruments in music history.
Full rules and submission details are available here.
