Run a beat battle

Last updated 26 October 2026

One brief, everyone’s own take, against the clock.

A relay passes one track along a line. A battle has everybody make their own version of the same brief at the same time. The wheel picks the brief, nobody hears anybody else’s entry until time is up, and then everyone votes for the best.

1. Starting one

Open the Battles tab and tap New battle. Give it a name, then invite people, by artist name or by email if they’re not on Collabspot yet: as Battling if they’re making something, or Judging if they’re just there to listen and vote. Once they’ve joined, pick who’s battling: two to twelve people, including you.

Then pick how long it runs once the wheel has landed: 10 minutes for a speed round, 30 minutes or 1 hour when you are all on a call together, or 24 hours, 3 days or 1 week when everyone is working on their own. Custom takes any length from ten minutes to a week.

2. The lobby

Everyone you picked gets the battle on their project page and taps I’m in. Nothing can start until they all have.

While you wait, each person can add up to two briefs of their own to the wheel, short enough to fit on a wedge. Ours fill the rest of the twelve. Once everyone is in, the wheel locks, so nobody can slip a brief in at the last second.

3. The spin

Anyone in the battle can spin. The wheel lands on one brief, and that is what everybody makes. There are three kinds, and they come up mixed:

• Genre fusion, like UK garage with a country twist.
• Unhinged, like Disco music for a zombie apocalypse.
• Challenge, like Make a beat with no kick drum.

The spin happens once, on our server, and the clock starts the moment it lands. Nobody can spin again for a brief they like better.

4. Sending your entry

Make your take and tap Send your entry on the battle. Send the full bounce, one stereo file. You can replace it as many times as you like until the clock runs out.

Every entry is sealed. Until time is up, only you can hear yours: not the others battling, not the project’s owner, nobody. Everyone else just sees Sealed or Still working next to your name.

5. Time’s up: the vote

When the clock runs out, every entry plays at once. If two or more are in, everyone in the battle gets an email to come and vote. Have a listen to each, then vote for your favourite.

• One vote each, and never for your own.
• Everyone in the battle votes. Whoever isn’t battling is a judge. With two of you and nobody judging, you can only vote for each other, so it ends in a draw: invite a judge or two.
• Didn’t finish? You still get a vote.
• Votes are secret. Everyone can see who has voted, but not who for.
• Voting closes as soon as everyone has voted, or 24 hours after time’s up.

6. The result

The most votes wins, and a tie means joint winners. No votes at all is a draw. If only one entry came in, it wins without a vote. The result leads the battle page with every entry and its votes, everyone in the battle gets an email saying who won, and Share the result makes an image of it for your story.

When you’re ready for another, the owner taps Start a new battle. The last one goes under Past battles on the project, with its result and every entry still there to play.

Tips

• Short and live is the most fun. A 10 or 30 minute round on a call, with the spin on screen, is the format at its best.
• Agree the rules before the spin. Samples or no samples, a tempo, whether you can use a project you already started.
• Play them back together. Listen to the entries on the call before anyone votes.

Ready?

• Open Collabspot and start one from the Battles tab.
• Want to build one track together instead? Run a relay.
• Stuck? Write to support@collabspot.app.