Subject: [AUDITORY] Call for participants: IEEE ICASSP 2026 Grand Challenge (GC) on Automatic Song Aesthetics Evaluation From: Wenwu Wang <000000615c5e5fae-dmarc-request@xxxxxxxx> Date: Sat, 8 Nov 2025 10:05:40 +0000--_000_DBAPR06MB685306B2A4420E86E5446406BAC0ADBAPR06MB6853eurp_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Welcome to attend IEEE ICASSP 2026 Grand Challenge (GC) GC-2: Automatic Song Aesthetics Evaluation Organized by: Ting Dang, Haohe Liu, Hao Liu, Hexin Liu, Lei Xie, Huixin Xue= , Wei Xue, Guobin Ma, Hao Shi, Yui Sudo, Jixun Yao, Ruibin Yuan, Jingyao Wu= , Wenwu Wang Submission Link: https://cmsworkshops.com/ICASSP2026/Papers/Submission.asp?= Type=3DChallenge&ID=3D2 Challenge website: https://aslp-lab.github.io/Automatic-Song-Aesthetics-Eva= luation-Challenge/ ICASSP 2026 website: https://2026.ieeeicassp.org/ Title: Automatic Song Aesthetics Evaluation Challenge Short description: Recent advances in generative music models have enabled = automatic song creation with impressive quality and diversity, powering app= lications from virtual artists to movie dubbing. However, evaluating the ae= sthetic quality of generated songs, capturing factors like emotional expres= siveness, musicality, and listener enjoyment, remains a key challenge. Exis= ting metrics often fail to reflect human perception. To address this gap, t= he Automatic Song Aesthetics Evaluation Challenge invites participants to d= evelop models that predict human ratings of song aesthetics based solely on= audio. This competition aims to establish a standardized benchmark for ass= essing musical aesthetics in song generation, with human-annotated datasets= and a focus on listener-centered criteria. By bridging signal processing, = affective computing, and machine learning, this challenge seeks to drive pr= ogress toward more human-aligned music generation and evaluation. Timeline * September 01, 2025: Registration Opens * September 10, 2025: Train set and baseline system release * November 10, 2025: Test set release * November 20, 2025: Results Submission Deadline * December 07, 2025: Paper submission (2-page papers) * January 11, 2026: Paper acceptance notification * January 18, 2026: Camera-ready paper submission * May 4-8, 2026: ICASSP 2026 in Spain Thanks for your attention. Sorry for cross-posting. Best wishes, Wenwu -- Wenwu Wang Professor of Signal Processing and Machine Learning, Centre for Vision Speech and Signal Processing (CVSSP) Associate Head of External Engagement, School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering AI Fellow, Surrey Institute for People Centred AI University of Surrey Guildford, GU2 7XH United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 1483 686039 Fax: +44 (0) 1483 686031 Email: w.wang@xxxxxxxx https://personalpages.surrey.ac.uk/w.wang/ --_000_DBAPR06MB685306B2A4420E86E5446406BAC0ADBAPR06MB6853eurp_ Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <html> <head> <meta http-equiv=3D"Content-Type" content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-= 1"> <style type=3D"text/css" style=3D"display:none;"> P {margin-top:0;margin-bo= ttom:0;} </style> </head> <body dir=3D"ltr"> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; line-height: 1.284; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; font= -family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica= , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <b>Welcome to attend IEEE ICASSP 2026 Grand Challenge (GC)</b></div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; line-height: 1.284; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; font= -family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica= , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <b><u>GC-2: Automatic Song Aesthetics Evaluation</u></b></div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; line-height: 1.284; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; font= -family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica= , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <b>Organized by</b>: Ting Dang, Haohe Liu, Hao Liu, Hexin Liu, Lei Xie, Hui= xin Xue, Wei Xue, Guobin Ma, Hao Shi, Yui Sudo, Jixun Yao, Ruibin Yuan, Jin= gyao Wu, Wenwu Wang</div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; line-height: 1.284; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; font= -family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica= , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style=3D"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>Submission Link</b>: </span><span s= tyle=3D"color: rgb(5, 99, 193);"><u><a style=3D"color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" da= ta-auth=3D"NotApplicable" class=3D"x_OWAAutoLink" id=3D"OWAf55245ae-ee15-ae= 5a-0f40-cc474dd81105" href=3D"https://cmsworkshops.com/ICASSP2026/Papers/Su= bmission.asp?Type=3DChallenge&ID=3D2">https://cmsworkshops.com/ICASSP20= 26/Papers/Submission.asp?Type=3DChallenge&ID=3D2</a></u></span></div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; line-height: 1.284; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; font= -family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica= , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style=3D"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>Challenge website</b>: </span><span= style=3D"color: rgb(5, 99, 193);"><u><a style=3D"color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" = data-auth=3D"NotApplicable" class=3D"x_OWAAutoLink" id=3D"OWA630e2191-a5a9-= 6f76-9240-9626801b46f4" href=3D"https://aslp-lab.github.io/Automatic-Song-A= esthetics-Evaluation-Challenge/">https://aslp-lab.github.io/Automatic-Song-= Aesthetics-Evaluation-Challenge/</a></u></span></div> <div class=3D"elementToProof" style=3D"direction: ltr; line-height: 1.284; = margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontSe= rvice, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style=3D"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>ICASSP 2026 website: </b></span><sp= an style=3D"color: rgb(5, 99, 193);"><u><a style=3D"color: rgb(5, 99, 193);= " data-auth=3D"NotApplicable" class=3D"x_OWAAutoLink" id=3D"OWA327e139c-82f= 1-46fe-724d-cc32f374003d" href=3D"https://2026.ieeeicassp.org/">https://202= 6.ieeeicassp.org/</a></u></span></div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; line-height: 1.284; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; font= -family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica= , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <b>Title:</b> Automatic Song Aesthetics Evaluation Challenge</div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; line-height: 1.284; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; font= -family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica= , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <b>Short description</b>: Recent advances in generative music models have e= nabled automatic song creation with impressive quality and diversity, power= ing applications from virtual artists to movie dubbing. However, evaluating= the aesthetic quality of generated songs, capturing factors like emotional expressiveness, musicality, and li= stener enjoyment, remains a key challenge. Existing metrics often fail to r= eflect human perception. To address this gap, the Automatic Song Aesthetics= Evaluation Challenge invites participants to develop models that predict human ratings of song aesthetics based sole= ly on audio. This competition aims to establish a standardized benchmark fo= r assessing musical aesthetics in song generation, with human-annotated dat= asets and a focus on listener-centered criteria. By bridging signal processing, affective computing, and machine = learning, this challenge seeks to drive progress toward more human-aligned = music generation and evaluation.</div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; line-height: 1.284; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; font= -family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica= , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <b>Timeline</b></div> <ul style=3D"direction: ltr; margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;"> <li style=3D"font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, C= alibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); direct= ion: ltr; line-height: 107%; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"> <b>September 01, 2025</b>: Registration Opens</li><li style=3D"font-family:= Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-s= erif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); direction: ltr; line-height: 10= 7%; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"> <b>September 10, 2025</b>: Train set and baseline system release</li><li st= yle=3D"font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri= , Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); direction: l= tr; line-height: 107%; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"> <b>November 10, 2025</b>: Test set release</li><li style=3D"font-family: Ap= tos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-seri= f; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); direction: ltr; line-height: 107%;= margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"> <b>November 20, 2025</b>: Results Submission Deadline</li><li style=3D"font= -family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica= , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); direction: ltr; line-he= ight: 107%; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"> <b>December 07, 2025</b>: Paper submission (2-page papers)</li><li style=3D= "font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helv= etica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); direction: ltr; li= ne-height: 107%; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"> <b>January 11, 2026</b>: Paper acceptance notification</li><li style=3D"fon= t-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetic= a, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); direction: ltr; line-h= eight: 107%; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"> <b>January 18, 2026</b>: Camera-ready paper submission</li><li style=3D"fon= t-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetic= a, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); direction: ltr; line-h= eight: 107%; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"> <b>May 4-8, 2026</b>: ICASSP 2026 in Spain</li></ul> <div id=3D"x_Signature"> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-= serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Thanks for your attention. Sorry for cross-posting. </div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos= _MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb= (0, 51, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-fam= ily: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <span style=3D"font-size: 16px;">Best wishes,<br> <br> Wenwu<br> <br> <br> </span><span style=3D"font-size: 10pt;">--<br> Wenwu Wang</span></div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-fam= ily: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0, = 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-fam= ily: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0, = 0, 0);"> Professor of Signal Processing and Machine Learning,</div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-fam= ily: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0, = 0, 0);"> Centre for Vision Speech and Signal Processing (CVSSP)</div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-fam= ily: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0, = 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; margin: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Hel= vetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Associate Head of External Engagement, </div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; margin: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Hel= vetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering</div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; margin: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Hel= vetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-fam= ily: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0, = 0, 0);"> AI Fellow,</div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-fam= ily: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0, = 0, 0);"> Surrey Institute for People Centred AI</div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-fam= ily: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0, = 0, 0);"> <br> </div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-fam= ily: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0, = 0, 0);"> University of Surrey</div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-fam= ily: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0, = 0, 0);"> Guildford, GU2 7XH<br> United Kingdom<br> Phone: +44 (0) 1483 686039<br> Fax: +44 (0) 1483 686031<br> Email: w.wang@xxxxxxxx</div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-fam= ily: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0, = 0, 0);"> <a style=3D"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" data-auth=3D"NotApplicable" class=3D"x_OW= AAutoLink" id=3D"OWA5144a8d5-8600-8ea5-72cb-d388e70aa70b" href=3D"https://p= ersonalpages.surrey.ac.uk/w.wang/">https://personalpages.surrey.ac.uk/w.wan= g/</a></div> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-fam= ily: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(0, = 51, 0);"> <br> </div> </div> <div id=3D"x_x_x_x_Signature"> <div style=3D"direction: ltr; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-fam= ily: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(0, = 51, 0);"> <br> </div> </div> </body> </html> --_000_DBAPR06MB685306B2A4420E86E5446406BAC0ADBAPR06MB6853eurp_--