City Hall Wants To Replace Its Stodgy Transfer Music With Sounds From Local Musicians

If you’ve ever been put on hold when calling Boston’s City Hall then you’ve no doubt heard the slow, fluttery elevator music that keeps you company while you wait. Like it or not, that’s about to change.

Officials from Boston’s Department of Innovation and Technology announced Wednesday that they will be crowdsourcing submissions to replace City Hall’s transfer music with music from local musicians.

Musicians are asked to upload one original song (no covers) to a music streaming service “such as Bandcamp, Soundcloud, or Myspace," and to submit the link on Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #BOStunes. Submissions will be accepted until Dec. 2.

There are some restrictions. For instance, since this is a local contest, at least one member of the group or band must live in Boston. Also, no “profane or discriminatory language” is allowed in song submissions.

In the day since the call for entries, there have been over 120 tweets using the hashtag #BOStunes, many of them contest submissions, according to social analytics website Topsy. The hashtag was also trending in Boston on Tuesday.

For more information on the program, visit the Department of Innovation and Technology’s website.