How does the league schedule work?
Each round has two phases that happen back to back:
- Song Submission phase — Players pick and submit their songs. When the phase ends, submissions are locked and the voting phase opens automatically.
- Voting phase — Players listen to all the submissions and distribute their upvote points. When the phase ends, results are revealed and the next round begins.
Rounds run sequentially. Each new round starts as soon as the previous one closes — there are no gaps between rounds unless you build them in with per-round deadlines.
For the full picture of how a league moves from Draft through Active to Completed — and how each round cycles through Upcoming, Submitting, Voting, and Completed — see How a League Progresses.
What are the pacing options?
When you create a league, you pick a pacing style, and you can change it later from Edit league. A change applies right away, including to the round in progress, so let your league know. Pacing controls whether phases end early — not how long they are. You set the length separately (anywhere from 1 to 14 days each for submissions and voting). Here are the three styles:
- 🐢 Steady — A relaxed pace with unmoving deadlines. The submission phase always ends exactly when scheduled, and voting always ends exactly when scheduled. Good for leagues where players want a set, reliable rhythm to think about their picks and votes.
- 🐇 Accelerated — A moderate pace. A good middle ground for most leagues. Deadlines still determine when each phase transitions, but the playlist is released and voting begins as soon as the last active player submits their song(s) (the voting deadline does not change). Voting results are revealed as soon as the last active player submits their vote(s) (the next round's song submission window, if applicable, opens on time).
- ⚡ Speedy — Short phases and fast turnaround. Great for leagues that want to keep energy high and move through rounds quickly. When the last song is submitted, the playlist is released and voting opens immediately. When the last vote is cast, the results are revealed immediately and, if applicable, the next round's song submission window opens.
In all three styles, the deadline you set is the latest a phase will run — Accelerated and Speedy just let phases finish sooner when everyone's done. League Admins can also choose to advance to the next phase at any point. This is meant to help move leagues along if a player is temporarily not participating and hasn't been removed from the league.
Saved ballots and pacing. Players can save a draft ballot (even a partial one) instead of submitting it right away. A saved ballot converts to a submitted one automatically when the voting deadline passes — in every pacing style — and, for some leagues (optional votes), anytime before the deadline. A saved ballot does not count as a vote, so it never trips the last-player-votes early unlock that Speedy and Accelerated use; only submitted ballots do. See How Voting Rules Work for the full Save-vs-Submit explanation.
Can I set custom phase lengths?
Yes. Set the submission phase to anywhere from 1 to 14 days, and the voting phase to anywhere from 1 to 14 days — the two are independent. The number of days applies to every round by default.
When does the first round start?
The first round can start automatically when you launch a league, or you can set the opening date and time for the league to officially begin (that is, when the song submission window opens for Round 1). The song submission window closes and voting opens based on your schedule settings, as do the subsequent rounds. Scheduling a future date is useful if you want to give players time to join before submissions open.
Can I set different deadlines for each round?
Yes. While you set up a league, the Timing step lets you manually edit the submission and voting deadlines for each individual round if you want to deviate from the default cadence. This is useful if your group has a known busy period — you could stretch out a round that overlaps with a holiday, or add a break between rounds by pushing a start date out. After launch, change a round's dates from that round's ⋮ menu → Edit round. If a change would move a date too close to the next deadline, you'll be given the option to apply the new time to all subsequent deadlines, skip the next round, or make a different timing change altogether.
Can I change the schedule after the league has launched?
Yes. After launch, the League Admin can still edit any round deadline that hasn't passed yet — a round's opening time, its submission deadline, or its voting deadline — as long as that moment is still in the future, from the round's ⋮ menu on the league page → Edit round. Once a deadline is in the past it's locked and can't be moved.
To add a break after launch, open Edit league from the league's ⋮ menu and use Add break in the Rounds section. It pushes the round you pick, and every round after it, back by the number of days you choose. There's no single control that shifts the whole schedule — move the deadlines you want moved, one round at a time.
When you change a round's deadline on Edit round and it still leaves at least 24 hours before the next round opens, it saves straight away — the rounds that follow stay as they are. If the new deadline would land in (or within 24 hours of) the next round's start, you're asked how to handle the rounds that follow. The same goes for a round's opening time or submission deadline: if you move one later so that it runs into the round's next phase, the round's later phases move by the same amount and you're asked how to handle the rounds that follow:
- Shift everything later by the same amount — every upcoming deadline moves back by the same number of hours you added, keeping each round's length and the gaps between rounds the same.
- Push each round into the next slot — every upcoming round slides down to take the slot of the round after it, and the final round is extended by the same amount you moved the edited deadline. A round that is longer than the slot it moves into starts when the round before it ends instead.
Either way, no round ever starts before the round before it has ended.
Deadlines that have already passed are never changed. Whichever option you pick, members of any round whose schedule actually moves are notified — rounds that don't change aren't.
Separately, while a round is in its submission phase you can extend submissions, and while it's in its voting phase you can extend voting — each by up to 72 hours. An extension can also leave later rounds untouched, unless it would crowd the next round — then you choose to shift everything later or push each round into the next slot, as above. Players affected by the change are notified.
Can I start or end a phase early?
Yes. The League Admin can move a round on before its scheduled time:
- Start the next round early — Open the next upcoming round's ⋮ menu on the league page and choose Advance to next phase. Submissions open right away. The round keeps its submission and voting lengths, and every round after it moves earlier by the same amount, so the gaps between rounds stay the same. It's offered only for the next round due to open, only once that round has a theme, and only while no other round is taking submissions or votes.
- Close submissions early — While a round is taking submissions, use the Close or extend control beside its deadline and choose Close Submissions Now. Voting opens right away.
- End voting early — While a round is voting, use the End or extend control beside its deadline and choose End Voting Now. Results are revealed right away.
Each of these asks you to confirm before it runs, because anyone who hasn't submitted or voted yet loses their chance. Members are told when a round opens, and if later rounds move, they get a note that the schedule changed.