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This Is Why Eurovision Is More Than Three Hours In May Written by on June 1, 2014 | 8 Comments

For those who just watch the Grand Final, the Eurovision Song Contest is over for another year. The bunting, the flags, the foods of Europe stickers, and the annual ritual of a party can be packed away until May 2015.

But the Song Contest is not just a single live TV show on a Saturday night. It is a stage that stretches across Europe, if not around the world. It is a guiding star for anyone caught in its wake, and it can light up a path for everyone involved.

To quote the works of Cory Doctorow, “the biggest problem in the 21st century is not piracy, but obscurity“.

Every year I have wondered just how many bands, groups, singers, and performers, take a punt at the Eurovision Song Contest? I had my ballpark guess (which in the end was probably a little bit low), but I decided to track them this year. Every press release that mentioned the number of submissions that a broadcaster received was noted down, every announcement of the tracks has added, and while many of the broadcasters (especially those who went to an internal selection) never released their numbers, it’s possible to give a lower limit to the number of songs that ‘entered’ Eurovision this year.

ESC Insight is able to confirm that a minimum of 8677 songs were submitted to broadcasters around Europe for Eurovision 2014. Of those broadcasters, twelve had internal selection processes and another eight held National Finals, neither group have disclosed the number of submissions. Between those twenty I feel it would be fair to go with another twenty submissions to each country, taking us to 9077 prospective entries for Copenhagen.

Okay, quickly, think of an artist that entered Eurovision this year. Now think of one that didn’t make it to Copenhagen. I’m sure that if we were to take a poll on everyone reading this article, there may be some popular names (*cough* Alcazar) but there would also be a long tail of artists that will be championed by a few. For every Deborah C, Doinita Gherman, and Yohio fan , you’ll find followers of  Saara Alto, Thorsten Flinck, and Sophie Rochat.

Sometimes those we champion in obscurity will rise (like a phoenix) and take to the Eurovision stage in later years – such as Zlata Ognevich, Richard Edwards, and Donny Montell – but I don’t want to talk about them. I want to talk about the artists who have stood up, who have stood out, and are now finding that they might not have made it to Copenhagen and the big stage, but they have a new cohort of fans who have discovered them through their participation in the early rounds of the Eurovision year.

For me, one of the bands that I’ve been following since an appearance in a National Final is Finland’s Miau. The dance-rock band finished third in the final of UMK with “God/Drug”, and with their live performance, they won me over. Since then I have been keeping an eye on the trio, and Friday just passed saw their first full album released. There will be at least one copy of ‘Trinity‘  leaving Finland this weekend!

Third place at UMK and a lot of new fans (image: Miau UMK PR)

Third place at UMK and a lot of new fans (image: Miau UMK PR)

I’m sure that there will be other Eurovision watchers who have found ‘their’ band or singer through the Contest (it’s at this point most of the rest of the team will scream “Brainstorm!” at me), so feel free to add your likes in the comments and share the love.

My point is this. The majority of singers bands around the world rarely get out of a garage and into the corner of the local pub. Those that do are in a constant battle to find fans and bring in even a small revenue stream from albums and merchandise. Getting to the point where you can get enter a contest like UMK is a big thing. The exposure at that level can bring in more fans to a band.

You don’t need a lot of fans to make a difference. I’m a believer in the ‘1000 True Fans‘ approach – in short you do your best to find one true fan every day for three years, a true fan who will follow and evangelise, who will buy the music, who will make sure they are at the front of the queue for gig tickets.

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can’t wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.

…Let’s peg that per diem each True Fan spends at $100 per year. If you have 1,000 fans that sums up to $100,000 per year, which minus some modest expenses, is a living for most folks.

That’s why the Eurovision Song Contest is important all year round. The action that happens in the selections and submission, the news across all the sites on acts who have been even tangentially associated with the Contest, all of these help the smaller bands find their fans. The Song Contest is not just about pushing broadcast technology, or sharing culture across borders, or the three hours of Saturday night television which unites Europe in a way no political movement could ever manage.

The Contest is an important milestone for thousands of performers every single year. It gives them a platform to move their career forward. While Conchita Wurst was the ultimate winner in Copenhagen, if you work down the list of those 9000 acts who entered the 2014 Contest, they will have found more success because of their involvement.

This to me is Eurovision. The act of discovery, the power of promotion, the connections the Contest make around the world. That happens all year round, and long may it continue.

Now if you excuse me, I have some new music to listen to…

About The Author: Ewan Spence

British Academy (BAFTA) nominated broadcaster and writer Ewan Spence is the voice behind The Unofficial Eurovision Song Contest Podcast and one of the driving forces behind ESC Insight. Having had an online presence since 1994, he is a noted commentator around the intersection of the media, internet, technology, mobility and how it affects us all. Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, his work has appeared on the BBC, The Stage, STV, and The Times. You can follow Ewan on Twitter (@ewan) and Facebook (facebook.com/ewanspence).

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Have Your Say

8 responses to “This Is Why Eurovision Is More Than Three Hours In May”

  1. Matt says:

    Ewan, this is one of the best works I’ve seen.

    But the reason why I say that is, because you have struck a cord with me, as a fan. Eurovision isn’t just a few hours of tv every may (that most people in Australian will mock and joke about each year), but it’s all year round road of exploring the music world and finding one or 2 gems in the rough that only happen once each year.

    I’m not sure about everyone else, but because of eurovision, it brings out the pride of where both sides of my family come from, but I have found new artist, remixes, covers and the back and future catalogs of fresh and new bands and singers.

    I do owe part of finding the gems of eurovision to you and all of the insight team. Without you guys, it would take me much longer to find some great songs and acts. That and it would be to me a few days of a contest in Europe each year.

  2. Mark says:

    Another reason why the lack of a public competition for the UK entry is doing a great disservice to UK bands! Grr!

  3. Ewan Spence says:

    Mark, you need to take baby steps to get to a UMK level of NF in the UK, let alone an MF. To all intents Molly needed a *lot* of convincing to do Eurovision, and even then it was with a guaranteed slot in the Final. Try doing the same RIGHT NOW in the current media environment to 8 up and coming bands… the prevailing thought will be that a Song for Europe loss will kill their career just as they are entering the three years of potential productivity that can earn them a living. The conditions for a SUCCESSFULL NF are not yet in place.

    Guy Freeman has started that process. Let’s see how eager a few of the BBC Introducing are to go direct to ESC. And go from there.

  4. Paul Evans says:

    Great article Ewan and a cracking read. As a follower of ESC Insight I have been able to enjoy the contest for much more than three nights a year for a number of years and agree with your comments about the opportunities it can create for bands. Great stuff!

  5. Great read there – I have to say that UMK was my favourite NF of the year and MIAU were my choice for the win (although I think that Softengine probably did a lot better than they would have done in Copenhagen).

    I think that I’ll be having another listen to these ladies…

  6. Ross says:

    Excellent article, Ewan!

  7. Cathal says:

    what the uk need to do to get the big stars to do eurovision is to get some decent results, if the uk can get 2 top 10s in a row or something like that than that would convince the big stars to enter for the uk, e.g germany managed to get cascada to represent them albeit through a NF selection why? because germany had a lot of success before that, likewise with italy, despite not giving a monkeys about eurovision italy are able to get all there big stars to do eurovision because italy were in the contest for over 10 years which means non of there starts know what its like to flop. if the uk can string a few decent results together then within the next few years i guarantee someone big will want to throw his name into the hat.

  8. Isa says:

    Eurovision make me discover the band about who i’m a “true fans” since now 2006…Lordi

    That article is really nice write 🙂

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