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Explaining Eurovision, Part 2. The Rules About The Eurovision Songs Written by and on May 4, 2022

As the worldwide audience grows, we’re taking time to explain the Song Contest.  our second “Explaining Eurovision”, we’ll talk about the songs at the Contest, what you can and can’t do, and what can appear on stage in the live shows.

What Makes A Song A Eurovision Song?

In one respect, it’s quite easy to define a song for the Eurovision Song Contest. It needs to be three minutes or less in duration, and it needs to be a new song. The former is easily measured with a stopwatch, while the latter gives us “the September 1st Rule”. A new song is regarded as new if it reaches public attention on or after September 1st the year before the Contest. So for Turin 2022, for a song to be eligible it needs to have been released on or after September 1st 2021.

This isn’t as hard and fast as it first appears. Many songs can be found on public sites such as YouTube in demo form with only a handful of views. Strictly speaking they are published, but if they are only listened to by 7 people, should that bar the song from the Song Contest? There is lee-way here for the EBU to decide a song may have been published but has not gained any commercial advantage.

Most broadcasters and their delegations will have a stricter application of this rule for their selection process to make sure there are no problems with publication dates.

There are no limits placed on the languages sung, any country can sing in any language (back in the twentieth century you had to sing in one of your country’s native languages, that rule no longer applies). Neither are there any nationality requirements laid out by the EBU – although many broadcasters will have their own rules during the selection process around nationality of performers or songwriters. Neither are there any limits to genre. The Song Contest has seen a wide range of music in over sixty years of shows.

One big consideration to the content of the song is the knowledge that this is a prime-time television, and the presentation of the songs needs to take this into consideration.

How Is A Song Selected For Eurovision?

Participating broadcasters are free to choose their songs in any way they like, but it effectively boils down to either a televised National Final or an internal selection.

A National Final is when a country’s broadcaster organises a show that helps to choose an entry from a wide selection of potential entries. Many of these are branded shows to select a song for the Song Contest (“Germany 12 Points” very much wears its heart on its sleeve), others can be long-running musical events that offer the winner the opportunity to sing at the Song Contest (Albania’s Festivali i Kenges or Italy’s Sanremo Music Festival fit in to this mould).

These shows can sometimes last for several weeks and include several rounds of qualifiers and Semi Finals or can be a one-off show. This format is a good opportunity to judge how a song lands with the public and to see how competitive it is against other songs.

An internal selection is when a country’s broadcaster decides to choose a song themselves without consulting the public. This process is less transparent but can sometimes lead to attracting a higher calibre of artist, a higher quality song and more money to spend on Eurovision itself rather than pay for a potentially costly additional show.

Both ways have produced Eurovision winners and ultimately, as all music is subjective, there’s no definitive way of knowing which is better. If a broadcaster finds a really good, competitive song, it doesn’t ultimately matter how they found them.

What’s Allowed On Stage?

There are some other rules around songs to mention here, specifically around how the songs are presented.

First of all, the songs must be sung live. Until 2020, all vocals present in a song had to be sung live, with all singers standing on the stage. As part of the measures undertaken to reduce the transmission of coronavirus, backing vocals were allowed to be placed on the backing track tape in Rotterdam during the 2021 Contest, although it was not a requirement. This rule is still in place for Turin 2022.

Everything else needs to be on the backing track as well. All those moments of guitar playing, drum bashing, and synth-bopping? Mimed. With only 45 seconds between songs, the logistics of letting everyone play live are no longer possible.

Staging wise you can have a maximum of six performers on stage. If you are a solo artist this shouldn’t be a problem. The same goes with bands (unless you have seven members, in which case you have to presumably draw lots to see who misses out on the experience). That count of six includes any other performers, such as dancers. A total of six over the three minutes is your limit.

Staging is a matter of discussion between each delegation and the host broadcaster on what can be done on stage, how larger or small a prop can be, and of course can be it set up and removed in the short window between two songs. Except live animals. No live animals at all.

Wooden Trojan Horses? That’s okay.

In our next “Explaining Eurovision”, we’ll look at how the jury and public vote happens, and what a song needs to do to win the Song Contest.

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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