Eurovision 2016

Thanks for this, I may well have missed it otherwise. Like a dog that has been beaten too many times to respond to further punishment, I was feeling pretty apathetic about entering this time round 

Unfortunately it appears to have that same stupid caveat again: the video demo 'must be sung live by the artist who would be performing the song in Stockholm'. So any songwriter can have a go, as long as they just happen to know someone with the talent and confidence to do it justice in front of a couple of hundred million people.  Why would the very best song necessarily come from someone with those contacts? It's simply a sly way of paying lip service to the 'democracy' of an open competition, while ensuring that only industry insiders and established acts really have a chance  

That said.. count me in 

 

   

No problem. I completely agree with everything you say. Yet I'm kind of hoping - even though I know how misguided it is - that someone at the BBC's end would actually be looking at the entries with a bit of a 'mix and match' brief. Otherwise what is the point? And they surely recognise the need to get a bit proactive/creative if they're going to sidestep another fiasco? It's blindingly obvious that they should be focusing on finding a song with potential and then using their own contacts etc. to pinpoint someone who can deliver it with the requisite level of zest and professionalism. The chances of my singer being able to step out onto a Stockholm stage, under mind-numbing pressure, and deliver a floor-wiping performance of ABBA-esque proportions are some way below absolute zero.

(Sadly I can't post my previous failures - in one case I've only got it on reel-to-reel and cassette; the other one only now exists in proto-demo form which barely even counts as 'rough and ready'.)

If I can get my act together this time round, I'll probably go for the stripped back approach. Just voice and acoustic guitar. I've got a song called 'Alone' that might work well in this format (and suit a homespun video too). No point in me going for anything with cutting edge production values as I simply don't have access to the requisite quality of equipment. In fact, my main hurdle is persuading my singer not to grow another ridiculous 'Movember' moustache until after we've shot the video. 

But at least we can all say we tried...  

Just been checking the EBU rules to make sure I'm going to be complying, and noticed this one:

Each performance may consist of a maximum of six people on stage. No live animals shall be allowed on stage.

I assume that dead animals are perfectly OK. Nevertheless it's a blow, because my pet leopard plays a mean slap bass. It's the type of specific regulation that must surely have been introduced to guard against a repeat of an earlier incident; I'm thinking 'elephant in the Blue Peter studio' territory. Does anybody have any Eurovision memories of ill-advised animal participation?

How are things progressing with your song? Have you registered it yet? I want to leave it as late as possible (because the singer has to be named), but heard a few early grumbles about lack of response.

I had just about decided to send off the email in case mine did happen to get a response, knowing that I was cutting it fine: 72 hours to get a response and 20th November closing date. Then I noticed that according to this later BBC ESC web page, and one or two others, the closing date was 7th November! All the judging and shortlisting will have been done by now apparently! 

www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/eurovision/entries/4d99ecc3-ba48-3697-880f-4145d6de53eb

Could it have been organized any more incompetently than this? 


 

I don't think I'm going to have time to organize the following, but just in case you have, a much better option seems to be to join BASCA. Their competition deadline remains 20th November and at least one of its entries will go direct to the ESC shortlist; maybe even three of them. Plus they are looking for an mp3 rather than video, with none of the silly 'must be the one who is going to sing on the night' stuff. Three entries per member allowed too.

When I first looked at this route, I was put off by the fact that only members could even see the competition details on the website, let alone enter. But I've now found a link to a pdf of the rules, bypassing the log in.

basca.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Great%20British%20Song%20Competition%202015%20-%20Rules%20&%20Guidelines.pdf

Twenty quid to join; if I had known earlier I would definitely have gone this route.  

They all look like identikit children's tv presenters. Surprised Sam and Mark aren't in the mix.

The winning song tonight will surely be A Better Man, won't it? Failing that, I don't mind as long as it's not the one that sounds like an even poorer man than the poor man who likes Ellie Goulding's Ellie Goulding.

Some good entries now emerging across Eurovisionland. I'm particularly liking Germany, Norway, Spain, Hungary and Italy (assuming they don't change it for another song). Anything better than 20th would count as a decent finish for the UK...


Having said that, I hope the BBC broadly stick with the 'new' selection format (though, as previously noted, it could clearly use some reshaping, fine-tuning etc so it genuinely widens the talent pool it's fishing from). Sooner or later something good will emerge. Much better than picking a has-been or never-was behind closed doors.