EBU: Rule of song release after the 1st of September toughens!

EBU toughens the rule that states that songs should not have been released before the 1st of September, starting Eurovision Song Contest 2022, said the Ukrainian public TV broadcaster, earlier today.

A representative of the Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne, announced that the rule, that already exists, and limits the release of the candidate songs of each year’s contest to a release date after the 1st of September of the previous year, now toughens, closing any loopholes that might existed.

There had been a restriction regarding commercial releases, but starting from 2022 this clause had changed: release is not implied as commercial anymore, so as to emphasise on the release in any sense, excluding any release prior to 01/09/2021, which is not allowed. According to the rules of the contest, the national selection is implemented by each of the participating broadcasters and they are responsible to ensure that the rules of the contest are applied.

Thus, ANY RELEASE of songs prior to the 1st of September of the previous year is strictly forbidden. If this rule was to be applied in older contests, for example, neither Jamala with 1944 nor Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro with Non Mi Avete Fatto Niente could have participated with their countries.

Source: KP