"The rules of the Eurovision Song Contest have been amended to ensure that there WILL be a Eurovision Song Contest on 18, 20 and 22 May 2021, and for many years to come, whatever the global circumstances.

 

https://eurovision.tv/story/changes-announc...s-back-for-good

 

A few things to note

 

They make all these claims about changes to ensure that the context will go ahead and then don't speak about any of them? The backing vocalist change (detailed in on the site) has next to zero impact on the contest going ahead during a disruptive pandemic, should another one arise in 2021 or if this current pandemic remains unresolved and restrictions are brought back in.

 

Secondly, the backing singer rule change.

 

"The idea behind the change is to offer participating broadcasters the possibility to explore new creative ideas, to travel with a smaller delegation for 2021 and reduce the technical burdens on the Host Broadcaster.

It also allows songwriters and producers to present their work as close as possible to their original composition and, importantly, ensures the Contest moves with the times."

 

Why are they implying that being as "close as possible to their original composition" is desirable when the "original composition" is the product of a studio recording?

 

I am not entirely happy about this rule and I also resent them announcing it under the guise of ensuring that the contest goes ahead next year.

Edited June 19, 20205 yr by Colm

I found too when reading their announcement that they didn't really announce anything. I still don't really understand what changes they've made to guarantee that the contest can go ahead - other than allowing backing singers to pre-record their parts (reducing the size of each delegation if necessary.) That seems small fry though.

Yes. It's a total non-story.

This seems a lot of big talk, with no substance

They cannot force a nation to hold a contest during a global disaster, whether that be a pandemic or something else. Priorities and all

The problem is not with the delegations, but with the huge crowd in the arena. :wacko:

It's a non event announcement,,the audience is a bigger problem than reducing delegations. This year I thought they might have shown the winning performances of the songs from each country and the voting could go ahead. That concept could yet happen in 2021. At most I can see a very very small audience been allowed into the finals.

 

It's a non event announcement,,the audience is a bigger problem than reducing delegations. This year I thought they might have shown the winning performances of the songs from each country and the voting could go ahead. That concept could yet happen in 2021. At most I can see a very very small audience been allowed into the finals.

One of the problems this year was insurance. If an event vaguely resembling a proper contest had happened (e.g. showing winning performances from the selection process or an equivalent for countries like the UK which didn't really have a selection process) then the insurers could have argued that the contest hadn't been cancelled and refused to pay out. Next year's insurance policies will be written with Covid in mind.

That makes sense about the insurance and could explain why they had to cancel.