Nord User Forum

This is an interesting question. It must have been in my childhood that I last saw part of a show.

In my country, the public discussion usually is if at least the public or even the audience takes the contest seriously. I don't know that type of musicians that would care. As there are about 180 mio spectators every year - from Europe, western Asia and northern Africa - it has to be taken seriously from the business side. A certain type of professional composers and producers seem to take it seriously as well.

Maybe you need to know that the juries' vote is only 50% - the rest is televoting by the audience. Social media may play a big role. Besides, it's all about national public broadcasting corporations launching their candidates (via jury or televoting or any other way) and juries at the same time, letting them pass through semifinals with nationally separated televotings and collecting votes from other nations in the finals - neither national jury nor audience is allowed to vote for the own country. Acts need to be new, original and semi-playback, aren't allowed to contain a political message in a controversial sense, but don't need to be in the country's language any more (from 1999). As public voting plays a big role and you need to collect points from a lot of countries, a winner act has probably passed a severe test in mass taste and intercultural suitability. I have my imagination what sort of quality statement this is.

After 1991, a lot of countries from eastern Europe (including Russia) joined the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) as the organiser of the contest. A few years later, a new rule offered the candidates of the Big Five (Germany, France, Britain, Spain and Italy) a wildcard. Sounds like a business driven decision, too.

After some years with full public voting, juries are back in the process since 2008. Their members are meant to have 'some relation' to music or the music business. But there have nevertheless been issues with corruption in the past - the last one I know of through the jury of Georgia.