The Song

The Song, is a song contest on YouTube held among the members of the EBU since May 2022. The competition was based upon the existing Eurovision Song Contest held among the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1956. The current and official executive supervisor is Giorgio.

Every edition, the head of delegation of each competing country selects an entry via internal or national selection. The countries have an opportunity to vote for each show (semi-finals, second chance or the final) to determine the qualifiers and the winner of the edition. The contest has also been broadcast outside Europe to several non-competing countries.

History
On 16th May 2022, Giorgio, executive supervisor of the European Broadcasting Union decided to open an international music contest, in that every full member of the EBU can take part by sending artists representing their countries with songs. It was called The Song.

The first ever "The Song" started on 17th May 2022. It was held in the capital city of Ireland, the first ever country to host The Song. Fifty nations took part in the first edition, each submitting one entry to the contest. Each country awarded 12 points to their favourite, 10 points to their second favourite and then 8-1 points for the remainder of their Top 10.

Participation
Active members (as opposed to associate members) of the European Broadcasting Union are eligible to participate; active members are those who are located in states that fall within the European Broadcasting Area, or are member states of the Council of Europe. Active members include media organisations whose broadcasts are often made available to at least 98% of households in their own country which are equipped to receive such transmissions. Associate member broadcasters may be eligible to compete, dependent on approval by the contest's Reference Group.

The European Broadcasting Area is defined by the International Telecommunication Union as encompassing the geographical area between the boundary of ITU Region 1 in the west, the meridian 40° East of Greenwich in the east, and parallel 30° North in the south. Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, and the territory of Ukraine, Iraq, Jordan and Syria lying outside these limits are included in the European Broadcasting Area.

Eligibility to participate in the contest is therefore not limited to countries in Europe, as several states geographically outside the boundaries of the continent or which span more than one continent are included in the Broadcasting Area. Countries from these groups have taken part in past editions, including countries in Western Asia such as Israel and Cyprus, countries which span Europe and Asia like Russia and Turkey, and North African countries such as Morocco. Australia became the first country to participate from outside the European Broadcasting Area in 2015, following an invitation by the contest's Reference Group.

EBU members who wish to participate must fulfil conditions as laid down in the rules of the contest, a separate copy of which is drafted annually. A maximum of 46 countries can take part in any one contest. Broadcasters must have paid the EBU a participation fee in advance to the deadline specified in the rules for the year in which they wish to participate; this fee is different for each country based on its size and viewership.

Fifty-three countries have participated at least once.

Song eligibility and languages
All competing songs must have a recap with a duration of 30 seconds. This rule applies only to the version performed during the live shows. In order to be considered eligible, competing songs in a given year's contest must not have been released commercially before 2017. All competing entries must include vocals and lyrics of some kind and purely instrumental pieces are not allowed. Competing entries may be performed in any language, be that natural or constructed, and participating broadcasters are free to decide the language in which their entry may be performed.

Running order
Since the first edition, the order in which the competing countries perform has been determined by the contest's producers, and submitted to the EBU Executive Supervisor and Reference Group for approval before public announcement.

Semi-final qualifiers make a draw at random during the winners' press conference to determine whether they will perform during the first or second half of the final; the automatic finalists then randomly draw their competing half in the run-up to the final, except for the host country, whose exact performance position is determined in a separate draw. The running order for the final is then decided following the second semi-final by the producers, taking into consideration both the competing songs' musical qualities as well as stage performance, to best work around the set up of any props, lighting requirements and other production considerations.

Voting
Each country awards one sets of points: based on the votes of each country's professional jury. Each set of points consists of 1–8, 10 and 12 points to the jury and public's ten favourite songs, with the most preferred song receiving 12 points. Should two or more countries finish with the same number of points, a tie-break procedure is employed to determine the final placings. The country which has obtained points from the most countries following this calculation is deemed to have placed higher.