The Flemish broadcaster VRT, responsible for the Belgian entry at the Eurovision Song Contest this year, is well-prepared to make Eurosong 2004 a success. The concept remains the same but there are some innovations, including the brand new docu-soap Eurosong Bizz.


Next Sunday, Eurosong 2004 kicks off in Flanders (Belgium) with a new logo and on a new stage. During four weeks, 28 artists will compete for a ticket to the final in which the four winners of the semifinals and the three other best scoring songs will appear.

The voting procedure is comparable with the editions of 1999 and 2002: a professional jury, Radio 2, Radio Donna and a European jury all represent 1/6 of the votes, the televoting TV1 viewers 2/6. The professional jury only contains four members this year. Head of the professional jury is Flemish singer Dana Winner.

This year VRT drops the language rule. The winner of Eurosong 2004 won�t have to record a Dutch version of his song anymore. Although, VRT keeps the right to demand a Dutch version if this could be a surplus value to the song.

To crown the success of the Eurosong concept, VRT makes a docu-soap about Eurosong 2004, taking a look behind the scenes of Flanders� most watched TV show. From Wednesday 21st January on, the docu-soap Eurosong Bizz will be broadcasted on TV1.

Esctoday.com will closely follow Eurosong 2004. You can expect a preview of each semifinal on Sunday morning and we�ll keep you up to date with the results. From today on, the songs will be available on the official Eurosong 2004 website: on Tuesdays, the first 2 of the semifinal, on Wednesdays the next 3 and on Thurdays the last 2. From Friday till Sunday all songs of that week's semifinal will be available and the winner will be online once again the Monday after.

We kindly thank Roel Philips for providing us this article! Thanks!