More information and discussion about the announcement by TVE this afternoon regarding Spain's 2008 Eurovision Song Contest selection has come to light. In order for a song to be considered, it must be published on the artist or songwriter's MySpace profile. This means that any songs that are submitted will be commercially published in the public domain, ruling them out of being entered for a Eurovision Song Contest submission in future.
The process, whilst innovative and invoking support from many quarters, may be seen as a risk by songwriters, who must judge whether to allow their songs to be comercially published on MySpace or to save them for a closed pre-selection in future. Any song published on MySpace for consideration by TVE would mean that they become ineligable to be entered for Spain again, or for any other country after the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest.
One songwriter declared that this is unfair and deciding whether to allow their songs to go forwards for the Spanish selection is now a risk. "If the songs do not reach the final, it may spell the end for them, whereas if the selection process was closed, the songs would not need to be published and could be sent for selection again in the future".
A problem posed for potential artists is that many who may want to enter the competition do not have MySpace pages. With only 19 days to submit entries, artists wanting to take part in the competition will need to register with the website and get their profiles up to date very quickly. All songs that are submitted must also be published along with a video of the artist for consideration.
Many potential artists may not have the time or resources to organise all of this in under three weeks. One such artist told esctoday.com that "I certainly have my work to do now. I hope to get a video onto my profile, but it's not going to be very good quality. I just hope I can get to prove myself on stage with a great song".
Despite these potential troubles for entrants, Eurovision Song Contest fans have been quick to praise the Spanish broadcaster for an innovative pre-selection process. The use of MySpace makes it much easier for unsigned artists to enter and win recognition for their talents. It also provides a level playing field for entrants and whether or not they are supported by record company, all artists are starting from an equal position.
