Hours ahead of tonight’s first Melodifestivalen 2018 show, allegations have arisen regarding Kamferdrops’s entry in the upcoming selection, with news coming to light that the singer’s entry has been available online for over 8 years.
SVT, the Swedish national broadcaster, is currently investigating a breach of rules only hours before of the first semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2018, following the latest revelation regarding Kamferdrops’s bidding entry.
According to an investigation by Nöjesbladet, Kamferdrops’s entry Solen lever kvar hos dig – which is the singer’s first original song since hitting the music scene – was first available to listen to online over 8 years ago.
https://www.facebook.com/svtmelodifestivalen/videos/1814541538591342/
Initially recorded by the artist Jonny Fagerman, the song was available online under the title Solen lever kvar via both MySpace and YouTube.
Breach of Melfest rules?
As has been the case for many years, all bidding songs in the Melodifestivalen competition must not have been released publicly or made available online ahead of its submission to the broadcaster.
Nöjesbladet has confirmed that Jonny Fagerman has performed and presented the song on many occasions since its social media release in 2009, with the singer having also shared the single via his Facebook page multiple times.
Fagerman spoke of the song since this latest revelation:
I recorded it as a demo a long time ago because I might have had it on a disc, but it never happened.
The singer has revealed that, whilst he has never personally published the single via his own social media, viewers may have shared the song during one of his Facebook appearances.
According to Fagerman, the singer was instructed by the songwriters of the entry – Herbert Trus and Dan Attlerud – to not play or spread the song again, due to its potential Melodifestivalen participation.
Songwriters reacts
Nöjesbladet contacted the songwriters of Kamferdrops’s entry, who went on to play the clip to the composers. Described as shaken, Trus revealed:
Yes, it’s a demo from 2006. Kamferdrops’s record label heard a number of songs and contacted us, then we did it with her.
Trus added that the singer must have published the song online illegally due to not having permission from the songwriters to do so.
Fellow songwriter Attlerud added:
He is as unaware as I am, we do not understand anything […] We do not want them to be played outside, but what he has done here is not nice, if he has played it outside. The question is whether we will take legal action. I am not aggressive, but overall it’s not fun if it will affect our participation.
The song has since been removed online.
Potential disqualification?
Nöjesbladet contacted Melfest’s Christer Björkman following the recent revelations, who admitted that there is no doubt that they are the same song.
I have to check the circumstances exactly as you have done and talk to the authors, try to get [Fagerman] and come up with a solution. It depends on the question of guilt and intent. Do [the songwriters] have any involvement, if a third person did this, it is he who made the error.
If there is guilt within the team and they have been aware, there may be a disqualification, but I find it hard to see if a third party is responsible for the error. Then they are actually unaware. There is a grey zone.
Disqualification is not unheard of in Melodifestivalen, the last of which being in 2016 with Anna Book’s competing entry, Himmel för två, which had previously appeared in the Moldovan national selection in the years before.
A decision from SVT is expected to be made ahead of tonight’s first semi-final.
