Austrian broadcaster ORF has now opened a second application round for participants for their national preselection song.null.fünf. This second selection is for newcomers without a record contract. Singers are asked to apply until 25 November 2004.

The Austrian final song.null.fünf, to be held on 25 February 2005, will consist of five contestants performing two songs each. In an earlier round, ORF hold out for professional singers with stage experience. Alf Poier (Weil der Mensch zählt, 2003) and DJ Ötzi applied, the latter withdrew meanwhile after a dispute with ORF about fitting songs for the final.

Nevertheless, this second application round has nothing to do with a rumoured inadequate standard of the songs from the first selection, if we are to believe the ORF. “The first round was primary for artists with an exclusive contract to a record company. This new call is targeting new artists without contracts. The reason is the surprisingly high quality of newcomers in the Austrian music scene”, as Markus Spiegel from ORF told to the newspaper Der Standard.

Interested newcomers are asked to send their demo (with two songs) to Projekt Pop, a talent scout organisation in Vienna. End of December, the organisation selects one artist for the Austrian final. The final participant's list for song.null.fünf will be published on 10 January 2005.