Bulgarian National Television (BNT) has been forced to withdraw the song Kismet from the 2013 Eurovision song contest, after it was chosen to represent Bulgaria through a transparent process that involved established music professionals and an audience vote.

The decision was made after it became clear that BNT could not reach agreement about copyright, in accordance with the requirements of the international competition, with one of the authors of the song, Jonatan Tesei, a musician and producer from Argentina. BNT was misinformed by the Bulgarian producer of the song Kismet, that all copyright issues had been settled and a declaration to this effect was deposited with BNT.

Only after the song was chosen, on March 3 2013, BNT was informed that Jonatan Tesei was not consulted about the final version of the song. In line with the requirements of the contest, BNT must provide a final audio track version, with no further adjustments, by March 18 2013.

For these reasons, BNT has decided that it will enter the song Only Champions in Eurovision 2013. This song won the jury vote and was second among viewers’ preferences. A withdrawal by BNT at this stage would mean having to pay penalties.

Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankulov support this decision and state that they will give their best to represent Bulgaria with honour.

BNT thanks again all of its viewers who took part in the choice of the Bulgarian song for Eurovision 2013, as well as all other fans of the contest, who are excited by the chance for Bulgarian performers to present the country’s musical traditions on the world stage.

BNT press release