esctoday.com has received an official comment from TVE regarding another claim of plagarism, which earlier marred the announcement of the Bulgarian semi final presentation. This time, the claim was against one of the songs in the Spanish national selection. The song Tu voz se apagara, was reported to be a copy of the song San maxairai by Giorgos Alkaios. The song was a hit in Greece two years ago, and esctoday.com readers in Greece quickly alerted us to the situation, which was passed immediately to TVE for investigation.
TVE have now conducted a thorough investigation according to the rules and plagarism practices. There decision is that the song does not break any rules, is not plagarised and is free to continue in the national selection. They acknowledge that there are certain parts of the song that similar, but do not think that the song should be disqualified. Their full decision is that the songs:
"really are very similar, but it is not a plagarism because:
- After having analyzed both songs note by note, it have been found that there are clear differences.
- Not only the harmony but also the melody is different.
- The melodies are very similar but not identical.
- Is the arrangement of the theme what can cause mistake, but not the song."
It should also be made clear that the lyrics are different and the songs submitted to TVE and currently being put to the public vote are only demo versions. It is quite normal for demo songs to use 'stock' music which will be individualised in the final production and arragement.
An example can be taken from Selma's 2005 Eurovision Song Contest Entry, If I had your love. In the original format, there was a string arrangement that was seen by many to mimic a Britney Spears song, however, aside from that particular similarity, the songs were not identical, and in the final arrangement, the string arrangement was removed to ensure no complaints.
