It has only been two months, yet the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest is slowly becoming a distant memory. A lot of fans are using the ESC down time to go on a well-deserved vacation, focus on other hobbies or even better – start planning the 2014 contest to be held somewhere in Denmark.
Over the past couple of months, the members of our community have been sharing their thoughts on what should change from this year’s contest HERE. It is no secret that the Swedish broadcaster SVT introduced a bunch of new rules and approaches, some of them were welcomed by the fans but others – not so much.
Here are the Top 10 wishes of our readers and what they think would improve the contest and its reputation. Please let us know which of these proposals you agree with by voting in the poll at the bottom of this report.
1. Running order to be determined by a draw
This was by far the most suggested change by our members. As you may recall, SVT requested to be in charge of the running order for the Semis and Finals. The EBU approved their request and all songs were drawn into first or second half with the producers determining what song goes first, last and everything in between. That change did not prove to be very popular with the vast majority of fans. Regardless of the intentions, a random draw is the best way to avoid any conspiracy theories about favoritism.
2. Reduce the number of votes allowed per phone line
50% of the results are determined by the televoters. Each phone line allows 20 votes and for many fans this seems a bit too high and also allegedly contributes to the infamous diaspora votes. By reducing the number of votes per line to one (it was also suggested to five) would minimize that effect. Member Lucian-Crusher suggested allowing one vote per country meaning you could vote for each country once in case you like more than one song.
3. Reveal the Jury/Televote split results
The EBU does not reveal a full breakdown by country between jury and televote results. Their reason was to protect the smaller countries that do not qualify for televoting (due to low number of votes) from any external influence. However, most of the fans do not believe this is a valid reason and demand a proper breakdown by country for transparency.
4. Increase the number of jury members
A group of music experts from each country are responsible for 50% of the votes. The current rules stipulate that each jury should consist of 5 members. However, our readers believe that’s not good enough. In order to get a more diverse outcome, the amount of jury members should be at least doubled. On top of that, Member ParadiseES suggested that the juries need to be either closely related to the contest or at least have a good amount of Eurovision knowledge.
5. Switch back from the Song Ranking to the ESC point system
The 2013 contest saw a change in the way the points are being calculated. Until this year, both the televoters and juries would give points to their Top 10 – Eurovision Style. But for the first time, both groups actually ranked all songs from first to last and once both scores were combined, the Top 10 would receive points the old fashioned way. The new system proved to be fatal to several entries (e.g. Ryan Dolan from Ireland) and seemed unfair to many fans. Theoratically a song could score first with one group, yet receive little to no points when combining both results. So switching back to the previous system would prevent one side from “overruling” the other.
6. Jury should know their stuff
One suggestion that was quite popular came from member Mickey who pitched the idea that all jury members should familiarize themselves with the ESC songs prior to the contest. “As far as I’m aware, the jurors are currently just required to turn up at their meeting place on the day of the jury performance and watch the show for the first time. That’s not good enough. They’re supposed to be offering special insight, but their exposure to the music is pretty much the same as any other member of the public.” So what is the solution? “The jurors should be given a copy of the songs on CD/MP3 and a DVD of the preview videos two or three weeks before the contest and encouraged to get to know the entries. This way, they can properly analyse the song structure, lyrics and melodic composition in a way that is impossible in one listen. In doing so, they would offer something that the televote cannot.”
7. Local artists/songwriters/lyricists only
It is quite common to use foreign songwriters to increase the odds of success at Eurovision. One example would be Thomas G:Son who wrote the Swedish winning entry “Euphoria”, also composed the Georgian entry “Waterfall” in 2013. To many fans, this is not in line with the contest’s original purpose so a rule only allowing song writers and/or artists to live or originate from the country they’re representing, would put a Stop to that.
8. Show the full winning performance
Emmelie de Forest’s victory this year was cut short when the broadcast ended in the middle of her reprise. That angered a lot of fans so there is a cry for a rule change that would require each broadcaster to show the full performance.
9. Bring back the Language rule
Until 1999 all countries had to sing in their native language but since the drop of that rule, more than half of the songs are performed in English. Some feel there is a need to reintroduce that rule to keep the contest more diverse and unique. Anjeza suggested instead of making it a rule, there should be a way to encourage nations to sing in their native language by adding some sort of incentive (Suggestions are welcome).
10. Slow down the results
The Swedes seem to be in a hurry this year as both the Semi Final & Final results felt more rushed than ever. While we all understand that time is precious, there seemed to be more time in the past and the results are an essential part of the show; for many it’s actually the highlight of the evening. Adding an additional five to ten minutes to the results may be more exciting and less stressful.
Please vote in the poll below, you can vote for more than one option.
[yop_poll id=”19″]
Jael Summers
January 15, 2014 at 21:37
I wish I could afford a laptop. Anyway, my point is that the accommodation doesn’t have to be expensive. I’m happy to crash out at a cheap Bed and Breakfast.
Roy van der Merwe
July 17, 2013 at 17:08
I was part of a judging panel in SOUTH AFRICA in the 90’s and there were 21 people in the panel and 17 or so sort of voted the same – they discussed the songs with one another although it as not allowed. But 2-3 would go out on a smoke break, then other had coffee or tea together or during the meal, On would say I love song 4 and then 4 orthers said yes, I also like it. I can see how expensive it would be to have more jury members as they all have to be paid – travel and accomkodation etc. Unless of course they ask members of OGAE who would gladly do it sitting at home with their laptops.
Zack
July 17, 2013 at 16:47
I’ve asked people from delegations about #4. The response I got was that increasing the number of jury members would be too expensive. I must say though, some of the most exciting voting reveals for me were in the 70s with the 1-5 votes revealed by each jury member one-by-one.
Roy van der Merwe
July 17, 2013 at 07:52
3 – Foreign composers. Eurovision is a SONG CONTEST and therefore the composers are important and if country Adoes not have own composers, I see no reson why they can approach someone from another country to write a song. Taking GEORGIA 2013, I have no problem that Thomas as a Swede wrote it, but there could have been one verse in GEORGIAN for example. Some people are just better composers and theycannot be stopped from sending their sonfs to a variety of countries.
Roy van der Merwe
July 17, 2013 at 07:49
2 – The language rule. I got into EUROVISION because I wanted to hear songs in other languages than ENGLISH. I think countries can still perform the song in ENGLISH on EUROVISION but there has to be another language version – it should be complusary. So BRITAIN, yes their national language is ENGLISH but they have to also have their song available in Chinese or French or Spanish. So every entry has to be in TWO languages available – no matter what languages. SWEDEN can havce their song in ENGLISH and RUSSIAN, if they want but two versions
Roy van der Merwe
July 17, 2013 at 07:46
It is interesting to look at the 10 proposals. For me the most important aspects are as follows:
1 – the draw – make it availabl as soon as possible. So if say Switzerland knows they will appear second, they can make sure they pick the right song for that position. So by knowoing where you will perfor, you can get to select the corrwct song.
RainyWoods
July 17, 2013 at 01:30
I think options 1, 3 and 5 are important and need to be fixed for next year. 1 is crucial and MUST be changed back to how it was. The vast majority of us were made very uneasy this year in regards to the power SVT gave themselves.
I’m torn on option 7. I hate how everyone seems to be buying their success in the contest. On the other hand I see no problem with San Marino getting Ralph in to work with Valentina so i’m a bit of a hypocrite really.
Pretty much every one of the ten rule changes here I think would be positive. I’m unsure about juries listening to the songs in advance though. I don’t know about anyone else but if I was sent to Eurovision, i’d already have my top 10 in my head and pretty much nothing would change it. I’d hazard a guess that a fair few jury members do go there with idea’s on who will be getting their points anyway.