In order to run the best song contest we can with the Virtual Festival of Songs (VFoS), we have set some rules that will help everyone achieve that goal.
Disclaimer: These rules are subject to change only prior to the opening of an edition. An edition officially opens when countries are reserved.
As of VFoS 13, the organising of the contest will rotate between Dino and Michos who has stepped in the place of previous host Anders. All rules, unless otherwise stated, will apply to all editions.
Songs & Countries
The Virtual Festival of Songs (VFoS) will not allow songs:
* That competed in Eurovision, Junior ESC or national finals,
* That were released before 1 January 2000,
* That have previously competed in the VFoS or its sister contests, Fête de la Chanson (FdlC) and the Eurovision Times Song Contest (ETSC); see Archive section for more info.
Covers are allowed, but the organisers encourage players to consider original versions before sending covers. There are no restrictions on the language or duration of your entry and instrumental tracks are also allowed.
Your entry should be available in an accessible online platform. Promotion videos are not mandatory.
Any of the 193 member states of the UN may take part. In addition, UN observer states may also take part.
Other autonomous or disputed regions will have to send entries through their parent country apart from Western Sahara, which will be allowed to take part on its own. For example, a singer from the Åland Islands would represent Finland and a singer from the Faroe Islands would represent Denmark. A Kosovar would represent Serbia, a Puerto Rican the USA and a Taiwanese artist would enter with China. The same applies to all territories that are not UN members in any form (member or observer), whether they are self-governed or controlled by another country.
Artists
To be eligible to represent a country in VFoS, the entry’s credited artist must have lived in that country for at least 10 years. Artists can represent a country they have lived in for less than 10 years if it can be shown they have a significant tie with that country’s music industry or musical tradition. Decision rests with the edition organiser.
The above residentship restriction of 10 years does not apply to countries with a population smaller than 300,000 (see list).
In the case of bands, the majority of members must be from the country the band will represent. For bands without a clear majority, they will be able to represent the country in which the band is based. In case this is unclear as well, the participant can propose which country they think is the best fit. In the case of duets, collaborations or featured artist(s), the song can represent the country of any of the collaborating artists.
In cases of disputed/unclear eligibility, the ability of an artist or group to represent a country is up to the discretion of the edition organiser.
You are trusted to check your selection against these rules. If the edition organiser checks and finds that the entry violates any of the rules, you will have one chance to change your selection, otherwise you’ll be banned from that edition. Along with your song, you should submit all evidence regarding country and song eligibility, unless such info doesn’t exist. Failure to do so may result in your entry not being accepted.
If you think you have an artist that doesn’t align with these rules yet has a strong enough connection to a country to represent it, please e-mail the edition organiser and explain the situation.
Participation
Reservation and Submission
Participation in VFoS is based on two steps, country reservation and song submission. Reservation is done via e-mail to the edition organiser not earlier than the exact time specified in the relevant article. If the organiser is Dino, all e-mails must be sent to cosdino83@gmail.com. If the organizer is Michos, e-mails must be sent to vanmix51@hotmail.com. The allocation of countries takes place on a strictly first-come, first-served basis determined by the order the mails arrive in the organiser’s inbox. After a country has been reserved, the entry has to be submitted with another mail before the date for song submission expires. Once an entry is confirmed by the edition organiser, you can’t change it. Changing countries is not advisable either unless you can’t find an entry or your first plan didn’t work.
The reigning winner and the edition organiser both have pre-reservation privileges, enabling them to pick their countries first. The reigning winner gets to pick a country first, and then the organiser will pick second. Their picks will be made public before reservations open.
Participants are allowed to organise national finals in order to select a country’s song based on other participants’ votes, provided they submit the winning song to the edition organiser within the deadline for song submission. The organiser is not responsible to check the eligibility of all artists and songs submitted to national finals, but he reserves the right to dismiss the song or artist chosen in case they do not comply with eligibility rules. In this case, the participant has the right to propose another song of their own choosing that is eligible for the country, regardless of whether that song participated in the national final or not.
Voting
Votes will be collected via e-mail to the organiser of that particular edition. Participants vote for their top10 using the Eurovision system of 1 to 12 points and should include two alternates in case there are disqualifications. Only those who participate in an edition get to vote and you can not vote for the country you participate with. Once your votes have been submitted you may not change them, so be sure that your votes are correct when you submit them. The first person to vote receives in return the votes of the edition organiser.
* Do not publish your votes before the results are revealed.
* Ties will be broken according to official EBU rules.
* If you win, you are required to send the details (host city, venue and hosts) for the next edition to the organiser of that edition.
* If you do not vote, your entry will be disqualified.
Validity of Votes
If you are found to be cheating in any way, your IP will be banned for the length of one edition.
* Infractions include participating with two songs in one edition or publicly revealing your votes before the results have been announced.
* All participants are required to vote independently of any personal bias arising from being acquainted with other participants either through social media or in the real world. Edition organisers reserve the right to issue private warnings to the persons involved, in case they deem it necessary. Any new participants will be required to state their relationship with existing participants.
* Other infractions will be dealt with at the organisers’ discretion.
Organization
There is a limit of 32 finalists in every edition. If the number of interested participants exceed this, the interested parties exceeding the 32 limit will be put on a waiting list in case a participant withdraws.
If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to send an e-mail!
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Virtual Festival of Songs 