San Marino to Launch Massive Search for Eurovision 2018!
San Marino are one of the smallest nations at Eurovision, and unfortunately one of the least successful. Out of a total of eight participation’s, the nation has qualified once, and that was with the third attempt from seasoned Eurovision representative Valentina Monetta, who as you probably know went on to represent the nation one more time in 2017 alongside American artist Jimmie Wilson.
The broadcaster in charge of Eurovision in San Marino has launched a new format for selecting their 2018 in the hopes of changing their Eurovision luck. The 2018 representative will be chosen through a Europe-wide talent casting process which interestingly, will predominately take place online.
The broadcaster will be collaborating with the London based company 1 in 360 Ltd who are operating this mammoth production under the slogan ‘Any country. Any genre. Any age’ – well, perhaps that last part isn’t all true, as by the Eurovision rules, participants must be 16 by the time of the contest in May.
So, how does it work?
Talent from across Europe are now invited to submit their performance videos to the website www.1in360.com until the 30th of November. For the first round, performers are able to submit covers, and it’s in fact encouraged to do so, however artists are able to submit original songs. To be considered by the jury, the participants have to either get 100 likes or shares for their submissions, or they can pay 4.99 euros per entry.
In December, there will be a shortlist of ten hopefuls, and these 10 will be posted online. Up to three candidates may also be selected as wildcards. Then in January through February, the 10 acts will be invited to perform in front of the jury in a series of recorded shows that will be shown online and through satellite TV. Parts of the shows will also be filmed and broadcast in virtual reality and 360.
To choose the representative who will go on to perform at Eurovision in Lisbon next May, it will be a mixture of both televoting and jury votes. The jury will consist of former Eurovision participants as well as music industry professionals! From each show, there will be a certain number of qualifiers, and then the songs for the 3 entries that received the top votes will be selected internally alongside the qualifiers, and then the complete entries will be shown to the public who will then vote on their favourite.
Yes, it’s a bit confusing, however perhaps San Marino need this elaborate plan to finally bring some well overdue success. For now, check out their 2017 entry here:
