Although the performance debacle of Dutch 2023 contestants, Mia Nicolai & Dion Cooper, is far from forgotten the Dutch opt for an internal selection again, as they do since 2013 when Anouk sang the country to a ninth place in the Grand Final of that year. There was a demand to have a national final, but it turned out that there was not enough support for this among Dutch artists.
The submission window opens today
Today the submission window for songs and artists has opened. Artists, composers, , songwriters, producers, and record labels are invited to apply with an authentic, distinctive, and competitive songs for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden. The submission window is open until September 30th 2023 23:59 (11:59 PM); submissions can be send to [email protected].
Song Festival Selection Commission
All applications will be reviewed by the Song Festival Selection Commission. A combination of a song together with an artist are favoured, but one can also apply with only a song, and in due time an artist will be chosen to sing the song during the contest.
Terms and conditions to apply
Below you can find the terms and conditions for songs to compete in the Dutch internal competition.
Terms for songs
- The applied song cannot be released or publicly performed before September 1st 2023.
- The run time of the song cannot be longer than 3 minutes.
- Applicants can send in a max. of 3 songs.
- Songs need to be send in either a .mp3, .wav, or other standard digital music format.
- It can be in a language of choice.
Terms for artists
- A max. of 6 artists can perform the song, and this includes backing-vocals and/or dancers.
- All vocals need to be performed live (the rules for vocals of the 2024 contest are not published on this date yet).
- All music is pre-recorded, no involvement of live instruments.
- Flexible availability between December 2023 until May 2024.
- Performers need to be 16 years of age or older on April 15th 2024.
Other terms:
- Each application gets a confirmation of correct reception.
- Within a couple of sessions the commission selects a small number of possible entries.
- Applying teams will get invited to perform live in front of the commission and to discuss the rest of the search for a new entrant.
- It is the goal of the commission to find the Dutch 2024 entrant in December of this year.
Dutch entry of 2023
The Dutch entry of 2023 by Dion Cooper & Mia Nicolai was plagued by bad pre-party performances in both Spain and the Netherlands. Because of this the duo became the laughing stock of the Dutch (tabloid) media, which resulted in the Netherlands changing the key of their 2023 song, making the performance during the First Semi-final of 2023 better, but the Netherlands was already set-up for failure. Eventually the Netherlands ended in 13th place (of 15) in the First Semi-final, thus not making it to the Grand Final.