The AI Song Contest (Dutch: AI Songfestival) is an international music competition for songs that have been composed using artificial intelligence (AI). The inaugural edition took place on 12 May 2020 and was organised by the Dutch public broadcaster VPRO, in collaboration with NPO 3FM and NPO Innovation.[1][2] Since 2021, the contest has been held by Stichting AISC, as part of an annual conference organised by Wallifornia MusicTech until 2022, and in 2023 with the support of RTVE Play.
| AI Song Contest | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Music competition |
| Created by | Karen van Dijk |
| Based on | Eurovision Song Contest |
| Developed by | |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Original release | |
| Release | 12 May 2020 |
Format
editThe format of the competition was created by the Dutch programme creator Karen van Dijk (VPRO) and was inspired by the Eurovision Song Contest.[3] Participating teams are tasked with the composition of a song using artificial intelligence.[1] Each submission is then evaluated by a jury, which assesses the use of AI in the songwriting process, and by the public, which assesses the quality of the song through online ratings.[1] The team who receive the most votes from the public win the Audience Trophy, and the Overall Winner is determined using a combination of the jury scores and audience votes.
Unlike Eurovision, countries can be represented by multiple teams.[3] While the 2020 edition only allowed teams from "Eurovision countries" to compete, this rule was dropped in 2021 to allow teams from outside Europe and Australia to enter as well.[4] In addition, entries would no longer be judged for their "eurovisioness" sense, open up to all music genres, and the maximum song length was extended from three to four minutes.[4] A Semifinal was introduced since 2022 in which the jury selected a dozen of entries to advance to the Grand Final.[5]
Past editions
edit| Year | Date | Location | Presenter(s) | Finalists | Overall Winner | Runner-up | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Origin | Team | Song | Points | ||||||
| 2020 | 12 May | Hilversum (Netherlands) | Lieven Scheire | 13 |  Australia
|
Uncanny Valley | "Beautiful The World" | 19.8 |  Germany
|
| 2021 | 6 July | Liège (Belgium) | Cesar Majorana | 38 |  United States
|
M.O.G.I.I.7.E.D. | "Listen to Your Body Choir" | 21.7 |  Netherlands
|
| 2022 | 6 July | Liège (Belgium) | Rebecca Leger, Ryan Groves, Vincent Koops and John Ashley Burgoyne | 15 |  Thailand
|
Yaboi Hanoi | "Asura deva choom noom – Enter Demons & Gods" (อสุระเทวะชุมนุม) | 21.1 |  Galicia
|
| 2023 | 4 November | A Coruña (Galicia)[6] | Duarte Galbán, Natasha Mangal and Ryan Groves[7] | 10 | Netherlands
|
Synthetic Beat Brigade | "How Would You Touch Me" | 20.5 | Germany
|
| 2024 | 5 October | Zürich (Switzerland)[8] |
TBA | 10 |  Chile
|
Onda Corta[9] | "Sudamérica" | 18.9 |  United Kingdom/ India
|
| 2025 | TBA | ||||||||
Awards and nominations
edit| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Prix Europa | Digital Media | Nominated | [10] |
| 2021 | NPO Innovation Award | Won | [11] | |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c "FAQ – The AI Song Contest". VPRO International. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
- ^ Smirke, Richard (10 May 2020). "Machine Music: With Eurovision Canceled, The Netherlands Prepares to Host First AI Song Contest". Billboard. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
- ^ a b "Kan AI een liedje componeren?". De Nationale AI-Cursus (in Dutch). 10 May 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
- ^ a b "FAQs". AI Song Contest 2021. Archived from the original on 28 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (11 June 2022). "Semi-Final Introduced For AI Song Contest 2022". Eurovoix World. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (9 July 2023). "AI Song Contest 2023 Launched". Eurovoix World. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
- ^ Borrego Escot, Daniel (26 October 2023). "RTVE Play emitirá la final del AI Song Contest 2023". RTVE (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 November 2023.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (2 June 2024). "🇨🇭 Switzerland Hosting the AI Song Contest 2024". Eurovoix World. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (5 October 2024). "Onda Corta Wins the AI Song Contest 2024". Retrieved 17 October 2024.
- ^ "List of Nominations" (PDF). Prix Europa. 10 September 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
- ^ "NPO Innovatieprijs voor VPRO's AI Songfestival". Entertainment Business (in Dutch). 4 June 2021. Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.