Photo: Sarah Louise Bennet / EBU

Those wishing to represent Malta at Eurovision 2024 now know the exact process they need to go through in order to be chosen as the country’s representative. National broadcaster PBS has published the rules and regulations for Malta Eurovision Song Contest (MESC) 2024, which includes a few changes to the format.

The grand final won’t see any acts performing live on the night. Instead, the result will be determined based on music videos and live-on-tape recordings.

Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2024 Rules

After expanding the selection to include quarter-finals in 2023, these have been ditched for the 2024 contest.

However, the semi-finals have essentially now become what the quarter-finals were. The acts who make it through the initial selection phase will sing their song live on a TV show — no props or choreography are allowed. It is not known how many will advance to the semi-finals, but the line-up will be announced in October 2023, with their semi-final performances spread out over a number of weeks towards the end of this calendar year.

A lucky 12 of the singers will make it through to the grand final of Malta Eurovision Song Contest, which is set for January 2024. At the live show itself, the acts will be able to sit back, relax and nervously wait for the jury and public to make their decision. All their work will instead come in the weeks beforehand.

Ahead of the grand final, each finalist is required to film an artistic music video, which PBS will contribute €5,000 towards. Additionally, they will each record a live-on-tape performance on a specially dedicated stage — each act will have 60 minutes to record three takes, one of which will be selected.

During the grand final, both the music videos and live-on-tape performances will be broadcast. Thus, viewers will watch all 12 songs twice. Based on these, the jury and public will vote for their favourite, determining the winner of MESC and the act who will represent Malta at Eurovision 2024 in Malmö.

Interested parties will be able to submit their songs between 28 August and 20 September.

One rule that remains in place for 2024 is #5.7, which states “Announcements, media posts, social media posts and any marketing content related to the submitted songs, artists and contest can only be made by PBS. Artists can only share the official posts by PBS.”

AIDAN notably fell foul of this during his bid to win MESC 2023. The Maltese star was eventually disqualified from the contest after he repeatedly posted promo videos to his social media channels. Those competing in 2024 will no doubt be making sure they stay in line to avoid the same fate.

Whoever emerges victorious at Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2024 will follow in the footsteps of The Busker. After the trio’s non-qualification in Liverpool this year, the country’s new Eurovision representative will be hoping to bring Malta back to the grand final when they take to the stage in Sweden next May.

What do you make of the new format for Malta Eurovision Song Contest in 2024? Who would you like to see enter the national selection? Let us know in the comments below.

39 Comments
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Fatima
Fatima
1 year ago

A selection based on a pre-recorded performance. Because that’s a great way to find an act who can make an impact across the live shows in May.

UNA SPARKLE
UNA SPARKLE
1 year ago

Oh goodies. It appears there are discussions at eebbuu around the use of *AI* at “SEurovision”. What else??

Yuarith
Yuarith
1 year ago

Malta and weird concepts, name a more iconic duo

UNA SPARKLE
UNA SPARKLE
1 year ago

OK then 2024 will probably be the year of lip singing and tv show “SEurovision”.

Shush
Shush
1 year ago

still confused on why malta sacked off the x-facor method. It worked very well for destiny and Michela. Looking at results MESC has not been good for Malta at all. But ig money

Nikita Zhukov
Nikita Zhukov
1 year ago

12 finalists is definitely better than having a 24-act semifinal with 16 qualifying, would’ve made more sense to skip the semi and just hold the final right away
Good luck to Malta, hopefully they can find a song to bring them back to the final

Hmm
Hmm
1 year ago

Hotspot for Swedish song rejects, let’s pray for something more original.

XOOOOD
XOOOOD
1 year ago
Reply to  Hmm

I’m hardcore Sweden team, but this one hit hard! LOL

Dave
Dave
1 year ago
Reply to  Hmm

Funnily, the Swedish song rejects gave better results. The Busker were anything but and … 3 … measly … points.

Denis
Denis
1 year ago
Reply to  Dave

True. Destiny’s song was rejected from Mello, then shipped across continent until Destiny heard it…
And that was Malta’s best result in a long time!

UNA SPARKLE
UNA SPARKLE
1 year ago
Reply to  Denis

Those faces when the televote points were announced say a different story.

Denis
Denis
1 year ago
Reply to  UNA SPARKLE

She still got more than 3 points…
And got 7th place

UNA SPARKLE
UNA SPARKLE
1 year ago
Reply to  Denis

The Busker: local, organic, fun, original, honest, cheerful, a breath of fresh air <3
Malta 2021: impor-ted fa-ct/ory “.p.roduct”, artificial, contrived, rid-ic-ulous, i*nf*lated iiiimportanc.e

Dave
Dave
1 year ago
Reply to  UNA SPARKLE

Well the televote this year gave the amazing Voyager (only artists I still listen too from this year’s Eurovision) 21 points so .. your point is?

UNA SPARKLE
UNA SPARKLE
1 year ago
Reply to  Dave

I love Voyager. Cool and intelligent and articulate and dedicated artists with loads of talent and confidence on stage 🙂

David
David
1 year ago

I will always support Malta at Eurovision but I feel PBS are resigned to the fact that in the current climate (no jury in SF) Malta have a very slim chance of qualifying. Last years result with The Busker was undeserved.

I hope it works out for them and we are cheering them on in the final.

If anyone deserves a win and would put on a party it is Malta!

Denis
Denis
1 year ago

I think they really just want to focus on the song aspect, to make sure it is a song contest. They have to try new methods to find one that works. But not sure if it will work seeing how live on tape can be manipulated

Dave
Dave
1 year ago

At this point, I really don’t care. Malta has been done dirty too many times in Eurovision, and if it were up to me, we would have withdrawn. Instead, we were one of the first batch of countries to confirm our participation.

Hope they have found a formula which works. But I doubt it. It’s just gonna be a different way of choosing a song which will ultimately fail in the televote.

Jofty
Jofty
1 year ago
Reply to  Dave

“No props or choreography”. Do you think this will favour (shouty) ballads? Had this been the system in 2023, Ryan Hili may have found himself in Liverpool.

Jake
Jake
1 year ago

This is bizarre. I guess it a little like what Czechia does. But weird for Malta of all countries not have a big live show in that big arena. I always get nervous when internal selections just put out a slick video and then artists flail on the big stages.

Zanoni
Zanoni
1 year ago

Last year’s result is so discouraging. I think The Busker were absolutely the right choice– accessible musically and emotionally, and the staging was excellent too. NQ wasn’t a shock, especially given the running order, but I still thought they had a chance. They deserved more than three freaking points. Like Vivian, I’m not sure they have much chance in the televote-only semis. I’m not really sure what the philosophy is behind all these changes. Trying to focus on the songs instead of the performances, maybe? Or maybe it’s just cost-cutting somehow. I don’t know. It feels like a lot of… Read more »

UNA SPARKLE
UNA SPARKLE
1 year ago

If they don’t have money for the live show then why not do a *radio* show instead?

UNA SPARKLE
UNA SPARKLE
1 year ago

Music videos made by the contestants? Live-on-tape performances? All for a “live” performance?? WARUM??

Thallo
Thallo
1 year ago

What a strange concept.

Sven
Sven
1 year ago

Yay! It’s the time of the year when broadcasters are competing for the title of “who has the dumbest preselection rules”

Alex
Alex
1 year ago

I actually love this idea. This will help the audience detect the poor live performances easier by showing what they’re supposed to sound like

We’re Up in Space, Man!
We’re Up in Space, Man!
1 year ago

Really strange decision given that, if the winner is chosen through lonely pre-recorded tapes, then we could very easily get a Maltese singer who cannot perform properly to a large Eurovision audience! This will hinder Malta!

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
1 year ago

There’s no non-money related reason that those semi finals need to be broadcast. They’re going to be really bad.

Day one
Day one
1 year ago

I can kinda understand what PBS are trying to do with having the live-on-tape recordings as we’ve seen at MESC before where just okay songs have won because they were performed the best on the night. Being able to do multiple live takes and choosing the best one would be better to choose the better song overall. Yes the acts should perform the best live but one bad performance on a national selection stage writing off a better song from a eurovision standpoint is different as PBS can then work fully with the act to perfect the live show. I… Read more »

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
1 year ago
Reply to  Day one

I really hope they don’t manipulate the live on tape recordings to make them sound better than they really are.

We’re Up in Space, Man!
We’re Up in Space, Man!
1 year ago
Reply to  BadWoolfGirl

Oh boy, this could definitely happen!

Bejba
Bejba
1 year ago

Maltese Broadcasting doesn’t really care much for Good Results in the ESC , they have always cared more for Making Money,Drama,Comercials Revenue … They’re goal with the Esc is not to win as shown by this Corruption and Scandals they get into Yearly . If they sent a Fun Summer Bop similar to Solo by Blanka I think Malta can Suceed Once Again .

Zanoni
Zanoni
1 year ago
Reply to  Bejba

I’d categorize “Dance (Our Own Party)” as a fun bop. Three points, shrug.

Vivian
Vivian
1 year ago

Assuming the televote-only semifinal thing stays for next year (which I really hope will not be the case) Malta won’t be qualifying anyway. I’m honestly surprised Malta hasn’t withdrawn because of it, since the televote denies them any chance at all at hitting a good position (barring Destiny of course)

Frisian esc
Frisian esc
1 year ago
Reply to  Vivian

So according to you malta has never been in the semi final top 10 with the televotes before?

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
1 year ago
Reply to  Vivian

If they send a strong entry, they would qualify, even with televotes. If anything, Malta has received unreasonably kind jury voting in the past If anything.

Dave
Dave
1 year ago
Reply to  Briekimchi

On the contrary Briekimchi, I think the jury saved perfectly decent songs from coming towards the bottom.

Dave
Dave
1 year ago
Reply to  Vivian

I agree Vivian. Malta should just say ta-ra to this contest, maybe come back when there is a fairer voting system.

Otherwise it’s just a waste of money, and humiliation for the artists involved as they get short changed in the televote.

Aksel Kankaanranta's ex husband
Aksel Kankaanranta's ex husband
1 year ago

whyyy????? this makes 0 sense but ok luvz