The Online Song Contest was founded by Colin Acton (United Kingdom) and Deo Grech (Malta) and is now organised by René M. from Austria.


I. Participation and song choice

1. Any country can join in.

2. Players can only represent one country - preferably their homeland. However, it is acceptable to represent the place where they live or have access to the music coming out from that country. Players can freely switch countries once. Any further change is at the discretion of OSC organisers.

3a. Songs have to be released either during year in which the contest takes place or the previous two years (current year - 2)
3b. Entries before (current year - 3) can only take part in special editions of the OSC.

4. No ESC entries can enter. These will be allowed in special ESC editions of OSC only. Rules for those special editions will be posted at the time of the contest.

5. Cover Versions/Remixes are accepted, but the original song must be from the same country. (Final Decision was taken at the Polls in December 2002)

6. There are no restrictions concerning the language of the songs. (Final Decision was taken at the Polls on 8th Oct 2002)
Furthermore it is not mandatory that a song has lyrics at all (Final Decision was taken at the Polls in August 2013)

7. Singers/performers choice is free - no restriction. However, they should represent the country they were born in or the country they live in at the time of the song's release. If the song validity is challenged, it is the player's responsibility to provide evidence to the OSC organisers to prove eligibility.

8. Disqualification on breaking rules 3-7 can be made only before the start of the voting period.

II. Juries

9. Country Juries are formed by players joining the OSC facebook group and assigned to one of the participant countries by the starting date for the votes of that edition.

10. Public Juries are formed by players joining the OSC facebook group and not assigned to any of the participant countries by the starting date for the votes of that edition.

11a. If there are more than one player in the country jury, players will be asked to discuss between themselves the best way to submit their countries entries.
11b. The national selection procedure shall be decided by each participant as he/she deems fit. However, the song selected must conform to the present rules.
11c. If a player fails to participate in one OSC edition, a new player can request to submit a song for that country in the next edition. OSC organisers will then contact the present representative to see if they plan to participate in the next edition. That player has first refusal, but if no reply is received within 5 days, the new player can take control.
11d. If a player fails to participate in two consecutive OSC editions, a new player can take over that country permanantly.

III. Submission of song and song-details

12a. All players have to provide the following song-details:
i. Name of artist/group and song
ii. Picture of artist/group (actual picture and not link to picture)
iii. The website address of the artist/group
iv. A link to the video-clip if there is one available at YouTube
v. An mp3 of the song (should be restricted to 192kbps at the most.)
12b. It is up to every player (and not mandatory) to provide the following song-details:
i. Original lyrics of song
ii. Translation into english of lyrics
iii. Biography of artist/group
12c. The information stated in 12a should be sent altogether in one email to rene[at]onlinesongcontest.com including the soundfile.
12d. Any missing item as detailed in 12a will be attract a 4 point penalty.
12e. If a player fails to send the mp3 OR misses to send three ore more items from 12a in time, that entry will be disqualified.

IV. Final and semi-finals

13a. WITHOUT SEMI-FINALS. If 25 countries or less enter a single OSC-edition, the contest will move directly to the grand final (Final Decision was taken at the Polls on 12th Apr 2007)
13b. If more countries show interest then there will be a SEMI-FINALS system.
13c. WITH SEMI-FINALS. The final will always be made of 16 entries, no matter how many semi finals there are.

14. The draw of the running order will be made by OSC organisers.

V. Voting

15. Voters should cast votes for 12 songs and their votes should be given as follows: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12 and the top mark will be 15 points. If less than 12 songs enter, lower points will be removed to match the amount of entries.

16. Votes should never be disclosed. They should be sent directly to OSC Organisers via following e-mail adress: votes[at]onlinesongcontest.com. Votes sent to any other email address will not be counted.

17. Players can not vote for their own entry.

18. All votes are logged and any suspicious voting will be challenged. All votes should be fair and cast on the player's evaluation of the song. Any friendly voting, will first attract a warning, then a points deduction leading to disqualification should it continue.

19a. All country jury players have to cast votes. In semi-finals case the player is obliged to vote in heat where his entry is taking part and is encouraged to vote in others if they wish to do so. If a player fails to vote in the semi final they are participating in, they are automatically disqualified from that edition even if they qualify for the final.
19b. If a player respectively a country fails to vote in the final, although its one of the finalists, the country will be disqualified at the end of the voting and the final-score will be set to 0 points. (Final Decision was taken at the Polls on 23rd Nov 2006)

VI. Winner and hosting country

20a. The song which obtains the highest number of points becomes winner of the ONLINE SONG CONTEST.
20b. Should there be a tie for any place, it shall go to the song that has obtained the highest score (15 points) the most often. If the winner cannot be determined by this procedure, then the number of times 12 points have been awarded shall be the deciding factor; if necessary, this method shall continue until account has been taken of the number of times one point has been awarded.
20c. Should two or more songs still tie, even after the above calculation, both/all such songs shall share same place.
20d. The country winning the OSC will become the virtual host for the next contest. In the case of a tie as in rule 20c., both countries will be credited with hosting the next contest.

VII. Miscellaneous

21. OSC organizers will prevail of the right of being the only jury members for the countries they represent (namely: Austria).

22. By entering a song for the OSC each participant accepts these Rules, which apply to the Online Song Contest as a whole. Rules are subject to be changed by organizers, notification is to be send to all players.

23. All players are encouraged to join the OSC facebook group.

24a. Any decision made by the OSC organisers can be appealled within 7 days of that decision being made. An appeal should be made by emailling contact[at]onlinesongcontest.com. This appeal should include a) the reason for appeal and b) evidence to support that appeal. Any decision arising from that appeal is final.
24b. An appeal can be made by an individual or any number of players. Should the appeal be made up of a number of players, they should appoint a spokesperson for that group who can be contacted by organisers should further clarification be required.