Fewer songs have been submitted than last year for the Malta Eurovision song contest, to be held in November instead of February, Times of Malta has learnt.

Sources in the music industry said the cut-off date for submissions – the end of August – had caught recording studios, authors and composers on the wrong foot.

“This is normally a time when many in the industry are preparing for the Independence Festival [an annual music festival organised by the Nationalist Party in September],” an author said on condition of anonymity.

In previous years the deadline for submissions was the end of October.

The Public Broadcasting Service, the national TV station that organises the festival, has not yet said how many submissions it received.

A record-breaking 210 entries were submitted last year, whittled down to 70 and later 20 by a jury that listened to the songs behind closed doors. The final was held over two nights in February. A source in the industry said he believed the number of submissions may have been halved this year.

While not giving the number of entries, PBS chief executive Anton Attard said the main difference this year was that there were fewer repeat submissions – songs submitted year after year.

“What really matters is the quality of submissions rather than the number and this will be judged during the festival,” Mr Attard said, adding the number and first shortlist of songs would be announced by the end of this month.

Mr Attard said PBS published the regulations on the July 11 with a closing date for submissions on August 29, which gave artists 50 days to prepare. Last year the regulations were out on September 24 and the deadline for submissions was the end of October, which gave artists 38 days.

“The submission period was actually longer this year and this was done because of the change in timing of the festival,” he said. The station decided to change the date of the festival as a result of new regulations that could see the winning song change radically for the Eurovision festival to be held in Austria next May.

Mr Attard said the lead time gave the winning team more chance to prepare for the Eurovision in terms of re-mastering if required, video and marketing.

However, PBS also felt it made “logistical and financial sense” to hold the Malta Eurovision Song Contest back to back with the Junior Eurovision to be held in Malta on November 15.

Marc Calleja Bayliss, editor-in-chief of escflashmalta.com, a website that closely follows the Eurovision scene, said multiple factors could have played a part in what appears to be the cool reception by artists for this year’s festival.

“Interest [in the festival] from some of the most recognisable faces in the local music industry may have deterred some artists and songwriters from submitting entries,” he said.

However, it was quality not quantity that counted, he said.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.