On Saturday, the first qualifying round of Melodifestivalen 2025 will take place. But already on Friday, curious music listeners will be able to hear the songs. They will be released on SVT Play and also by respective record labels on streaming services.
The reason for the change is that they want to keep up with a modern media landscape, according to Wistbacka.
It's not something acute that has happened, we felt that now it's time for people to listen to their favorites when they want. So the songs are released on Friday and then the music is completely free to be played on the radio and TV, but not in commercials. There, we still have restrictions.
SVT naturally hopes to increase interest in the program as well. Now it remains to be seen if they will succeed.
We'll see how big it gets. It's a small part of creating more engagement before the actual competition. For us in our little bubble, it's a huge change, but we'll analyze it afterwards and make an evaluation.
Will it then be the end of headlines like "Song leaked in advance in Melodifestivalen"?
I think so, but you should never say never. It still can't be released before midnight on Friday, that's important. But it's the same for all other regular music, that you don't want to release it before the release date, but then for commercial reasons.
Thursday: SVT releases a 60-second sneak peek of the songs on SVT Play.
Friday at 00:00: The songs are released in their entirety on SVT Play and also on streaming services like Spotify and Tidal.
Friday: SVT posts 30-second previews from the rehearsals of the different entries on SVT Play.
