The song contest will begin October 11, 2025. The closing date for entries to the contest (exclusively digital in image and sound) is August 1, 2025.
A breath of fresh air in the European pop universe
A new, cross-border pop contest aims to bring fresh, positively charged underground music to broad attention in the pop genre that is currently reinventing itself – starting from Germany, Austria and Switzerland and the musicians working there and based on the fact that, according to studies by various youth broadcasters, listening habits are currently changing massively.
As in the 1960s and 70s, Latin America is set to become the new world power in pop music. Latin grooves will soon conquer the European charts and heat up the dance floors.
But first a brief look back: in 1998, Salzburg native Benno Oberdanner (Senior CEO of X-Promotion agency, Seekirchen am Wallersee) and Christian Lehner (journalist, author, musician, once Salzburg, now Klagenfurt) invented and founded the then extremely popular newcomer contest “Jeder-pop”. Due to strong interest from Bavaria, this developed into the cross-border competition “Chiemsee Songwriter Contest” with a live final on the shores of Lake Chiemsee in 2015.
A spirit of optimism and the courage to create something new
They are looking for musicians and formations that can (also) spread an exuberant party mood with their own songs and the diverse range of pop music and are absolutely festival-ready, which will have to be proven in live preliminary rounds and live final shows.
A jury of experts and the public will select the winners at the end, with a compilation DVD as a benefit and live performances as motivation and a springboard.
All groups and soloists residing in Germany, Austria and Switzerland can take part. Demos with two original songs and one creatively interpreted cover version, each around three minutes long, must be submitted. As well as a 10 to 15-second jingle as a special challenge, which can and should be used for calls for entries, announcements and live events from 2026.
There is no age limit.
The detailed conditions of participation, dates and procedure can be downloaded here.
The current venues for the preliminary rounds and semi-finals are the Alm in the Kurpark in Ruhpolding in Bavaria, the Kronenhof event hotel in Zurich, the Eboardmuseum in Klagenfurt and the new event location of the Unteres Mühlviertel art and culture initiative in Schwertberg in Austria. Further venues for 2025 and beyond are already in the application process.
The selection will be based on event and tourism criteria.
The closing date for entries to the contest (exclusively digital in image and sound) is August 1 to: contest@x-promotion.at
The jury will meet in August and select the quarter and semi-finalists, who will compete in live battles from October 11.