AINVision

The AINvision Song Contest is an annual competition held among many of the active member countries of the Alliance of Independent Nations. Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and radio and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. The contest has been broadcast every year since the union's formation and is one of the longest-running events in the union. It is also the most popular non-sporting event in the alliance, with members participating from across the union and the contest broadcast live across the world via AINTV and its partner channels.

* Delayed due to Christmas celebrations in the city. ** Initially meant to be AINVision 2011, but was delayed due to the AIN website move. Branded incorrectly as AINVision 2012. *** AINVision Sainte-Croix 2014 cancelled due to organizers failing to put the event together.

Host Cities
More Information: List of Host Cities of AINVision Song Contest

Nine cities have hosted the AINVision Song Contest, across six countries in Asia, Europe, North America, Veratlantia and Oceania. Of these only three were capital cities. The 2012 Contest in Ascadylea was initially planned to be hosted in Binghampton, Ascadylea, but was forced to move at the last minute due to a hurricane alert, to the city of Archades. Only the Illu'a contest in 2010 was hosted in an outdoors arena - all others were hosted inside venues with roofs.

The 2014 contest was hosted in Zenebach, Neu Westfalen, following an internal bidding process in the country between Port Lantea, Evelstadt and Zenebach.



Participants
Eligible participants include Active Members of the Alliance of Independent Nations. Active members are though who include countries officially On Leave, but have not officially left AIN. if a country leaves AIN during the application or any other stage of process, they are not allowed to continue in the contest. Participants can only be from AIN, but can be from any section of the world. Dependencies of countries, as of last check of rules, were allowed to perform independently of the country they are dependent to.

In the total of 9 contests, 74 countries have participated at least once in the contests, including dependencies performing independently. Many of these have already left AIN. Participating countries are;

Presenters
Each AINVision has adopted two main strategies in terms of presenters. In the inaugural contest, the traditional two-presenter setup was introduced, with a third presenter in the auditorium. In Fornax, only one presenter was used in the Special Edition contest. In Petrova's second contest, the hosts went all-out with expenditure but continued to use the two+one structure they had initiated the previous year. AINTv Entertainment Reporter, Karine Abellana, Petrovar Idol host, Adam Morove and Miss Petrova AIN 2010, Marie Alyessa Luvotsky hosted the contest.

In Illu'a 2010, the contest reverted back to the Fornax setup, with union Vice President Daniel Raffaele presenting the competition from Colbitz, despite being an Arcacian national. This structure became popular after its successful use in Illu'a, with the Corraile and Ascadylea contests in 2012 both adopting a one-presenter setup.

In December 2012, RMI, the host broadcaster of the 2013 AINVision Song Contest, confirmed it would be returning to a Petrovar style of presentation after breaking away from AINTV's broadcasting division, who had previously favoured the solo presenter style introduced in Fornax. In 2014 the Neu Westfalen edition reverted to the solo presenter format.

Logo
In the early years of the contest, countries did have their own identities and branding around the event but the AINVision logo was the focal point. In late 2010, 2011 and 2012, only the AINVision logo was featured, with the national flag displayed in the heart of the V. This official logo was first introduced in Petrova in 2009 and has remained in use ever since.

In 2013, the Cattala organising committee revealed an altered AINVision logo. The crest of the second "i" in AINvision replaced by the official symbol of the union, the dove of peace. This was done in partnership with the Ministry of Culture and AINTV. For this contest only, the logo was recoloured, as it was in the 2009 Special Edition in Fornax.

The individual themes of the 2009 and 2010 song contests were restored in 2013, with Cattala's "Four Joy" brand displaying more prominently than the official logo. The gold and purple double-chevron diamond features the logo in the centre on many adverts, but was also displayed independent of the corporate logo and with Cattalian additions. The first time Kingston and Boyce held the contest in Winter 2013 the logo reverted back to the previous format of using a generic logo, however the regular format was soon brought back with Neu Westfalen hosting the contest with an individual theme and brand of "All the world's a stage".

Broadcasting
The broadcasting of the AINVision Song Contest has traditionally been by the ministry owned AINTV until 2013 with the production company being listed as the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Sport and AINTV being listed as the Distributor. The runtime is on average 3 Hours and 30 Minuets depending on the amount of acts. The broadcasts have been since the start of the contest in 2009 and have been broadcasting them at 1080i (HDTV) since.

In March 2013, a court-case closed between the Ministry owned AINTV and the Cattalian broadcaster RMI Events. AINTV had taken the public broadcaster to court when RMI announced its intentions to independently sell off the global rights to the 2013 Contest, which they would be hosting, without AINTV earning any income from the distribution of rights. The profits from the sale, expected to be around $120 million, would be used to justify the huge costs of the contest being held in Cattala, according to RMI. On the 2nd March, the judge ruled in favour of the defendant, after AINTV presented what was described as a "weak, profit-hunting case with almost predatory undertones". RMI Director General Andrew Dasnell welcomed the announcement after leaving court, criticising AINTV's approach to negotiations and argued that "RMI Events is a highly experienced media entertainment group and we know that they will host the best AINVision in history in three months time, with or without the support of AINTV".

This led to the first announcement of an independently broadcasted AINVision Song Contest in the history of the contest. The Ministry of Culture, Arts and Sport were announced to be the advisor and managerial capacity alongside RMI and it was stressed that AINTV would have no role in the contest.