The Song is composed of three Shows, two Semi-Finals and one Final. The recaps are produced and transmitted on Organizer’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/c/crimsonnhr. The Organizer doesn't make any profit from the contest.

A maximum of 48 countries shall be allowed to participate. Members from a maximum total of 26 countries will compete in the Final. There shall be four guaranteed places for the direct finalists (incl. Host country and the remaining countries in Top 4 from previous season). Apart from 4 direct finalists, the 44 participating countries have to compete in one of the Semi-Finals for the remaining places in the Final. Eleven countries from each Semi-Final will qualify for the Final. The number of countries participating may be modified depending on circumstances.

Each song which competes in the contest shall be selected through a national or internal selection. The selection process is organized under the sole responsibility of the Participating member. The allocation of the countries to the two Semi-Finals and the Final will be decided by a random draw. Allocation pots will be determined based on the Best countries ranking.

Once the application date is officially revealed, Full members and direct finalists are able to confirm their participation and apply for the contest. On the first day of applications, Members who competed in previous season will be able to apply. Six hours after, applications will be opened for everyone and only then can direct finalists and Members who competed in previous season change their country. If Full members decide to change their country they will lose their membership.

In the application message, the Member needs to submit the country they want to take part with. If a Member opted for a national selection, they need to send a link to their selection process and describe the voting system they want to use. Song and the artist can be sent afterwards but before the application deadline. In case one or more Members haven't submitted songs by the end of the deadline, they will be disqualified from the contest but will still be able to take part in the next edition.

Once the application is fully submitted (country, song and artist) and the Member receives feedback, they cannot change their entry unless approved by the Organizer with a valid reason.

Application and voting for Participating members has to be done all using one method from the following:

• E-mail – swedeneurovisionfan@outlook.com 
• Messenger – www.m.me/thesongofficial

The compositions must not have been commercially released before the release date – January 1, 2017 and must not have more than 35 million views on the Official / lyric video. Songs that competed in (Junior) Eurovision Song Contest, preselections or similar song contests are strictly forbidden from entering The Song. 

Artist can compete for a certain country if they or their parents come from the participating country or if the artist was born / has lived there. Borrowing songs from neighboring countries by micro nations isn't allowed. One artist cannot compete for the same country for 3 consecutive times.

Each Participating member is required to vote in the Final and the respective Semi-final where they compete or just vote. Voting is the only obligation in the contest. Not submitting valid votes in time will result in an immediate disqualification, the Member will be banned and will consequently lose rights to apply for The Song ever again. Votes sent after the deadline will not count and will not be considered.

The country that got disqualified will face the following consequences:

• In case of a Semi-final qualification, the country's progress to the Final shall be nullified and the next country with the highest score that sent valid votes shall be proclaimed as a qualifier
• In case a direct finalist doesn't vote, the finalist will lose their place in the Final and a Wildcard will be given after the end of the Semi-Finals to the country first in line that sent valid votes and would've directly qualified for the final based on previous season and is not yet qualified for the final of the current season. If such country doesn't exist, Organizer reserves the right to choose a method that will determine the direct finalist.
• In case of a victory, the country's winning title shall be nullified and the next country with the highest score that sent valid votes shall be proclaimed as the winner

The results of each Participating member shall be determined as follows:

• 12 points shall be allocated to the song having obtained the best rank
• 10 points to the song having obtained the second-best rank
• 8 points to the song having obtained the third-best rank
• 7 points to the next, and so on, down to 1 point having obtained the tenth-best rank from the Participating member

In addition to Participating members, in each of the three shows, Rest of the World (a.k.a. ROW) voters who are not competing in the contest will be able to submit their results. However, all ROW combined votes will be worth as results from one Participating member (in this case – ROW). Participating members not voting or competing in corresponding Semi-Final will be able to submit their results as a part of ROW, but will not be sanctioned for not voting.

ROW voters will be able to vote using one of the following methods:

• E-mail – swedeneurovisionfan@outlook.com 
• Messenger – www.m.me/thesongofficial
• YouTube comment - www.youtube.com/c/crimsonnhr*

*Has to be done below the recap video of the Show. Commenting will be moderated so your votes will not be publicly published until approved after the Final. Participating members cannot use this voting method and have to send their votes with the method used to apply for the contest.

Once a Member or a ROW voter has submitted their results and received a feedback, their votes shall be locked and under no circumstances changed.

At the end of each Semi-Final, the presenters shall announce the names of countries which have qualified from the Semi-Finals to the Final. These countries will be the countries that obtained most votes and have given valid votes. In the final, winner song shall be the song which has obtained the highest number of points in total and has submitted valid results.

The full results of the Semi-Finals and the Final shall be published on the official website of The Song, thesongcontest.jimdo.com after the end of the Final.

The winning Member shall have one month to decide the host city and venue (in the winning country) and host(s) for the following edition of The Song. In the event of deadline not being respected, the Organizer reserves the right to select listed subjects. The winning Member will not be sanctioned in the event of not selecting the subjects.

The Organizer reserves the right to change or modify the rules at any given moment.

These rules will be valid for The Song 2019 but are still being modified.

[last edit: August 24, 2018]