Redditvision Song Contest 2

Redditvision Song Contest 2 was the second edition of the Redditvision Song Contest. It was hosted in Copenhagen, Denmark following delegate u/ShellEase's win in Berlin with the song "Time Machine", performed by Ingrid Michaelson. The notable restriction was that the "song cannot be released before 2013".

Thirty-four countries participated in the contest. However, 6 countries were disqualified and banned, as they were revealed to be all monitored by one person using them as a measure of cheating. In addition, Monaco was also disqualified after failing to vote. It only consisted of one final, making this the largest ever final of the contest.

The live show began on 28 January 2017. On 1 February 2017, the winner of the contest was revealed to be u/Wierdmeansawesome and Italy with their song "Luce che entra", written and performed by Lorenzo Fragola. Remarkably, they won without receiving a single 12 points.

Background
Following the first edition, confusion and discussion arose around the rules of the contest. The moderators decided to put up a survey in order to determine the rules. The loose country rule of Redditvision, where there doesn't need to be a connection between the artist and the country, was in particular a hot topic. Originally, a user would have to use the same country every edition, but the survey results gave way for a more free way of claiming countries. Only the host would get first rights to a country, while the rest of the delegates would go through a first-come, first-serve system. Also introduced were the host-based restrictions, where the host would have the opportunity to restrict song length, maximum song age, maximum YouTube view count in addition to deciding the scheduling of the contest.

For this edition, a song length and age restriction was imposed: all songs had to be between 3:00 and 4:30 minutes long, and had to be released from 2014 onwards.

Participants
With 34 users signing up, an increase of sixteen from the previous edition, there were a total of 19 debutants. u/fronterasborders, u/Pourquoijv, u/EurofanZapopan, u/Notorious_Park, u/DeannaDeesse, u/Crotenis, u/Kastenbrot2, u/Wierdmeansawesome, u/Beernme, u/CJorex, u/TrueHrafninn, u/iPromi, u/kontor97, u/ConkaConka, u/TheBlairBitch, u/dudeoh, u/hannah_ef, u/mycomputerisaghost and u/whyidontwanna all debuted this edition. Three users withdrew: u/dnikandjam, u/michaelanthony128 and u/TrueQuesty.

Brazil, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, Scotland, Spain, Tonga, Ukraine and Vatican City all made their first appearance in Redditvision. Georgia, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom withdrew. The United Kingdom was split into its four constituent parts for this edition, with Northern Ireland and Scotland taking part. England and Wales would debut in later editions.

Voting scandal
On 27 January 2017, head moderator u/laneyflitt came with a major announcement on the subreddit: "This is an announcement to let you guys know that six of the entries have been disqualified from the contest. One of our users, u/sacmersault, was caught creating multiple alternate accounts in an attempt to manipulate the results of the contest. This is cheating and will not be tolerated. As a result, u/sacmersault and all five of her alternate accounts (u/fronterasborders, u/Beernme, u/mycomputerisaghost, u/ConkaConka, and u/EurofanZapopan) have all been permanently banned from the subreddit. The entries from Canada, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Equatorial Guinea, Brazil, and Vatican City have therefore been disqualified."

As a result of this a new rule was imposed: from this edition and onwards all new accounts attempting to join the contest must be at least three months old, exempting the users who had already participated in the first two editions. How the moderation team caught u/sacmersault has never been publicly revealed. This incident has become one of the most infamous moments in Redditvision history.

The full results before the disqualifications would see them almost making a grand slam - occupying four spots in the top 5. Kazakhstan would've won with 123 points with Mexico and Canada rounding out the podium with 109 and 101 points respectively. Vatican City would've finished 5th with 84 points, Brazil 12th with 79 points and Equatorial Guinea 24th with 41 points. Eventual winner Italy finished 4th in this timeline. u/Crotenis and Monaco, who got disqualified for not voting, would've finished 18th with 47 points.

12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country. Italy, despite winning, received no 12 points from the voting.