Joost Klein’s costs? There is no discussion about ‘Europapa’ amounts RTL News

The Eurovision Song Contest is broadcast in our country on NPO 1 by AVROTROS. The act is paid for by AVROTROS and the artist receives a standard amount for the act, the clip and the clothing, says a spokesperson for the broadcaster. “We keep the amounts internally.”

250,000 euros

It is clear that AVROTROS has spent a total of approximately 250,000 euros on the song festival. The broadcaster pays for this out of its own pocket, including from membership revenues. Part of this money goes to Klein’s act. Another part goes to the trip, hotel stays for the entourage, food and promotional activities. The budget for the artist has been increased ‘slightly’ due to inflation.

If additional costs are incurred for, for example, clothing, clip or overnight accommodation for guests who do not belong to the delegation (friends/family), these will be borne by the artist himself, the broadcaster reports.

Joost’s permanent team consists of seven people: five on stage plus a creative director and a producer. The delegation is complemented by persons from the broadcaster. AVROTROS provides a director, someone for the light and sound and takes care of ‘make-up and styling, communication and the leadership of the delegation’.

Not absurdly high

A manager of an entry who previously participated says the amount was sufficient for the act. “It was not absurdly high, but if you make good agreements the costs can be covered. We worked well with AVROTROS, so money was not a problem.”

The manager, who does not want to be named, is not allowed to share amounts. “Whether it is enough also depends on the artist himself. You cannot make it as crazy as you want with the budget, unless, for example, you invest a ton yourself. Relatively little money is available for the decor.”

The artist in question earned little or no direct income from the adventure, says the manager. “But that will come later. You get a lot of attention because of the Eurovision Song Contest. Although the storm will pass fairly quickly.”

Half a million in total

Those 250,000 euros are not the entire amount that the Netherlands spends on an edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. According to AVROTROS, the NPO itself will contribute 250,000 euros ‘to fund the technology (including televoting), commentary, distribution, broadcasts and previews.’

This EBU compensation varies per broadcaster. The larger broadcasters from Spain, Italy, England, Germany and France pay the most. Therefore, these countries are automatically qualified for the final, which is no guarantee of success.

While the NPO pays approximately 250,000 euros to be allowed to participate and broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest at all, this EBU fee was 473,000 euros in Germany last year and just under 348,000 euros in Spain. For comparison: North Macedonia paid just over 39,000 euros to participate a year earlier. The country withdrew a year later for financial reasons.

The NPO does not want to elaborate on the costs and refers to the AVROTROS.

Spanish bill

In recent years, the Spanish public broadcaster TVE has provided insight into the costs incurred for the Eurovision Song Contest. For the year 2022, the Spanish news site Público had a fairly detailed overview of the account.

In addition to the EBU compensation of 302,000 euros at the time, the Spaniards spent approximately 355,000 euros for the performance of Chanel and her background dancers, who came third with the song SloMo.

The artists themselves (84,000 euros), the overnight accommodation of the delegation (54,000 euros), various technical people and materials (more than 100,000 euros) were high cost items. Chanel herself wore a specially designed dress costing almost 15,000 euros. It is therefore not known whether Klein is just as colorful. Perhaps it will be known later how much his suit with broad shoulders cost.