Sanremo 2027 Festival Rules Published

The organisers of Italy's Sanremo Music Festival have published the official regulation governing the 2027 edition, setting out the rules that artists and songs will need to follow in order to take part.

Stefano De Martino, the festival's host, discussed the new regulation and described the changes as a revolution, indicating that the event will undergo notable transformation compared with previous years.

According to De Martino, the festival has been put together using 'artisanal intelligence,' a phrase he used to emphasise human creativity and craftsmanship over automated processes. In line with this approach, the regulation reportedly attempts to ban the use of artificial intelligence in the creation of competing songs, although enforcing such a rule in practice may prove challenging given how widely AI tools are now used in music production.

When asked about gender quotas — a system that would require an equal number of male and female performers in the competition — De Martino said that the quality of the song should be the deciding factor, rather than the gender of the artist behind it.

Sanremo has been running since the 1950s and remains one of the most closely watched cultural events in Italy each year, often shaping trends in Italian popular music and drawing significant national media coverage. Changes to its rules, therefore, tend to generate debate not only among artists but also among fans and industry observers who follow the competition closely.

While the full details of the newly published regulation were not extensively outlined in the announcement, the emphasis placed by De Martino on both artificial intelligence and gender representation suggests that the 2027 edition will address some of the most debated issues currently facing the music industry more broadly.