Lied van Liedjes 41

This was the forty-first Lied van Liedjes to be held. It was held in Leeds, England despite PLACE winning the previous contest with the song "TBD" by TBD. The Semi-Finals were originally to be held on 23 January and 25 January - but this was later moved to 4 April and 6 April 2004. The Grand Final would take place on Saturday 8 April 2004. 37 countries took part, with Montenegro making their debut appearance.

This edition was filled with controversy. The previous contest had concluded on 30 December 2003, and as the majority of previous editions occurred a month after the previous, an edition held in January 2004 was expected. However, the Lied van Liedjes company began having financial issues in early January alongside sponsors pulling out of the contest. They had to delay the contest past the original host date of 23rd to the 27th of January because of unexpected delays, lack of funding, and issues with broadcasters - France and Germany were threatening to pull out of the contest due to differing ideas of management. To make issues worse, deposit and construction money was wasted on the contest, expected to be held in -PLACE, PLACE- but after delays, had to be thrown away.

Many were concerned on the future of the contest there on out. Following these difficulties, Lucia Danielson stepped down as executive producer after 15 contests produced - the most of any executive. By February, it was unclear where the contest was heading. Eila Kekkonen, the former long standing director, refused to accept the role and so the position had to be filled by an inexperienced manager. Kaitlyn Ratz, a long time music and television production manager came into the project in mid to late February unaware of the contest and was assigned the role of Executive Producer. Alexander Ahlberg, the coordinator of the 20th, 37th, and 40th contests, stood in as Director to help the incoming executive producer.

Now that upper management had been sorted, the financial issues had to be addressed. Ratz began by substantially increasing the participation fee. This saw a few reactions. Smaller countries, which could not afford to pay the participation fee, had to withdraw. These included: the 40th contest's debutants and ; and the small nations of  and. Furthermore, the African nations of, and other non-European nations such as  and  could no longer justify their participation to their broadcasters and so were cut as well. Many, despite acknowledging the difficulties of the financial situation, protested the fee such as, , and  who all issued a joint-statement. In the end however, only two countries withdrew out of protest: and.

Ratz acknowledged the concern of too many countries withdrawing. She entered negotiations with several major economies in Europe who weren't planning on participating. Ultimately, these negotiations led to the return of, , , and. Late in the stages of preparation, the Serbian broadcaster split into a Serb and Montenegrin part and it was decided that they would participate under two different countries - seeing the debut of. With new sponsors, Ratz confirmed the new date of the 4th, 6th and 8th April for the contest. The original venue was unable to used given the companies' now poor financial reputation. The production was to be scaled back and a lot smaller, held in a small city in a major economic power. Leeds, England, was ultimately chosen for the contest.

Pot Draw
Italics indicate a returning country.

Semi Final 1
and would vote in this Semi Final. It took place on Tuesday 25 November 2003.

Semi Final 2
,, and would vote in this Semi-Final. It took place on Thursday 27 November 2003.

America