Due to the rapidly expanding size of the Contest, the decision was taken prior to the 1996 Contest that all entries would have to pre-qualify based on the opinions of a panel of judges listening to recordings of the songs. The would-be German entrant (Leon with "Planet of Blue") did not progress beyond this stage. His failure to do so was one of the main factors in the establishment of the "Big Four" tradition, whereby Germany, France, Spain and the United Kingdom would be guaranteed a berth in the Contest.