'Once' song is eligible for Oscars

The Academy’s Music Branch Executive Committee had met yesterday after concerns were raised that their Once soundtracking song, ‘Falling Slowly’, failed to meet nomination criteria.
"The Academy's music branch executive committee has met and endorsed the validity of ‘Falling Slowly’ as a nominated achievement,” reads and official statement. “The committee relied on written assurances and detailed chronologies provided by songwriter of 'Falling Slowly', the writer-director of Once and Fox Searchlight."
"The genesis of the picture was unusually protracted, but director John Carney and songwriter Glen Hansard were working closely together in 2002 when the project that became Once was discussed. 'Falling Slowly' began to be composed, but the actual script and financing for the picture was delayed for several years, during which time Mr. Hansard and his collaborator Marketa Irglova played the song in some venues that were deemed inconsequential enough to not change the song's eligibility."