"Standing Still" performed by Roman Lob was selected as the German entry for Baku after gaining 50.7% of the votes in the second round.

As a member of the "Big Five", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Between 1996 and 2008 as well as in 2010, NDR had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Germany.

On 21 June 2011, NDR announced that they would continue their collaboration with private broadcaster ProSieben to organise a national final in the format of a talent show contest to select the German entry.

[3] The competition consisted of five heats, a quarter-final, a semi-final and a final that took place between 12 January 2012 and 16 February 2012 at the Köln-Mülheim Studios in Cologne, hosted by Sandra Rieß and Steven Gätjen.

The remaining two contestants proceeded to the final where they each performed their three songs bidding for Eurovision and the German entry was selected.

The results of all eight shows were determined by public televoting, including options for landline and SMS voting.

The experts were:[8][9] Interested performers aged over 18 were able to apply for the competition by submitting an online application and presenting themselves at casting shows held in the following cities and locations:[10][11] By the end of the process, 20 contestants were selected by Thomas D. together with an expert panel consisting of representatives of ARD, ProSieben and Brainpool.

[30] According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final.

[39][40] The four musicians that joined Roman Lob on stage were Alexander Linster, Marc Awounou, Thomas Fietz and Tobias Schmitz.

This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.

In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.