After two years of internal artist selection, the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle decided to continue Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) as an open contest where anyone is welcome to send in new songs. The new UMK season will be produced in collaboration with the radio station YleX, which is known for its youthful music selections and pop culture contents.
The decision to return to an open contest is a choice made by Yle and UMK producer Anssi Autio, but also favoured by public vote in Yle’s recent poll. According to Yle, the lack of Eurovision success in 2018 (Saara Aalto) and 2019 (Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman) was not the reason behind the decision.
The contest with only one artist with songs competing against themselves made the selection very lame. Now there will be collabotion between UMK and YleX, which profits of the collaboration of YleX with acts that produce new music for the international market. “That international step is what Eurovision and UMK has been about in the first place. YleX has a role of loving new music and supporting new Finnish musical talents.”
There is a new name working closely for the next UMK season: Tapio Hakanen. He is the Head of music at YleX and will lead the team that will choose the songs to compete at UMK in 2020. The team is keen on two principles: a high-quality UMK show and as a basis for everything, selecting a very good song.
Applying for the next year’s UMK starts on 1. November and ends on 8. November. More news from Yle about the contest’s practices will follow shortly.
