The wheels keep turning in Finland, where plans for the the revived version of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu are in full swing. Of note is that the Finnish broadcaster is teaming up with one of the country’s leading radio companies, YleX, in order to seek fresh tunes to grace their national final once again.

The music manager of YleX, Tapio Hakanen, recently spoke up in an interview with Teosto about how the recruiting process was going to progress. There will be a heavy emphasis on the chance of attracting new, young and excited talent. The contest and the prospect of going to Eurovision will be seen as an indicator of potential international success.

Hakanen said: “We believe that through open competition, we can showcase Finnish music expertise in a diverse way, with different genres of music and artists from all backgrounds. And of course, versatility also forms the UMK content that you see and hear more interesting.”

“We also believe that open competition will fulfill well the purpose of UMK and the Eurovision Song Contest to bring Finns together through music and experience. And of course, the goal of the open competition is to find a great song that goes to the finals!”

Hakanen emphasized that they are looking for the complete package and are hoping to send a great singer with an equally brilliant song, with the proposal to be sent by the competitors themselves. No unknown voice demos or late-stage song pairing!

Also important is the number of songs selected to compete. The exact number of slots available has not been determined, but depending on the quality of the applications, Hakanen suspects there will be between four and ten songs in the final of UMK.

Look no further for the submission period: Songs can be submitted from the first week of November, and the broadcaster hopes to contact the prospects that they deem acceptable by the middle of the month, as well as wanting to notify the eliminated entries as soon as possible. Expedite!

All in all, the shift of tone is notable: They want to establish UMK as an opportunity for an act to achieve success, be it in Finland or even internationally, as it is the biggest music program, working together with Finland’s largest music producer. It is a combination that can shoot people to stardom, citing examples such as Nightwish and Saara Aalto. They also claim that despite Darude’s final placing in Tel Aviv, the boost he received for his work has been notable and the experience incredible.

What do you think? Do you think Finland’s new and fresh approach will lead to a great result in Eurovision? Let us know in the comments below!

10 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Gwendal
Gwendal
4 years ago

Hakanen, not Hakaselta or Hakasen! Better known for lovers of electronic music as DJ Orkidea, one of most consistent Finnish DJs for more than two decades. Not as known as Darude, but not a reason to misspell his name cause of Finnish funny grammatical rules 🙂

Trash KAN
Trash KAN
4 years ago

They better do it right this time. I don’t want to see UMK screwing things again.

Karlan
Karlan
4 years ago

In UMK 2015
there were so many amazing songs…
return like that!

FYROM
FYROM
4 years ago

15th place in the semi final incoming

Tari
Tari
4 years ago

He is Tapio Hakanen. Facts straight! Correct names!

Mr. Vanilla Bean
Mr. Vanilla Bean
4 years ago

Mikael. Saari. Please.

Polegend Godgarina
4 years ago

better be 10 acts. ain’t nobody got time to put themselves thru a 2+ hour final with only 4 performances

Azaad
Azaad
4 years ago

Sounds promising

Geo
Geo
4 years ago

Just send Mikael Saari, he’ll do so well!

escfin
escfin
4 years ago

A slight correction: his last name is most likely Hakanen. “Hakasen” is the genetive form.