Finland publishes rules for UMK 2013

by Juha Repo 2,525 views

The Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE has published the rules for the selection of their entry for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden. This is also the official confirmation for the Finnish participation in 2013.

Once again Uuden musiikin kilpailu UMK (Contest for new music) will select the Finnish entry to the Eurovision Song Contest. Demos will be accepted between 3rd and 16th September 2013. Then a jury, appointed by YLE, will select the artists and the songs to go further amongst the demos. The UMK final will be held in February and the winner will represent Finland at Eurovision.

Only one song per artist will be accepted, while songwriters can submit several songs. The demos have to be of a high quality and the artist performing on the demo must be the same taking part in UMK. Songs submitted for UMK may not be entered for the Eurovision Song Contest selections in any other country.

The songs entered can’t be used commercially (as in an advert) during the whole of the UMK process. At least one of the main artists and one of the song writing team must have a Finnish residency, and they can’t be employed by YLE during the process. The language of the songs is free, and they can be longer than 3 minutes long. The contestants will have to produce a 3 minute version when they win the contest to comply with EBU rules. Performers must also be 16 years old by May 2013.

During UMK the contestants can perform live or with backing tapes. YLE will produce radio versions of 12 finalist songs. YLE will also have sole rights to play the songs on their channels until the finalists have been announced.

The winner of UMK will have to comply with EBU rules, which seems to imply that during the UMK process the rules are not as strict. The materials will have to be sent to YLE in a digital format in September. The rules will be published in Swedish and English on the UMK website.

Finland failed to make it to the Eurovision Song Contest final in Baku with the 2012 UMK winner, När jag blundar by Pernilla Karlsson. As a result the number of viewers for the final fell to just 558 000 in Finland, while the numbers usually are more than double that when Finland is competing in the Eurovision final.