UMK has changed in a way that frustrates professional musicians – “In the e-mail there was a message with no justification”

Song campdemo recording, final files and application letter. Then months of waiting ends with one negative email.

Nowadays, many professional musicians receive a response from the New Music Competition (UMK) that resembles a job search that ended badly.

One of those who received a negative answer is the rap artist Sana eli Sanna Rönnberg. He applied for the race in 2016, 2022 and 2023, but did not qualify. This year, he couldn’t even try anymore.

“In the e-mail, I received a message with no justification,” says Rönnberg.

Rönnberg, who has been making music independently for twenty years, applied to UMK two years ago with his song Cool. The song about bullying trauma is personally important to Rönnberg, and he would have liked to hear the UMK council’s feedback on it.

“It would be nice to even know if it’s worth trying again with the same song,” he says.

Today in 485 entries were submitted to the competition. It is a record for the competition’s current, week-long application period, says YleX’s music manager, who represents the organizers of UMK Tapio Hakanen.

There were 540 applications for the first UMK in 2012, but the application period was six weeks.

It goes without saying that there is no time to write justifications for all the paragraphs. According to Hakanen, the UMK working group does not even like to distribute them.

“We want to keep a clear division of roles. The musician makes the music that Yle plays or broadcasts. Yle doesn’t order it, so to speak,” explains Hakanen.

All songs sent to the competition will be listened to. After that, some of the artists, usually around 10–15, get to be interviewed.

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“It would be nice to even know if it’s worth trying again with the same song.”

For many it may come as a surprise that some artists are encouraged to apply for the competition.

In recent years, cooperation with record companies and music makers has increased, as the competition has become more popular than before, says Hakanen.

Hakanen says that for five years he visited record companies, publishing houses and “almost anywhere” to tell music makers about UMK and what the competition requires.

“I emphasize in them [tapaamisissa] an awful lot, that of course I can’t promise anything,” says Hakanen.

Singer and music maker Vilma Jää is one of them that the UMK organization has encouraged to apply for the competition.

Jää says that Tapio Hakanen has been in contact with him since 2022. We were interested in Jää’s folk music background. In recent years, the Eurovision stage had seen successful folk and ethno-spirited bands, such as Ukrainian Go_A and Norwegian KEiiNO.

However, the ice was closed in the spring of 2023 and 2024 Kaija Saariaho composing in the international Innocence-opera, which prevented him from entering the competition.

This year, Jää sent a pop song influenced by folk music to the competition. According to him, it received top marks from UMK’s board and even ranked among the 15 best songs.

However, Ice will not be seen in the upcoming UMK. The artist told about his disappointment at the beginning of September on Instagram.

“Even though I was kind of invited there, it obviously doesn’t guarantee that I’ll be able to participate in the competition,” Jää tells HS over the phone.

Hakanen had called Jää and told him the bad news. Jää does not feel that he received a sufficient explanation from Hakasen as to why his song did not qualify for the competition this year.

“It was said that the song is Eurovision country. I got the feeling that what the hell, why don’t you send me there.”

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“Although I was somehow invited there, it obviously does not guarantee that you will be able to participate in the competition.”

Jää says that he understands that the whole of the competitors is important for the competition: it’s boring if there are a lot of similar artists.

Although Jää is disappointed, he is also relieved by the jury’s decision. Jää has been a vocal defender of Palestinian human rights. Last spring, he boycotted Eurovision because of Israel’s participation.

If the route to Eurovision had opened up, the artist would have found himself in the middle of a conflict of values.

“I don’t know if there are artists participating in the competition who are not at all interested in the genocide perpetrated by Israel, and that is why they have been included in the competition,” Jää reflects.

UMK representative Tapio Hakanen assures HS that the artist’s political activity has no influence on the contestants’ choices.

Artists Litku Klemetti, real name Sanna Klemettihopes for versatility at UMK. He applied for the race in 2022, but was not selected.

“It would be free in all respects if the competition was judged on the basis of musical and artistic content,” Klemetti says to HS.

Klemetti doesn’t remember if he and his band received actual encouragement from the direction of UMK. At least they were excited about the application, Klemetti recalls.

“They were really nice and supportive there,” praises Klemetti.

Since then, Klemetti has not considered participating in the race again. Maybe the song should be “a masterpiece after all”, he thinks.

Last came second at UMK in the spring Sara Siipola applied to the competition, so to speak Wrapper in 2022. Then it was a pity when the doors of the competition did not open immediately, Siipola recalls.

“Especially when I got really far to the interviews the first time,” says Siipola.

Siipola does not see anything wrong with the cooperation between UMK and record companies. His own record company is the big Sony.

The artist Jannika B, who was left out of the final seven last spring, follows the same lines, i.e Jannika Wirtanen. Today, the artist who belongs to Universal Music’s stable thinks that everyone is applying for the competition from the same line.

“This is a competition. Songs are sent there, and the seven that are deemed suitable for the group at that moment are selected,” says Wirtanen.

Wirtase had been proposed to participate in UMK several times over the past ten years. In the end, the “feeling of a sports festival” that Käärijä brought to the competition encouraged him to apply himself. Wirtanen applied for the competition with his song Tetris.

Wirtanen says that he understands the disappointment of artists who are left behind at UMK. However, disappointments are part of the profession, he says.

A music competition the pace is fast. The accepted artists usually find out about their acceptance in the middle of September. After that, you have about a month to produce the final version of the song, says UMK’s rules.

In this case, those whose songs are almost ready when they start the competition have an advantage. In other words, artists from major record companies are at an advantage.

The lyricist who actively followed UMK and the former executive director of Suomen Musiikintekijät ry is concerned about the fairness of the competition. Martti Heikkilä.

“I don’t remember a finalist from recent years who would have entered the competition without a record company or connections to them,” he says.

Heikki has a theory.

He suspects that artists are currently classified into three categories in the competition: invited, encouraged and so-called others. Big names from record companies would be invited, such as By Robin Packalen. Up-and-coming artists like Vilma Jää would be encouraged. Those remaining would be those who apply to the contest, for example, as self-publishers or from record companies outside the capital region.

“At most one of them can join, if even he,” Heikkilä estimates.

UMK’s Hakanen says that Heikkilä’s theory about competition categories is not correct. No artist is directly invited to the UMK final.

According to Hakanen, self-published artists have also been seen on the UMK stage in recent years, such as the one who competed in 2022 Olivera and in 2023, an artist who applied for the final as self-publisher Lxandra.

The selection of UMK’s contestants should still be transparent, Heikkilä, who presented his theory, hopes. Some of the artists and songs could be selected, for example, by a jury independent of Yle, he suggests.

Today In 2018, the competition will feature an audience jury for the first time, UMK’s Hakanen reveals.

This year, the selected songs have been scored in such a way that half of the points come from the expert jury and half from the audience jury.

According to Hakanen, the panel of experts is made up of Yle’s music managers and music editors, a UMK director and choreographer outside of Yle, and rotating representatives of record companies, radio channels and streaming services.

Hakanen does not reveal how many members sit in the five audience councils. He assures that there are people of different ages and backgrounds involved.

UMK songs have not been announced yet. The final of the competition will be held in February 2025, and the next Eurovision will be held in Switzerland in May 2025.