“Just get 30 songs, do five heats of six acts, have a grand final with ten acts and some lucky runners-up, and the BBC will be able to find the best song in the world and rediscover success at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö.”
Following the news that TaP Music will no longer be working with the BBC to find an act to represent the United Kingdom, I’ve read something along those lines many times this week. It’s intoxicating, it’s exciting… and it’s never going to happen.
The Risk And The Reward
You need to ensure that everyone entering a United Kingdom National Final finds success. That could be career progression, record sales, or a raised media profile that definitely leads to more work. How many acts from previous editions of ‘Eurovision: You Decide” that didn’t win found positivity after their appearances? Go back further, how about those from ‘Making Your Mind Up‘, or ‘The Great British Song Contest‘?
To take one topical example, Rina Sawayama is widely regarded as an artist who would consider representing the UK at Eurovision. Would Sawayama be as keen if she had to compete against 29 other artists publicly? What would losing mean to her career, her media status, and her artistic future? In Sweden, she would see a huge upswing being part of the Melodifestivalen caravan. In the UK anything but victory in a National Selection would be regarded as a career-ending move. Sawayama would never enter a UK selection in the current environment; the risk is ridiculously high with little upside.
Until you solve that problem, moving forward with a ‘Melodifestivalen: United Kingdom’ styled show is a quixotic musical windmill.
Liverpool Started A Journey
Yet the process to solve that problem has already started. Sam Ryder detoxified the brand with his infectious energy; Mae Muller charted before Eurovision arrived in Liverpool, and following the Song Contest every record label will have noticed that week’s Top Ten in the UK charts featured four songs from the Contest. The UK media’s attitude towards the Contest started to turn away from thinly veiled xenophobia to finding positive and uplifting stories during Liverpool 2023; although there’s still a long way to goo with the media.
Meanwhile, the various arms of the BBC started to pull in the same direction. Eurovision could be found in diverse corners ranging from the Eurovision Calling podcast and The One Show, through news and current affairs, to multiple live broadcasts across the networks live from the host city.
You can’t have the Song Contest locked away as something only Radio 2 cares about, Eurovision found UK chart successes that should engage Radio 1, the Contest has a wide and eclectic range of music from all corners of the continent that would fit delightfully on a late-night 6Music show, and with BBC Introducing you have a pipeline to new talent.
One good month when everyone knew they had to be on their best behaviour because the UK was hosting on behalf of Ukraine is no foundation for Melfest:UK. You need more than a month. You need more than a year. You need years and years to establish a new musical brand, gain the confidence of the music industry, and create a guarantee of success for those who enter.
The holistic approach to Liverpool will hopefully become the norm for Eurovision at the BBC. From that, great things could grow.
Never Say Never
Perhaps my ‘never going to happen’ earlier is a touch too strong. It can happen but it needs multiple stakeholders at multiple levels in multiple businesses to come together and agree that MF:UK is the best way forward in the future.
It’s not impossible to get to there. Finnish broadcaster YLE has successfully revamped its National Selection from ‘Please pick Saara’s favourite song’ to the genre-smashing hit machine that is the modern UMK. This is a multi-year project that took time to find domestic success and critical acclaim inside Finland. It didn’t happen overnight, and even now it remains a single-night affair with far fewer acts than its neighbours in Sweden and Norway. Yet YLE buys into it completely, each song is released in isolation and promoted like crazy across as many channels as possible. The artists, managers, and music labels all know both how valuable this is and also know that just appearing in the show boosts sales.
The BBC can take the UMK approach, but it’s going to take many years of focus to be where YLE is today. What does that mean for 2024? I feel the internal selection route remains the way forward. It removes the peril of a National Final which allows for a higher calibre of artists to be approached. They can then work in a safe and creative environment with a guaranteed Saturday night Grand Final appearance as the reward.
For the upcoming season, I’m also hoping for another artist to be signed by the BBC and be given all the support that was given to Sam and Mae. I want to hear Eurovision across the network during the weeks leading to Malmö 2023. And I’ll watch out for the positive stories in the media written around Liverpool 2023 to continue.
We’re not getting MF:UK next year, but we’re going to take the next step towards a world where such a show is possible.