Anssi Autio has ruled out UMK touring Finland in a multi-show format similar to the way Melodifestivalen works in Sweden. 

UMK’s Executive Producer is gearing up for the show’s 2024 edition this weekend which is hosted in Tampere, Finland’s third most-populated city. 

Click to read this story at a glance…

• Anssi Autio dismisses the possibility of UMK touring Finland due to financial and legal constraints
• UMK’s 2024 edition is set to take place in Tampere, with seven artists competing for the chance to represent Finland at Eurovision in Malmö, Sweden
• Autio expresses satisfaction with UMK’s current format but acknowledges the appeal of hosting semi-finals in other cities
• Jesse Markin will boycott Eurovision if he wins UMK due to Israel’s participation, with Autio accepting his decision and having a contingency plan in place

Although he thinks the idea of other cities hosting semi-finals would be “really nice to do”, Autio has blamed Finnish law for getting in the way of a change to the format.

Speaking exclusively to The Euro Trip, Autio said: “There’s not enough money. 

“Going on a tour like what happens in Sweden, that costs so much money. It costs ten times as much money, at least.

“Finland and Sweden have different laws. SVT can get sponsorship from different companies and that’s how they fund their tour. In Finland that is strictly forbidden. We would have to make it with Yle money. 

“You can imagine, for example, how much the hotels would cost, or the venues. If the law doesn’t change, that will never happen in Finland.” 

UMK is currently a one show competition and has been that way since 2017. 

Seven artists are competing for the win which would see them represent Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden in May. 

“I’m happy about the concept now,” Autio added.

“We have the artist announcement, we have the song announcements which lasts seven days, we have lots of social media material, and then we have the final; a quality final. 

“It would be really nice to do a tour in Finland, to go to smaller cities and produce shows in each one of them, but it’s different.” 

Jesse Markin, one of the seven participants in UMK this year, has said he will not accept the ticket to Eurovision should he win the show on Saturday. 

He took the decision to boycott Eurovision last month because of Israel’s inclusion in the contest amid its involvement in the conflict with Hamas-led militant groups in Palestine. 

“It was a hard decision in the sense that I could be selfish and just talk about my music – that would be the easy route,” Markin told The Euro Trip. 

“But sometimes easy is not always right. That’s why I came up with this statement. I just wanted to speak from the heart and the mind.” 

Autio accepts Markin’s decision to boycott Eurovision, saying: “Finland is a democratic country. We don’t force them to go to Eurovision if they don’t want to go.” 

Autio, told Yle News in January that there is a contingency plan in place if Markin wins the show and follows through with his stance. 

Asked by The Euro Trip what the plan is, he said: “Maybe you can guess what it is.” 

It is understood that the right to represent Finland would be offered to the runner-up in UMK.

UMK will be hosted by Pilvi Hämäläinen, Benjamin and Viivi Pumpanen, and will feature a guest performance by last year’s winner, Käärijä and 2020 runner-up, Erika Vikman.