United Kingdom: BMG to the rescue in 2020

This past decade has truly been one that needs to be forgotten, the United Kingdom started the decade by finishing last, and ends it by finishing last, so that’s why the UK will take a different approach in 2020.

Today, the BBC has announced that they will collaborate along with the music company BMG, in order to select the best fitted song and artist for the upcoming contest, which we now know will take place in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

To no surprise, this change comes after a rather poor decade, where not only did the UK finish last twice, but near the bottom most of the time and only reached a 11th place as the highest finish back in 2011.

In the recent years, since 2016, the BBC went with a national final to select their entries, after they went with internal selections from 2011 to 2015. None of the aspects seemed to work out.

The BMG Involvement

According to the blog post on the BBC website, both BMG and BBC shared the same vision of selecting the right song, which embodies the spirit and value of the song contest, and hopefully with the aim of turning the bad luck the UK has suffered for a long time now.

Alistair Norbury, who is the president, repertoire and marketing manager for BMG said as follow:

• “Eurovision is the biggest television showcase for music in the world and it’s an honour to be selected to help choose the UK’s entry at Rotterdam 2020. Eurovision plays to our strength as the only fully-integrated publishing company and record label. We can’t wait to get started working with the BBC to give it the best possible shot we can.”

BMG were the publishers of the 2015 winning song “Heroes”, which was performed by Måns Zelmerlöw and they also signed Netta after her win in 2018. Other artists signed by BMG and that should be recognized by Eurovision fans include names such as Alcazar (Multiple attempts in Melodifestivalen), Lee Ryan from Blue (UK 2011) and Mikolas Josef (Czechia 2018).

Kate Phillips who is controller of entertainment for the BBC said as follow:

• “Our commitment to finding the right song has never been higher, and this collaboration with BMG, who have access to world class songwriters, is a genuinely exciting prospect. I am certain that together we can find the best song and artist possible for 2020.”

While Mel Balac who is the creative director for BBC Studios added the following:

• “The Eurovision Song Contest is a huge global event and it’s exciting that our collaboration with BMG marks an important turning point for the UK at Eurovision. We very much hope this marks the start of an exciting new chapter.”

Could this be the turning point that the United Kingdom needs, or do #YOU think that the BBC should have a different approach? Remember to share your thoughts on the forum HERE or on social media!

Source(s): BBC.co.uk