Music’s visibility in the media fluctuates
In the last few weeks, a lot has happened in the Finnish music media scene.
At the beginning of May, the rock magazine Soundi and the metal music magazine Inferno sacked their editors. Soundi’s online producer has also been made redundant. Pop Media, which publishes the magazines, has justified the dismissals on production and financial grounds.
The redundancies of music professionals are likely to hit small and medium-sized bands and artists particularly hard. So far, Soundi and Inferno have given them the kind of exposure that the larger media do not have.
Pop Media has announced that it will continue to produce at least the printed Soundi after editor-in-chief Mikko Meriläinen leaves his monthly paid job in November. However, it is unclear how the reform will be implemented and how it will affect the quality of the magazine.
In early May, Yleisradio also lost one of its more alternative music journalists when Miikka Koivisto resigned in protest at Yle’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Koivisto, who plays in the band Ruusut, among others, has hosted a programme bearing his own name on YleX since 2018.
“I am resigning in protest at Yle’s participation in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest alongside Israel, which is committing genocide in Palestine. The Eurovision Song Contest serves as an image platform for the State of Israel, which is currently committing atrocities,” Koivisto said in his final programme on 6 May.
On the audiovisual side, music-related programmes are doing better, although the programmes often focus on the sentimental stories of the artists rather than the songs. There are exceptions: for example, the recently suspended Levyraad focused mainly on music appreciation.
Last week, Lempilevyni series, edited by Levykauppa Äx, started to appear, in which well-known Finnish artists talk about their favourite albums and their influence on their musical thinking. The series consists of 24 parts, with each artist listing five of their favourite albums. Samuli Putro, Pehmoaino, Matti Mikkola, Mariska, Asa, Arppa, Tommi Liimatta, Linda Fredriksson, Jouni Hynynen, Sami Kuoppamäki, M and Ismo Alanko are just some of the artists who have been given a voice.
If you’re looking for more entertaining music content, you can open your TV in the autumn, when the mammoth music reality show Vain elämää will continue.
The participants for the 15th season of the show were announced last week and include Costello Hautamäki of Popeda, Marko Hietala, recently departed Nightwish, Hanna Pakarinen of Idols fame, disco star Eini, Neon 2’s dark-haired member Jussi Rainio, singer-songwriter Ilta, Finnish Eurodance pioneer Waldo and actor-singer-host Roope Salminen.
