Universal Music - Saviour in the hour of need?

The fact that Greece is likely to go bust is no longer a sensational news. Would Greece participate in the Eurovision Song Contest as usual, I am convinced, that there would be an outcry of indignation in western european contries like Germany because of wasted millions of Euros in light of their precarious situation. And so the Greeks already seem to adapt themselves to the extreme role. They admit openly their financial difficulties and accept an offer of help.

As the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf tells us with "Grieken hebben geen geld voor ESC", assistance of an US Major Label was avaible immediately. Now we can only hope, that this will not be the end of all the famous Greek music stars with their traditionel sounds of Greek music. It would be highly regrettable if this last refuge of European music would degenerate to R & B music in english language presented from unknown castingstars.

Oh, if only the lottery numbers were so predictable as these procedures
Universal more and more provides the entries in many countries. Along with this Universal gets the opportunity to be a part of the jury as it was already carried out in Germany. In this way this global company is allowed to vote for their own products. To put it ironically – this is not only very exciting, but also demonstrates a completely new understanding of competition, fairness and success!

In the past we used to call it cultural imperialism
Today we call it in the finest newspeak (Orwell) "national task", for every European country. It was Germany with the Lena-campaign that emphasized the cooperation between the NDR with the private TV and Universal Music as a great achievement in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest. In my opinion it is almost embarrassing when Thomas Schreiber of NDR praises the German success as a kind of European cultural achievement pointing out the support of Universal Music. If one takes a closer look, this procedure only paves the way for the American music industry into the European music market.

As a result the smaller labels of the participating countries will be displaced. And not only the labels, but also the musicians and the specific music of all the different countries, too. Because the approach of Universal Music with Castingshows will work only with cheap and inexperienced newcomers. These will be created in what felt like 376 TV-episodes with narrow-minded starlets tailored to suit only the glamour of competition - exclusively for Universal Music.


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