Minos EMI & Panik Records say no to Greek internal selection

The Greek broadcaster, ERT, have only just announced that they will be using an internal selection to pick their next Eurovision entry. However, several well-known Greek record labels have already revealed that they will not present artists to the internal selection. These include Minos EMI and Panik Records!

Both Minos EMI and Panik Records have several signed artists who have previously participated in Eurovision. Many of them have done very well in the contest, including Minos EMI’s Elena Paparizou who won in 2005.

Panik Records’ signed Eurovision artists:

• Kalomira (2008)
• Loukas Giorkas (2011)
• Stereo Mike (2011)
• Koza Mostra (2013)
• Demy (2017)

Minos EMI’s signed Eurovision artists:

• Elena Paparizou (2005)
• Sakis Rouvas (2004 & 2009)
• Maria Elena Kyriakou (2015)
• Yianna Terzi (2018)

As you can see, these two record labels have a lot of Greece’s best-placing Eurovision acts signed! The few acts that are not signed to these two labels tend to not do particularly well in the contest. So, it’s quite a blow to Greece that these two record labels refuse to take part in the internal selection…

But why won’t they take part?

Minos EMI

Minos EMI will not be taking part in the Greek internal selection due to a conflict of interests. The Cypriot representative, Tamta, is signed to Minos EMI. It wouldn’t make sense for a record label to promote more than one entry as the best entry of the contest that should get the public’s votes!

Panik Records

Panik Records’ reasons for not taking part in the Greek internal selection is more personal, and again due to Tamta’s participation on behalf of Cyprus. The owner of Panik Records, Paris Kasidokostas, was previously in a relationship with Tamta. For obvious reasons, he doesn’t want go to competition with his ex on a global stage!

We hope that, without these two influential record labels, ERT is still able to find a great entry for Greece that will get them back into the final.

What are your thoughts on this? Who would you like to see represent Greece in Tel Aviv? Will Greece still be able to find a winner for 2019?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and on social media @ESCXTRA!