Teemu Keisteri, known by his stage name Windows95man, is unfazed by the potential need to change his artist name or the outfit he uses for performances.
Recently, the new music competition winner, Windows95man, who might be seen performing in the Eurovision contest, hinted at the possibility of appearing under a different stage name.
Windows95man, or Teemu Keisteri, along with singer Henri Piispanen, recently celebrated their UMK victory, won with their song, No Rules!
Having a career as a DJ, Keisteri has been using the name Windows95man for a decade. However, this name could potentially violate regulations set by the European Broadcasting Company (EBU).
EBU, being the organizer of the renowned Eurovision Song Contest, has rules on how brands can be represented. Keisteri’s stage name refers to a well-known operating system launched by Microsoft in 1995.
Moreover, Keisteri’s performance outfit includes a t-shirt that bears the logo of the same operating system. Despite the product being almost 30 years old, the implementation may still infringe upon EBU rules.
When reached for comment on Monday morning, Keisteri expressed his willingness to change his stage name for the Eurovision performance. However, he admitted that he hasn’t spent much time pondering about it yet.
“The win came as such a big surprise that our first priority is to recover from it, and only then will we consider a new name,” Keisteri revealed.
Despite the potential changes, Keisteri is not feeling any pressure. Instead, he is focused on planning an electrifying and memorable show with Piispanen and Yle.
At the moment, artists and Yle are awaiting a response from the EBU to determine if a name change is indeed necessary. The name Windows95man has already gained some popularity among Eurovision fans, thanks to several posts on the official Eurovision Instagram account celebrating Windows95man’s UMK win.
The video clip of the No Rules! show, published by Eurovision, has already hit 1.5 million views on Instagram.
Keisteri, on his part, finds the situation a bit amusing.
“I checked Instagram and assumed a Eurovision fan account had shared the video. But it was actually the official Eurovision account. The post mentions Windows95man, so I’m wondering if they’ve already relaxed their rules and I should retain the name, but we’ll see.”
Keisteri first adopted the stage name and performance outfit for his DJ performance at the 2013 Flow festival and has been using them ever since.
The Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to take place in Malmö, Sweden, from May 7th to 11th.
