Norwegian Music Exports

Transcription

2MUS77H.2 – Music Business Management Project
Final Project by Øivind Gehrken
Student Number: 141110931
Module Leader: Sally Gross
Tutor: Sarah Davis
July 2013
Norwegian Music Exports:
Stimulating Economic Growth in the Music Industry
2MUS77H.2
Executive Summary:
This thesis will examine how the Norwegian music industry can stimulate
economic growth from Norwegian music exports. Norway is currently generating
less revenue from music exporting than any of the other Nordic countries, while the
nation’s neighbour, Sweden – is currently the third largest music exporter in the
world. In fact, Swedish artists were represented in four of the ten global best-selling
digital singles in 2012. The Swedish music industry is known to have fostered
several successful artists - including ABBA, which is recognised as the country’s
best-selling group in international markets.
The thesis aims to examine relevant factors that can contribute and work together in
order to increase the Norwegian industry’s revenues generated by Norwegian
artists in international music markets. To achieve this, the author will first describe
the current condition of the Norwegian music industry and discuss its challenges in
relation to foreign operations and the international music markets. Case studies
contrasting the internationalisation process of artists such as ABBA and the
successful Norwegian band a-ha will assist the thesis in identifying factors that
distinguish the Swedish industry from the Norwegian.
The thesis consists of two main parts. The first part focuses on describing the
concept of music export, identifying the international market potential and
discussing culture as a profitable business. This part will also address the
Norwegian government; its intentions and efforts made with music exports. Here,
the author will assess the economic significance of international business activities
for the Norwegian industry and its stakeholders.
The second part of the thesis contains an analysis influenced by a renowned
Swedish policy framework called The ERIBA Model, which aims to stimulate
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economic growth in the creative industries. Relevant principles of this framework
will be discussed in context with the Norwegian music industry and its exporting
efforts. The emergence of the Internet and its impact on the distribution and
marketing of music will also be examined in this respect. Additionally, the efforts
made by the industry in order to obtain experience and knowledge from the
international music industry will form the base for further discussion.
The second part concludes with an assessment of the thesis’ research question and
suggests that the industry might need to gain more impulses and creativity from the
cultural life, develop expertise together with educational institutions, and acquire
more knowledge on how to utilise public resources and business networks
effectively through statistics and measurements acquired from systematic research.
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Table of Contents: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: ............................................................................................................................. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS: ............................................................................................................................... 4 TABLE OF FIGURES: .........................................................................................................................................................5 1. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 BACKGROUND & RESEARCH QUESTION – “NORWAY, NO WAY?”...................................................................6 1.2 INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT & CHALLENGES .........................................................................................................7 1.2.1 The Digital Revolution .................................................................................................................................. 8 1.2.2 The Lack of Overview...................................................................................................................................10 1.2.3 The Unclear Purpose ....................................................................................................................................11 1.2 OBSERVATION ........................................................................................................................................................12 1.3 LIMITATION ............................................................................................................................................................12 2. METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................................................13 2.1 DATA COLLECTION ................................................................................................................................................14 PART I: EXPORTING MUSIC TO A GLOBAL MUSIC MARKET ...........................................................15 3. THE CULTURAL PRODUCT: POPULAR MUSIC..............................................................................15 3.1 THE GLOBAL MUSIC MARKET – “THE COMPETITIVE ARENA” .....................................................................16 3.2 CULTURE & BUSINESS ..........................................................................................................................................19 3.2.1 Taking Part in the Profitable Business.................................................................................................20 3.3 MUSIC NORWAY .....................................................................................................................................................23 3.4 THE SWEDISH APPROACH ‐ “ERIBA – A MODEL FOR GROWTH”................................................................25 PART II: THE GROWTHPROMOTING MEASURES .............................................................................30 4. THE ARTS/CULTURE– “CULTURE AS AN INPUT”........................................................................30 5. EDUCATION & TRAINING ...................................................................................................................32 5.1 ENTREPRENEURSHIP.............................................................................................................................................36 5.2 THE NORWEGIAN CHALLENGE............................................................................................................................39 5.3 DIGITAL MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION ........................................................................................................42 6. RESEARCH ...............................................................................................................................................45 6.1 THE BUSINESS NETWORK – “INTERNATIONAL MEETING PLACES”.............................................................49 7. CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................................................................54 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..........................................................................................................................................56 BOOKS:............................................................................................................................................................................56 ARTICLES:.......................................................................................................................................................................57 INTERVIEWS: .................................................................................................................................................................57 ONLINE REPORTS & STUDIES:....................................................................................................................................57 ONLINE ARTICLES:........................................................................................................................................................59 APPENDICES: ..............................................................................................................................................64 APPENDIX I: ...................................................................................................................................................................64 APPENDIX II:..................................................................................................................................................................64 APPENDIX III: ................................................................................................................................................................65 APPENDIX IV: ................................................................................................................................................................65 APPENDIX V: ..................................................................................................................................................................68 Øivind Gehrken
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Table of Figures:
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1. Introduction
“One of the key developments in the cultural industries over the last 30 years has
been the further and accelerated intensification of international cultural flows”
(Hesmondhalgh 2007).
1.1 Background & Research Question – “Norway, No Way?”
In this thesis the author intends to examine and explain the concept of music
export and argue its significance in relation to the Norwegian music industry. The
thesis will focus on music exports as a means of creating economic growth in terms
of increased revenues to the Norwegian music industry generated from international
music markets. A study developed by independent research organisation
Agderforskning and music organisation by:Larm on behalf of the Norwegian
government considered exports of Norwegian recorded music as very low
compared to the other Nordic countries (Hauge 2008). The three-year study,
developed between 2006 and 2008, is the most recent study available regarding
revenue generated from Norwegian music exports. The report states that the overall
export of Norwegian recorded music was estimated to 155,4M NOK (equivalent of
roughly £18M) in 2007. The report states further that the Swedish music exports,
the same year, was estimated to have generated 1,48BN NOK (equivalent of
roughly £170M) in revenues. The critics of Norwegian music exports often refer to
Sweden and its tradition of creating successful international artists. Berge (2012)
argues that it is important to remember that such success has to do with cultural
and historical factors just as much as the economic efforts put into today’s scene.
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The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the stakeholders1 in the Norwegian
music industry can increase its revenues from having Norwegian artists and
industry professionals operating in international markets. The thesis’ research
question is therefore:
“In what way can the Norwegian music industry stimulate economic growth
from Norwegian music exports?”
1.2 Industry Development & Challenges
The term “music industry” is arguably quite extensive. Patrick Wikström (2009)
considers the music industry to be constituted of three parts: recording, publishing
and live performance. These three parts are considered to represent the music
industry’s main sources of revenue generated from artists’ intellectual property.
Most revenue streams within these three main sectors, such as downloads and
performance- and synchronisation rights – are growing. In some markets, such as
India, Norway, Sweden and the US, digital has outstripped physical revenues. This
development has helped nearly half of the top 20 music markets achieve growth in
2012 (IFPI 2012). In other words, the digital music market is increasing revenues to
rights holders on a global scale.
1
Organisations and companies
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1.2.1 The Digital Revolution
Figure 1: Global Digital Revenues 2012 (IFPI 2013)
As seen in figure 1, the record companies’ digital revenues for 2012 are
estimated at US$ 5.6 billion, up an estimated 9% from 2011 and accounting for
more than a third of total industry revenues (IFPI 2013). As the digital revenues are
currently increasing the music industry’s overall revenues, an interesting approach
might be to examine whether the “digital revolution” has provided a more efficient
distributional channel for Norwegian recorded music to international markets. In
other words, has the digital revolution contributed to an easier entry to international
markets for Norwegian artists, and if so - will the demand for Norwegian recorded
music increase in line with the global digital revenues?
The transformation to the digital format has arguably made it possible for retailers to
improve their offerings to music consumers because the storage capacity is bigger
and the distributional process is quicker and more cost-efficient than before. Thus,
the digital technology might prove to improve the selection of Norwegian recorded
music to an international audience. The music is not just available through licensed
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digital music retailers, but also through new media brought on by the emergence of
the Internet. YouTube and Facebook are two examples of modern promotional
platforms where consumers can access Norwegian recorded music wherever they
are in the world. It may therefore be interesting to understand how consumers today
become aware of recorded music and how they access it - to gain knowledge on
how the Norwegian industry can improve its ability to attract more international
consumers. In this respect, the thesis intends to challenge Hesmondhalgh’s (2007)
argument that: “Major corporations still retain crucial control over the marketing and
promotion that largely determine what music most consumers get to hear and know
about”.
The copyright law protects the intellectual property from being exploited by
unauthorised organisations or individuals and the agreement between the rights
holder and the consumer governs how the latter is allowed to exploit the cultural
product (Wikström 2009). The market for recorded music has gradually declined
since the introduction of unlicensed peer-2-peer networks around the turn of the
century, and physical sales declined from 58% of total sales in 2011 to 34% in 2012
(IFPI 2013b). 2012, however, marked a positive shift and a 7% increase in total
recorded music sales, which also represented the first year of overall growth since
2004 (IFPI 2013). IFPI (2013b) suggests that this increase is due to the growing
popularity of digital music services and particularly streaming services. The
Norwegian market for recorded music sales generated 545.3 million NOK
(equivalent of £63M, 16.05.13) in 2012 (Bäcklund 2013). Streaming services, such
as Spotify and WiMP accounted for 51%- and digital download services, such as
iTunes - 13% of total sales.
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Although the Norwegian music industry is currently witnessing domestic market
growth, relevant statistics and data collected from music exports during recent
years can be considered as poor.
1.2.2 The Lack of Overview
The most recent government- and industry initiative to gather data from
Norwegian music exports was completed in 2008 and there is no available data
regarding the exporting activities during the last 4-5 years. The Norwegian Minister
of Culture, Anniken Huitfeldt, decided in August 2012 to grant approximately
£40.000 for the development of an independent study of Norwegian music exports,
stating that: “When it comes to what, where and how Norwegian artists make an
income internationally, the current available statistics are insufficient” (Fjellberg &
Ottosen 2012). Huitfeldt argued that the study would make it easier to see where
and how both the Norwegian Ministry of Culture and music industry should use and
allocate their resources in the future. Huitfeldt further elaborated that: “We are
aware of the music industry’s growth potential both domestically and internationally,
but we know too little on how much money we actually generate from international
markets” (Fjellberg & Ottosen 2012).
One might argue that the term “export” is a relatively easy concept to define. In
economic terminology the activity of export is defined as: “To send goods or
services across national frontiers for the purpose of selling and realizing foreign
exchange” (Business Dictionary 2013). But when the term export is used within
cultural industries that consist of a mix between art, politics and technology, the
term might sound simpler than it actually is. Accordingly, when suggesting that
digital music represents intangible goods and services rather than physical, this
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definition might offer a more complex explanation. Especially if we consider that
many music retailers today are digital and operates across international borders.
Because of this it might be hard to determine exactly what “foreign exchange”
means in the digital world. Consequently, when addressing digital music, one
challenge might be to identify whether it is the consumer’s home address, passport
or birthplace that determines the extent to which it concerns sales to foreign
countries. Perhaps the IP address of the computer where Norwegian recorded
music is streamed or downloaded is the decisive factor?
1.2.3 The Unclear Purpose
The thesis will discuss the above-mentioned matters further as paying attention to
these specific details might be important for several reasons. First of all, these
details decide what specific numbers to include in the overall statistics of Norwegian
music exports. Secondly, details can play an important part in relation to what
purpose music-related politics should have when addressing exporting activities.
Thirdly, it might be important to examine these specific details in relation to
Norwegian artists who have had success abroad when measuring the effect of
initiatives brought on by the government. Thus, it can be essential for the music
industry to clearly understand the purpose of Norwegian music exports from the
government’s perspective. For example, there might be a significant difference
between “just” focusing on sustainability for Norwegian recording artists abroad and
the purpose of achieving a profitable music export to benefit stakeholders in the
music industry. If the overall purpose with Norwegian music exports is not clear, it
can be hard to focus on the elements that potentially could create economic growth
generated from the international music market.
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1.2 Observation
The lack of statistics and surveys conducted by the Norwegian government and
music industry might possibly be one reason to why Norway currently generates
less revenue from exporting activities than any of the other Nordic countries (Hauge
2008). The nation’s neighbour Sweden, is the third largest music exporter in the
world and the focus on statistical monitoring and feedback to stakeholders within
the Swedish music industry, currently appears to be superior to the data collected
by the Norwegian music industry (Backer 2012). However, some of the financial
figures vary depending on the source and what aspects of music export the various
reports have covered. The Norwegian government and music industry’s overall
strategy and purpose with Norwegian music exports seems to be unclear as there is
no superior compliance to what framework the music industry should utilise when
promoting and selling Norwegian musical products internationally. The Swedish
exports of music is worth almost ten times as much as the Norwegian, despite
Sweden being a country with similar political system and culture as Norway2. A
framework with a clear strategy and agenda might provide the industry’s
stakeholders with a mutual understanding of what it wants to achieve with music
exports. It might also assist them in understanding the external components that
can help the industry stimulate economic growth.
1.3 Limitation
The dynamics of music exports are quite extensive and there are many different
components that require attention when examining the various international music
2
The population of Sweden is currently around 9,6 million people with an area of 450,000 km²
(Sweden.se, 2013). The population of Norway is approximately 5,1 million people and an area of
385,178 km² (SNL, 2013).
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markets. The thesis will regard musical expressions as “products” in the sense that
intellectual property is being sold to a customer who then consumes it through the
mentioned sections of the music industry described by Wikström (2009). For
example, a non-Norwegian consumer paying for a ticket to see a Norwegian artist
performing his musical expressions in other countries than Norway, or a nonNorwegian consumer streaming Norwegian recorded music through a licensed
digital service registered outside of Norway. The product will, in other words,
represent a means utilised in order to create economic value for the Norwegian
music industry as a whole by a non-Norwegian consumer and through a nonNorwegian registered- and licensed company. Norwegian (national) music is
understood as music written, produced and/or performed by Norwegians with
association to Norwegian companies in the music industry. Lastly, this thesis
concentrates on the exporting of Norwegian popular music. This is not because the
author believes that popular music is the only source of revenue generated through
the Norwegian music exports, but because of the content of existing statistics and
data.
2. Methodology
The thesis will mainly focus on the music industry, its stakeholders and external
factors that can affect the industry’s ability to stimulate economic growth from its
exporting activities. A comparison between the Norwegian- and Swedish music
industry will serve as an underlying theme throughout this thesis. Additionally, the
thesis will examine how the emergence of the Internet and the digital format has
impacted the way music is marketed and consumed and if the digital transformation
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has made it easier for Norwegian recorded music to be consumed in international
markets.
2.1 Data Collection
The author has not found any existing books devoted solely to music exporting.
Some of the reports and statistics regarding Norwegian music exports is as
mentioned, slightly outdated. However, the author believes that the qualitative and
quantitative data gathered is sufficient to support the thesis’ research question and
general discussion.
This thesis will include interviews made with the executives at the governmentfunded industry organisations Music Norway and Music Export Sweden. Secondary
qualitative data is collected from existing research, including interviews and articles
with or by industry- professionals or organisations. The thesis will examine a
renowned Swedish framework for growth in the cultural industries called the ERIBAmodel and adopt relevant parts as an analytical tool in relation to the Norwegian
music industry.
Quantitative statistical data is collected from TONO and STIM3, IFPI4, the
mentioned music exports report, titled: “Musikk ut av Norge” (directly translated:
“Music out of Norway”) from Agderforskning and by:Larm and the corresponding
Swedish report from 2013 titled: “Music Industry in Figures – 2011” developed by
Musiksverige in partnership with the independent research organisation
Tilväxtverket. The author of this thesis has aimed to collect primary and secondary
data from reliable sources for the purpose of presenting an up to date- and relevant
discussion in relation to the research question.
3 The
performing rights society in Norway and Sweden respectively. Federation of the Phonographic Industry 4 International
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PART I: Exporting Music to a Global Music Market
Part one of this thesis examines the activities and processes of exporting
intellectual property to the international music markets. This part will look closer at
the dynamical global music market, the concept of music exports and its
significance to the Norwegian music industry’s stakeholders.
3. The Cultural Product: Popular Music
Popular music forms the basis of a major international industry that, as
Wikström (2009) notes, possesses a nature that is: “As chaotic and unpredictable
as any other complex dynamic system”. Shuker (2005) argues that the term
“popular music” defies precise, straightforward definition and that: “Culturally, all
popular music consists of a hybrid of musical traditions, styles and influences. At
the same time, it is an economic product invested with ideological significance by
many of its consumers.” He further argues that popular music encompasses any
style of music that has a following, and would accordingly include many genres and
styles. Burnett (1996) somewhat agrees to this notion and argues that: “When we
speak of popular music we speak of music that is commercially orientated”. Green
(2002) considers that over 90% of global sales of music recordings consist of
popular music. However, the criteria for what counts as popular in relation to genre
and musical style are debatable. Shuker (2005) suggests that record sales, concert
attendance, number of performers, radio and television air play, are all quantifiable
indicators of popularity. Thus, for this thesis, the author focus on “popular music” as
the main commercially produced and marketed musical genres, primarily in
Western context.
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3.1 The Global Music Market – “The Competitive Arena”
The three areas of the music industry as defined by Wikström’s (2009) have
three main sources of revenue that will be discussed in this thesis:
•
Copyrights (Publishing): Performance- and Synchronisation Rights
•
Recorded Music Sales: Digital and Physical Copies
•
Concerts: Ticket Sales and Merchandise
Figure 2: Global Recorded Music Sales 1997-2010 (Orlowski 2012)
The global recorded music sales started declining at the turn of the century (as
seen in fig. 2). This was mainly due to the emergence of unlicensed peer-2-peer
networks. In 2012, the overall recorded music trade revenues increased by 0,2% to
$16.5 billion, which was the first year of growth since 1999 (Smirke 2013). This
increase is based on revenue generated from physical, digital, performance rights
and synchronisation revenues, and all of these revenue streams increased except
the continuous declining physical format. Thus, revenue generated from performing
rights and music licensing is currently on the rise. According to IFPI (2013c),
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performing rights were the fastest growing sector in the recording industry in 2012 accounting for 6% of recorded music revenues and increasing revenues by 9,4%
globally to $943 million from 2011. Additionally, income from synchronisation deals
– music used in TV adverts, films and brand partnerships – grew by 2,1% to $337
million from 2011. Furthermore, digital channels now account for 35% of overall
industry trade revenues, while physical sales now represent 57% of record
companies income. Reflecting on these statistics, IFPI chief executive Frances
Moore stated that: “The music world has adapted to the digital world. Today, it
provides consumers with the experiences they want and is successfully monetizing
music through a range of business models” (Smirke 2013).
Statistics regarding global revenues generated from recorded music sales and
performance rights have - in recent years, been presented by IFPI.
David Laing (2012) argues that:
“Out of the three primary sectors of the music industry, two offer more or less
official statistics about their annual performance. When we come to the other
sector, live music, there are no comparable comprehensive statistics, no
comparable international trade associations and few comparable national
ones”.
Laing (2012) examined the global live music industry by gathering data from
national organisations and corporations in relation to various income streams. His
rough estimate of the live music industry’s global turnover from popular music
performances in 2010 is presented below (fig. 3).
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Figure 3: Global Live Music Industry (Laing 2012)
The estimated global turnover of the live sector was estimated to $25 billion with
ticket sales and ticketing fees alone - accounting for $15,5 billion.
Interestingly, in its own comparative study published in 2010, IFPI (2010),
perhaps predictably, estimated the live sector to be valued at $21,6 billion5.
Global recording and copyright revenues for 2010 were $17.1 billion (seen in fig.
2). Thus, these estimates might suggest that the live sector in the recent years has
exceeded the record industry in terms of revenue. According to Laing’s (2009)
previous assessment of the global live music turnover6, the live music market has
also shown a substantial growth with an overall increase of $5M since 2006.
Although it currently does not exist official statistics regarding the overall global
value of the three sectors of the music industry, it can be argued that the industry
currently see economic growth in all three sectors. These statistics and estimates
suggest that there is an ongoing decline in physical sales and that export revenues
5
6
See Appendix I
See Appendix II
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increasingly will derive from other growing revenue streams, mainly represented by
digital sales and live music.
3.2 Culture & Business
Norway has arguably never been considered a major exporter of cultural
products. The nation’s main exports during the recent decades have primarily
revolved around primary products such as oil, gas and fish (European Commission
2013). When addressing music exports, Birch (2008) argues that the Norwegian
music industry operates with:
“A niche strategy with the noticeable aim to provide the service for
multinational companies. The focus is not so much on the core production of
cultural products like games, design, film and media, but on the service
industries like tourism and food”.
She further argues that creative industries in Norway are treated in sub areas and
rarely “discussed as a whole”. This “cautious” approach may be reflected in the
income generated from international markets in recent years. The government
funded report “Music out of Norway” explains that the low exports can be put in
relation to cultural and trade policies and the report questions whether Norway has
been brave enough to take the political decisions and steps needed to strengthen
the music industry and its exporting activities (Hauge 2008).
The cultural industries have become a supplement for growth and development,
not only socially, but also economically. Globalisation has opened the industry,
welcoming growing markets of new customers (Hauge 2008). The benefits are
becoming clearer for the stakeholders in the Norwegian cultural industries. This
makes music exports a relevant matter of policy: Cultural policy, as it provides
artists with international impulses and a larger audience than the domestic one.
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Trade policy, as it is believed that success with exports could be of economic
importance, both directly and indirectly. Additionally, successful music exporting
could help Norway build a reputation and look interesting to other countries,
generating tourists and non-cultural business relationships (Berge 2012).
3.2.1 Taking Part in the Profitable Business
The music industry has significantly increased its importance in economic and
employment terms during the recent decades (Rogers 2013). In 2006, the first year
of monitoring the Norwegian earnings internationally, the “Music out of Norway”report estimated music exports to be valued at 150M NOK (equivalent to around
£16,5M or $26M) (Hauge 2008). Laing (2009) has gathered statistics of the music
industry exports and imports by region for the same year.
Figure 4: Music industry exports and imports by region in 2006 (Laing 2009)
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As seen in figure 4, European exports was estimated to $750M. Thus, Norway
accounted for roughly 3,4% of the total music exports in Europe. The figure shows
the estimated amounts of billions of US dollars of imports and exports flowing as
royalties and concert and fesival fees between the five global regions. Again, it
might be relevant to question the number’s included in this estimate and where they
are collected from, however, it might give an indication of Norway’s current
posistion in the European market.
According to the numbers presented in figure 4, the European market imports
nearly twice as much as it exports. This suggests an imbalance in terms of demand
for European music globally and particularly from the North American market. This
might also suggest that it may be difficult for a European country to generate more
money from exporting domestic music than what it “spend” on importing
international recorded music. Laing (2009) argues that: “In Europe, at a national
level, the UK and Sweden generally have a positive export balance”.
The reason for this positive balance might offer several explanations, as this thesis
will examine later. However, one reason might be rooted in a strong domestic
demand for local artists.
According to IFPI (2013), Swedish consumers are focusing more on their
domestic musical products with 80% of total sales being Swedish recordings, to
20% international recordings7. The Norwegian market’s overall sales in 2012
showed that 65% were international recordings and 35% Norwegian recordings
(IFPI, 2013b). In fact, when the digital streaming service Spotify announced their
“Top 10 most streamed tracks of 2012” in Norway, only one song, at number 10 7 See appendix III Øivind Gehrken
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was Norwegian (Gjersøe, 2012). Additionally, this particular song had Norwegian
lyrics. The same list had Swedish artists at first- and third place. Both of which, had
English lyrics. Furthermore, out of the ten Norwegian songs with most radio plays in
2012, seven were performed in Norwegian and three in English (Bull-Engelstad,
2012). This is interesting and relevant to the music exports, especially if we
consider that the English language is the language mostly represented in the top
international markets (EMO, 2007). Hesmondhalgh (2007) argues that most of the
prestigious popular music of the world is sung in English and that British and
American acts achieve more globally widespread success than acts from any other
country. In other words, it may be difficult breaking artists in international markets if
the audience does not identify themselves or understand the artist’s musical
expressions8.
Furthermore, Hesmondhalgh (2007) states that: “With rare exceptions,
continental European popular musicians have often been held in contempt by
British and American audiences” and states further that: “In the history of European
acts on the global scene, only ABBA has even come close to being at the centre of
pop myth”. Now, the music industry has arguably changed in size and scope since
the golden years of ABBA and some might argue that the internationalisation of the
cultural industries over the last 30 years has been driven by the need, on the part of
Western companies of all kinds, to find new markets for labour and for their
products. As we have seen, this has not only been related to industry corporations
but also governments with a cultural agenda. Therefore, it might be useful to identify
government initiatives in relation to creating international awareness for Norwegian
musical products.
8 Foreign songs occasionally reach the top-spots of the U.S. billboard charts, but the frequency is
arguably quite low. Øivind Gehrken
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3.3 Music Norway
“The purpose of the governments work regarding the promotion of Norwegian
culture internationally is; to ensure that Norwegian artists receive opportunities to
establish themselves on the international market, contribute to a vibrant culture
scene and to develop a mutual dialog with the international culture scene” (The
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2013).
In an effort to gain better overview on international markets, the Norwegian
music industry represented by IFPI Norway, FONO (the Norwegian Independent
Record Companies Association), NOPA (Norwegian Society of Composers and
Lyricists), GramArt (the Recording Artists Association), MFO (Musicians Union) and
MFF (The Norwegian Publishers Association) established the company: Music
Export Norway in 2000. The organisation’s aim was to operate as an intermediary
between Norwegian artists and the international music industry. After around 8
years of operation, in an effort to centralise industry competence, a merger between
Music Export Norway and MIC9 created Music Norway in 2012. The governmentfunded company’s objective is to strengthen efforts made with international music
exports. The government’s intention is that the organisation will arrange for
exporting initiatives and international profiling of Norwegian music. Its efforts should
be based on the needs of the music industry and help increase interest for
Norwegian music in all genres. The organisation is to contribute to increased
knowledge of the Norwegian and international music field and is yearly granted 18M
NOK (equivalent to £2M) from the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (Borchgrevink 2012). From these government funds, Music Norway covers
9 Norwegian
Music Information Centre Øivind Gehrken
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operational costs and manages grant programs such as artist- travel support and ad
hoc-support. The travel support program assists performers, composers,
songwriters, management and other relevant industry members in participating
actively on the international arena. The ad hoc-support can for example be PR
campaigns when launching albums, general marketing or promotional events
(Ballade.no 2013). Industry stakeholders in Norway have previously questioned the
effect of the government funds claiming that there currently does not exists any data
covering documenting the results of Music Norway’ initiatives. A thorough
understanding of the workings of the Norwegian music industry is therefore high on
the organisation’s agenda; data retrieval and analysis as well as music export
statistics will be key tasks for the new organisation (Music Norway 2013).
When addressing utilisation of public resources it might be relevant to look to
Sweden. At a music convention arranged by by:Larm, Musiksverige presented the
first Nordic comparison of the countries music industry revenues. Not surprisingly,
Sweden exported more music than the other Nordic countries. An interesting point
made, however, was that the Swedish music industry received less government
support than any of the other Nordic countries (Olson, 2013). This might question
how the government’s financial support is relevant in order to produce successful
Norwegian artists internationally. Director of Music Norway, Kathrine Synnes Finnskog (2013) argues that the
Norwegians might be more occupied with applying for government grants to support
their efforts and generally have another approach in order to create something10.
She believes that the Swedes’ somewhat lack of resources makes them more
dependent on working together to achieve results. Finnskog’s (2013) impression is
10 See full interview in Appendix III Øivind Gehrken
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that the Swedes are superior when it comes to learning from each other and
learning from others’ experiences.
3.4 The Swedish Approach - “ERIBA – A Model for Growth”
In 2011, the Swedish music industry exported music for around £100M with
performance rights accounting for 50%-, recorded music 22%- and live music11 28%
of the total export revenues (Portnoff & Nielsén 2013). By comparing that amount to
Laing’s (2009) projection of overall export value in 2006 (fig. 4) – Sweden would
have accounted for around 22% and nearly a quarter of the total European exports.
In other words: Popular music is big business in Sweden.
IFPI (2013) recently presented the globally best-selling digital singles of 2012 (fig.
5). Figure 5: Global top selling digital singles of 2012 (IFPI 2013)
11
This is an estimated figure due to the described complexity of data collection in the live music
sector. Øivind Gehrken
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Out of the ten best-selling digital singles in 2012, Swedes wrote and/or produced
four of them12. Arguably, there are many different views on how the Swedes have
managed to achieve the level of success that they have. Hauge (2008), however,
argues that Sweden has one of the most proven models for talent development and
incubator schemes within the creative industries. Therefore, an interesting approach
might be to examine this Swedish’ framework for the cultural industries.
The Knowledge Foundation13, one of the Swedish research councils, serves as
both a financial and an organisational anchor point for the development of creative
talent in Sweden’s cities and regions. When the Knowledge Foundation selected
the experience industry as one of its priority areas, one could almost get the
impression that the initiative was based around a regional policy. The foundations’
intention was to develop five smaller places in Sweden that had struggled with
economic decline and depopulation within the traditional industry and turn them into
“meeting places” for the creative industries. In the mid-1990s, plans took shape to
develop business activities around Swedish small town Hultsfred and its local music
festival called The Hultsfred Festival. The festival expanded quickly over the next
years and is today considered as an important meeting place for domestic- and
international fans and industry professionals affiliated with Swedish music. The four
other small places also achieved success and when the bigger Swedish cities
started to feel the competition from these smaller places, the program was
extended to incorporate cities such as Stockholm and Gothenburg. Sweden has
arguably recognised and grasped the expertise that has been developed by, for
12
Nicky Minaj’s ”Starships” was co-written by Swedish songwriters Carls Falck and Rami Yacub.
Swedish producer and songwriter Shellback co-wrote and produced Maroon 5’s ”Payphone” and
”One More Night”, the latter together with fellow Swede Max Martin. Flo Rida’s ”Wild Ones” was coproduced and co-written by Swedish DJ, Axwell (Allmusic.com, 2013).
13
The Knowledge Foundation is a national fund that seeks to strengthen Sweden’s competitiveness
by promoting collaboration between research and industry (KKS.se, 2013).
Øivind Gehrken
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instance, the Hultsfred Festival in a far better and more structured way than in
Norway. A policy framework model called ERIBA14 was developed from the
expertise rooted in the Hultsfred Festival and is today implemented as an innovative
strategy across the Swedish cultural industries (Hauge 2008). In fact, with the
Swedish Industrial Development Centre (IUC) for the music and Creative Industries
(a government- and industry-funded support organisation), ERIBA was used to
develop a program for growth for Sweden’s music industry as a whole (Nielsén
2008). ERIBA in its English version stands for: Education and training, Research,
Industry and Business, and the Arts/culture (fig. 6).
Figure 6: The ERIBA Model (Nielsén 2008)
14
The ERIBA model was formerly known as the ”FUNK” model.
Øivind Gehrken
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Some of the primary goals of the ERIBA model are to identify how the cultural
industries can:
• Create more jobs in the creative industries
• Develop artistic excellence
• Increase cultural exports
• Efficiently utilise public resources
The model describes how growth can be stimulated and amplified in the creative
industries and suggests that the four components (seen in fig. 6) must be linked
together in order to realise the potential for economic growth. The keyword for the
ERIBA model is collaboration. It is collaboration that is required to get different
areas – education and training, research, industry and business and the arts – to
stimulate each other. However, a lack of structure for and tradition of meetings
between these constituent pars of the model means that meetings, in fact, seldom
occur (Nielsén 2008). The framework suggests that the disconnection between the
cultural and industrial sectors of the economy is due in large part to a lack of
knowledge about-, and a tradition of business development in the music industry,
which can mean that there is great potential in the industry that is just not being
realised. The ERIBA model is interesting to the Norwegian music industry, because
it can influence and help organise and comprehend structures that contribute to
industrial development (Hauge 2008). The model represents a framework
addressing business development in the cultural industries as a whole. Therefore,
for the purpose of this thesis, the author intends to use the four components of the
ERIBA model as an analytical tool in order to examine the activities and dynamics
specifically relevant to the stimulation of economic growth through Norwegian music
exports.
Øivind Gehrken
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Figure 7: Adjusted ERIBA Model
The industry and business-component address the business activities initiated
when the cultural activities become commercial activities. Thus, the author will
concentrate on the industry and business-component’s relationship with the three
other components that make up the base where external knowledge and skills are
developed and acquired. The aim with this analysis is to identify how the industry
can improve its exporting (business) activities through the cultural life, education
and training and applied research. The thesis therefore suggests that the model is
adjusted (fig. 7) to better suit this specific purpose. The analysis will serve as a
base for the general discussion aiming to evaluate the thesis’ research question.
Øivind Gehrken
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PART II: The Growth-promoting Measures
4. The Arts/Culture– “Culture as an Input”
The ERIBA model is based on the idea that good foundations (such as a rich
cultural life) may be conductive to the production of specialised inputs, which then
leads to core products. This initial process involves the creators of intellectual
property such as artists, musicians, songwriters, producers and organisers.
The purpose of this component is to stimulate the broad base of cultural life in
general. This means providing individuals and organisations with places to perform
creative works and places to practice/rehearse creative work. This component
address non-commercial activities and suggests activities that represent the initial
process where music as an art is introduced to the individual. In other words, the
process of producing internationally recognised successful Norwegian artists
arguably starts with this component. A rich Norwegian cultural life in the music arts
means a greater probability of achieving a successful Norwegian music industry
and, according to Nielsén (2008): “The broader the base is - the more stars will be
generated”. Jesper Thorsson (2013), vice director of Music Export Sweden argues
that it is hard to identify why Sweden has become such a large exporter of music
and thinks it is a mixture of many factors15. He believes, however, that one
contributing factor is the Swedish’ children’s availability to musical instrument and
amateur bands and artists access to rehearsal rooms.
In Norway, the Ministry of Culture has particularly focused on developing
instrument-equipped rehearsal rooms and production studios all over the country,
15
See full interview in Appendix IV
Øivind Gehrken
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increasing the government’s yearly financial support from 12M NOK (equivalent to
£1.3M) in 2005 to 19M NOK (equivalent to £2.2M) in 2008 (The Norwegian Ministry
of Culture 2008). Additionally, there are currently several government-funded
organisations that work to provide bands with facilities and music lessons to shape
their cultural expressions. An organisation called bandORG was founded in 2006
with an aim to improve the conditions of Norwegian bands. BandORG manages a
government support fund, which, in 2012 - gave 4M NOK (equivalent to £0,43M) to
support local cultural activities around the country (Bandorg.no, 2013). The
organisation also contributed to the project øvingsrom.no, a website where bands
can find and book the rehearsal rooms nearest to them. The website is run on a
non-commercial basis, everyone is free to use it and most of the rehearsal rooms
are public or semi-public facilities supported financially by their respective
municipality (Øvingsrom.no 2013). With a substantial cultural offering in terms of
arenas for development, comes a larger pool of artistic talents, which again should
raise the bar in terms of innovativeness when competition increases (Porter 2000).
Another potential consequence when developing a rich cultural life is a strong
demand for domestic recorded music or local repertoire. As seen in section 3.2.1,
the Norwegian market favours international recorded music while the Swedish
music consumption favours their local artists. Investment in a rich cultural life can
lead to demanding, sophisticated consumers and result in higher demands on those
who are creating the products for the music industry. Unsubstantial media coverage
of- and a low general demand for local repertoire can mean that the Norwegian
market is unfamiliar with a certain type of product and is therefore satisfied with less
internationally competitive products. Furthermore, a strong domestic market for
Norwegian music can result in better prospects for existing and new companies,
Øivind Gehrken
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which translates into better prospects for expansion abroad. Additionally, demand
and exposure for Norwegian recorded music can lead to more people wanting to
have a go at becoming artists or producers, which arguably increases the talent
pool (Nielsén 2008). Thus, in a traditional Norwegian export context, the cultural life
would represent the raw material needed to create the market elite in the
international music industry. And, to be able to process the raw material
successfully, one might need to acquire the right knowledge and training.
5. Education & Training
“How we acquire a taste for music is largely determined by our cultural
environment, including our educational institutions. But fundamentally, we are called
by the music that calls to us. Music works where it will, where it can, where it is
welcomed. The musician, with discipline, creates a bridge for music to enter our
world” (Fripp 2001 via Green 2002).
Figure 8: From Music Education to Music Creation (SGS Economics and Planning,
2012)
Øivind Gehrken
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The initial step in the traditional “music creation” process (fig. 8) address the
artists’ or creators’ ability to gain knowledge and inspiration to create musical
expressions.
Lucy Green (2002) uses the term formal music education to refer to: “Instrumental
and classroom music teachers’ practises of teaching, training and educating; and to
pupils’ and students’ experiences of learning and of being taught, educated or
trained in a formal educational setting”. The other form of acquiring musical
knowledge, is by Green (2002) referred to as informal music learning and described
as:
“A variety of approaches to acquiring musical skills and knowledge outside
formal educational setting. This includes encountering unsought learning
experiences through enculturation in the musical environment; learning
through interaction with others such as peers, family members or other
musicians who are not acting as teachers in formal capacities; and developing
independent learning methods through self-teaching techniques”.
An important factor when addressing these two forms of musical learning is the
emergence of digital music equipment. With the arrival of the digitalisation the
music product was cheaper to produce simply because digital equipment and
editing software was more affordable then traditional music equipment (Rojek 2011,
Cameron & Bazelon 2013). This gave amateur musicians without formal music
education and who could not afford renting expensive music studios - an
opportunity to record their music, enriching the cultural life with new musical
expressions. With the emergence of the Internet a few years later, artists were now
able to share their music with people from all over the world, as well as gaining
inspiration by others on a larger scale. Today, new distribution and production
Øivind Gehrken
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technologies are greatly facilitating and empowering autonomous local musical
cultures and their engagement with other geographically and culturally distinct
musical cultures (Azenha 2006). Thus, the communication brought on by the
Internet has arguably contributed in shaping the international music market seen
today.
This thesis has previously discussed the importance of the English language in
relation to the musical expressions’ popularity in international markets and there are
different views on how Norwegian artists should create musical products that can
compete internationally. Pelle Lidell, European A&R Executive at Universal Music
Publishing UK & International argues that:
“Norwegians need to make the type of music that the international market
wants. Too many times I have heard quite interesting Norwegian music, but
where I could easily say that the music would be difficult to break
commercially” (quoted by Bäcklund 2013b).
Finnskog (2013), on the other hand, argues that:
“If Norwegian artists make music that is specifically customised for the
international market, they start off at the wrong end because there are so
many other international pop acts to compete with that it would require
something quite special to stand out. Whether the musical expression is
domestically- or internationally inspired, the artist has to provide a cultural
product that he’s able to sell on an international market”.
In the end, the musical product arguably depends on the talent of the artist making
it and the artist’s stakeholders helping him sell it.
Øivind Gehrken
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Education and training here does not only mean education and training for
practitioners (artists), but for the players who gear up the value of arts-based
products through support and distribution functions (such as producers,
entrepreneurs and vendors). From an industry perspective, the ERIBA framework
argues that, in many cases, the connection between educational programs and
reality is poor. Industry knowledge needs to be augmented so that as an employee
or small business operator, graduates will be able to orientate themselves better
and benefit from their creative “know-how” (Nielsén 2008). Finnskog (2013) shares
this view and states that: “A music business education may be relevant and fine, but
it does not necessarily view the reality of the industry”. She further argues that:
“This industry is all about strong personal- relations and networks and continuously
being present in different markets”. These qualities are arguably hard to be
educated in, as they refer to each individual’s psychological capabilities. This could
question whether it is in fact possible to fully educate and train people for the
various occupations in the music industry as many of them are driven by elements
of skilled craftsmanship and general talent. It may well be that students of the music
industry can learn more from university-organised internships at companies and
organisations within the music industry. This might accumulate in a stronger
relationship - providing new impulses to the industry and practical experience to the
educational institutions.
The “Music out of Norway”-report argues that the educational system in Norway
has a good structure in order to educate musicians and composers, but not
business people. The educational institutions have lacked focus on particularly
stimulating entrepreneurship partly because of the limited amount of teachers within
this profession (Hauge 2008).
Øivind Gehrken
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5.1 Entrepreneurship
Richard Chiu (2012) argues that there is no particular strategy in
entrepreneurship education for creative industries. This notion is also shared in the
ERIBA-framework, which points out that many students of fine arts education and
training programs graduate without any knowledge of entrepreneurship, despite the
fact that it is precisely entrepreneurs that many of them will become (Nielsén 2008).
Leadbeater & Oakley (1999) states that there is a need to create: “… bigger,
stronger, more rapidly growing companies that are able to hold their own in the
international market. And we need to create stronger institutions and intermediaries
that can support these independent producers and stand between them and the
global market in which they compete.”
According to Robert B. Mellor (2009) entrepreneurship is constituted by three
components:
1. Finding new products or combinations in order to satisfy needs (to
innovate).
2. Organize resources effectively (to create organisations)
3. Create wealth by adding value (to generate employment)
This might suggest that entrepreneurship is about seeking out demand and having
the capacity to satisfy it. Some believe that one man’s ability to do just that, created
the foundation for the successful Swedish music export. In fact, some believe that
this foundation was developed and utilised in the aftermath of ABBA’s victory in the
Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 (Jorthé 2013). ABBA was formed in 1972. The
group is recognised as the most commercially successful pop group of the 1970s
Øivind Gehrken
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with over 375 million records sold worldwide (Billboard 2013 & Smirke 2010). In
fact, their “greatest hits” album entitled “Gold” recently surpassed lifetime sales of
the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” to become the UK’s second
biggest selling album of all time (Ingham 2013). ABBA arguably proved the
economic potential of a successful music exports and an important aspect of
ABBA’s success is how the Swedish music industry as a whole - benefitted from it.
By the time ABBA was recognised internationally, the group was already signed to
Polar Music, a Swedish record label owned by their manager Stig Anderson16
(Brandle 2013). The label kept the rights to exploit ABBA’s intellectual property
globally until Polar Music was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Anderson was
considered as a man of the people who understood what people wanted to listen to.
When ABBA won the Eurovision song contest he had already built up a large
enough business to handle global marketing and distribution as ABBA was
powerfully launched into the international music market (Tidholm 2012). At that time
Sweden was considered as an inexperienced music country, but Anderson, ABBA
and the success that followed seems to have changed that impression. The
success of ABBA created interest and demand for Swedish pop music and the band
provided the Swedish music industry with a solid foundation to shape popular music
in the years to come (Berg 2013).
The Swedish music industry arguably gained knowledge on how to succeed
internationally, understood the market demand and built a network of connections
within the leading organisations of the international music industry. This,
presumably because one man knew how to create music that would satisfy an
international audience, utilise his resources to market the group and thereby
16 Stig
Anderson later founded the acclaimed Swedish Polar Music Prize in 1989. Øivind Gehrken
37 2MUS77H.2
generate revenue nurturing a growing Swedish music industry. Some might argue
that Anderson’s business plan was quite ambitious. At the same time, he arguably
saw ABBA’s potential in various markets. Finnskog (2013) argues that:
“The artist’s manager, record label and agent have to understand the type of
market they are aiming for with their music. Many industry professionals
immediately aim high and go for “world domination”, without considering that
international markets differs from the domestic. The ability to identify market
demand in international markets is crucial”.
Today, more and more Swedish artists realise that if they want to support
themselves with their music, their Swedish audience simply are not big enough
(Sweden.se 2013b). Thorsson (2013) believes that Swedes have a drive to become
successful internationally, especially since the industry at home has seen that it is
doable. Maybe this specific mindset also is transferred to Swedish exports as a
whole. And, maybe the idea of exploring international markets have inspired other
Swedish entrepreneurs such as Ingvar Kamprad (founder of IKEA), Lars Magnus
Ericsson (founder of Ericsson), Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson (founders of
Volvo) and Niklas Zennström (founder of Skype). The list of Swedish entrepreneurs
who, through their respective companies, have successfully entered international
markets is long. Additionally, the Swedes’ ability to sustain their position within
these different markets cannot be underestimated. Thorsson (2013) states that:
“Success leads to success”, which might insinuate a matter of confidence and a
general belief in own exporting activities. Finnskog (2013) also shares this notion
and believes that the Swedes remain interesting to the international music market
because they simply put more focus on entrepreneurship and the process of
creating businesses from the ground up. Companies such as Spotify, Soundcloud,
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Elektron and Teenage Engineering are all Swedish. She thinks the Norwegians
have been less efficient when it comes to this sort of entrepreneurship and that this
is linked to the fact that Norway is a small country, which again might have affected
or shaped our behaviour and confidence.
5.2 The Norwegian Challenge
The Music out of Norway-report argues that previous studies have shown that
the Norwegian music industry has not managed to take care of artists in a way
where they can increase the potential for success in international markets. The
reports frequently referred to a lack of international expertise (Hauge 2008). This
lack of ability to take care of artists’ interests abroad could be represented by the
internationalisation process of the Norwegian band a-ha. The band has sold more
than 36 million albums worldwide and is often recognised for their hit single “Take
on me”, which alone, has been played over 3 million times on U.S. radio (A-ha.com
2013). The trio are, by many, considered as the best-selling band to ever come out
of Norway. However, apart from being Norwegian citizens, did the band actually
come out of Norway? In 1983, the three members of a-ha travelled to London in
search of a recording contract. Their ambitions arguably exceeded the Norwegian
market’s potential and because of this, they went abroad in their pursuit of
commercial success. In 1983 the band was signed to a London-based management
and later on that year, the band was signed to Warner Bros. Records U.K. Because
of this, a-ha statistically did not contribute to the creation of economic value within
the Norwegian export business (The Norwegian Ministry of Culture 2008). In
contrast to ABBA and the Swedish music industry, the band’s success didn’t help
the Norwegian industry in terms of gaining knowledge and building networks with
Øivind Gehrken
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international- companies and industry professionals. This can be explained simply
by the fact that the Norwegian industry basically had little to nothing to do with the
“internationally represented” band. Thus, the attention a-ha provided towards fellow
Norwegian artists was arguably not fully utilised because the industry lacked
knowledge and expertise on how they best could represent their artists
internationally.
This trend has continued in more recent years with internationally recognised
artists such as the electronic music duo Röyksopp17 and Stargate being signed to
international managements and labels. The latter is a production team consisting of
two Norwegian songwriters and producers who - similarly to a-ha, relocated in order
to succeed in international markets. The duo moved to London in 1999, signed with
a U.K.-based management18, before eventually moving to New York in 2005. To
this date - Stargate has topped the U.S. Billboard’s Hot 100 chart on ten occasions
by working with artists such as Rihanna, Ne-yo, Beyonce and Katy Perry (Hansen
2012). One of the two members, Tor Erik Hermansen, stated in 2012 that: “Had we
been recognised more by Norwegian radio stations - then we probably would not
have moved abroad, so I guess we can thank them for our success” (quoted by
Sæby, 2012). Former Head of Music at Norwegian radio station P3, Håkon Moslet,
argued that:
“Stargate was too big for Norway. They were very un-Norwegian in their
musical expression and they have gradually become successful with very
commercial pop music. At P3 we often feature tracks with a certain character,
which Stargate’s music did not possess”(quoted by Sæby, 2012).
17 Signed to London-based D.E.F. Management. 18
Delirious/Blacksmith Management Ltd.
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This might suggest that Stargate were dependent on moving abroad in order to get
their musical expressions heard by consumers of popular music. This may also
suggest that stakeholders in the Norwegian music industry have failed to recognise
and support local musical expressions that have proved to possess the quality
needed to succeed in international markets.
Finnskog (2013) argues that Norwegian artists’ who does well abroad,
traditionally tend to have international industry professionals assisting them.
Because of this, the revenue generated – stays abroad and does not benefit the
Norwegian music industry.
Finnskog (2013) describes this as a substantial challenge, claiming that:
“Not only are we competing with other countries to produce successful artists
internationally, Norwegian managements and record labels also compete
against international managements and record labels, which are interested in
working with Norwegian artists. An artist might a face a situation where he has
to choose whether to-, for example, either sign with a French independent
label or a Norwegian label. We have to make sure that the artist choose the
Norwegian label because he trust that the label is competent and can help him
succeed in international markets”.
Thus, developing expertise and confidence towards international activities might
represent a determining factor in keeping ambitious and talented Norwegian artists
connected with the Norwegian music industry.
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5.3 Digital Marketing and Distribution
The Norwegian industry may have successfully fostered many skilled and
talented musicians and composers, yet it has not succeeded in making music
exports a vital business for the creative industries. The infrastructure for
international cultural exchange is good, but it is followed up by weak trade- and
business stimulating activities (Hauge 2008). Additionally, the financial support from
the government looks to be directed more towards cultural exchange than towards
cultural exports (Hauge 2008). This suggests that, while the Norwegian government
and industry might be skilled at sending artists abroad, it struggles when it comes to
making them visible on international markets. “If an artist is not visible, he cannot be
heard anyway” (Lidell, quoted by Bäcklund 2013b).
As the market becomes more competitive - the harder it may be for artists to get
gigs and representation internationally. This can lead to artists, despite receiving
travel support, having to promote their own gigs by producing flyers and paying for
advertisement out of their own pockets. In the end there’s only so much Music
Norway can do to help them (Finnskog 2013). Music Norway’s ad-hoc support
offers a maximum of 20.000 NOK (equivalent of roughly £2100) per artist or band
(Borchgrevink 2012). This amount can be considered as quite low in order to initiate
a wide PR-campaign in international markets. Thus, it might be important that, for
example, the artist’s Norwegian record label and management dare to invest money
in promoting the artist in addition to Music Norway’s travel support and promotional
activities. The challenge is how Norwegian companies can market the cultural
products effectively within today’s competitive international market. Companies
might have to spend more money on marketing artists internationally than
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domestically, because it takes more of an effort to stand out with international artists
fighting for recognition (Ballade.no 2012).
Hesmondhalgh (2007) argues that: “Major corporations still retain crucial control
over the marketing and promotion that largely determine what music most
consumers get to hear and know about”. Some might argue that the arrival of the
digitalisation and emergence of the Internet a few years later, changed the
traditional way of marketing music. Additionally, by the new century, the Internet
and digital mobile systems emerges as main highways for cost-effective distribution
(Rojek 2011). Developments such as the MP3 file and the widespread adoption and
popularity of online peer-2-peer networks mean that music can be copied and
shared with increasing ease (Rogers 2013). The term “piracy” is often used to
describe this unlicensed peer-2-peer activity as it took away the rights holders’
ability to control the distribution of their intellectual property on the Internet
(Wikström 2009). This thesis has previously identified that, today - there is an
increasing number of consumers who use the Internet and licensed online services
to access music.
Figure 9: Awareness of Licensed Services (IFPI 2013)
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In countries where these services are available, the majority of Internet users are
familiar with services such as YouTube, iTunes and Spotify (fig. 9). Through digital
distribution, Norwegian repertoire is now available to consumers who use the
Internet to access recorded music. The days where consumers living outside of
Norway might needed to special order albums to be able to listen to Norwegian
artists might be over. The digital distribution has arguably reduced the consumers’
transaction costs, but also made it possible for smaller companies in Norway to
distribute music internationally. Furthermore, the recent development with the
licensed digital retailers identified in section 1.2.1, suggests that revenues will
continue to increase.
Finnskog (2013) argues that digital music services has made it easier for
Norwegian rights holders’ to distribute its intellectual property in International
markets, but that it still exists a challenge in how to market the artist and his music
effectively.
The consequence of the digital revolution, with the emergence of social media,
is the creation of online communities of people with common interests and attitudes
across geographical boundaries. The users interact with each other and develop a
common platform for discourse (The Norwegian Ministry of Culture 2013).
Information and recommendations from fellow music listeners forms the foundation
for modern word-of-mouth marketing, which today is more important than ever
because of the power of the Internet (Pulizzi & Barrett 2009). Furthermore, social
media sites enable smaller labels and less mainstream artists to spread the word
about their talent. Social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook are now more
powerful than traditional marketing efforts (Topping 2010). Social media is a
relatively new communication platform, which has emerged and grown in popularity
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over the last ten years. David Haynes, VP of online music service Soundcloud,
argues that:
“In the past, there were just a few gatekeepers and you had a powerful
network of labels, A&R, radio and TV executives and magazines who decided
what you should listen to. Now it’s so much easier to find out what other
people on the other side of the world are recommending” (quoted by Rogers
2013).
Educational programs today, often emphasises the importance of social media as
an informative and promotional channel for various businesses. Educational and
training programs aimed at the music industry also often include courses with
subject areas such as managements, live music and digital distribution. In a
dynamic music industry, knowledge and expertise in the innovative digital market
might be important to acquire. Thus, a stronger collaboration between the industry
and educational institutions might be vital in order to effectively market musical
products towards the international market.
6. Research
- “Knowledge has become the economy’s central resource” (Drucker 1992).
The ERIBA framework argues that while basic research most certainly has its
own purpose, there is a larger amount of applied research, or research that can
easily be applied - that is not reaching all the companies involved in the music
industry. Thus, there is a disconnection in this component (Nielsén 2008).
The past twenty years has arguably seen a growing interest by national
governments in the potential economic value of the music industry as a source of
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45 2MUS77H.2
employment and of export earnings. Additionally, the industry has become an
enthusiastic lobbyist for government assistance, notably in strengthening intellectual
property legislation. Hence, a demand has grown for data and statistical proof of the
music industry’s importance and success (Laing 2009).
There may be several reasons linked to why the Norwegian music industry has
been less successful at exporting Norwegian music to international markets.
Arguments relating to a lack of confidence, professional network and know-how are
commonly used within the industry. Therefore, the challenge is arguably how the
industry can obtain the confidence-, personal relations- and business skills needed
to compete on a higher level. In this context some might argue that applied
research can offer a solution.
As pointed out earlier, one of the goals with the ERIBA framework is to
efficiently utilise public resources. Furthermore, this thesis has already addressed
the lack of government- and industry initiatives in terms of gathering statistics of
exporting activities during the last 4-5 years19. An example of this can be seen in a
recently published report from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2013)
where the report claims that: “Norwegian musicians and composers’ activities
abroad have had a substantial growth over the last decades”. The report refers to
statistics gathered by the Norwegian performance rights association, TONO, which
shows a yearly growth of 8% between 1998 and 2010. These numbers are
specifically based on revenues generated from radio-, TV- and concert recordings
internationally. Thus, these numbers arguably does not reflect an accurate
measurement of the overall international efforts, nor can they be considered as
helpful in order to allocate resources. Firstly, the TONO-report does not include a
19
See section 1.2.2
Øivind Gehrken
46 2MUS77H.2
view of revenues generated from live performances (tickets and merchandise) and
record sales. In other words, it lacks two of the three main sources of revenues
identified in section 3.1. Secondly, the most recent report made on Norwegian
music exports from by:Larm and Agderforskning suggested that the revenues
generated to the rights association in 2006 and 2007, were stabile at 38,5M NOK
both years (Hauge 2008). Thus, it can be difficult identifying yearly economic growth
during this period.
This disconnection and lack of mutual understanding of actual numbers might make
it difficult to visualise the economic effects of the political efforts and results. Thus,
adopting a more standardised model for monitoring exporting activities might benefit
the industry. This might suggest the need for a stronger collaboration between
research organisations and the music industry.
The model for the monitoring of Norwegian music export was developed in
2006/07 influenced by similar models used in Sweden, Denmark and Finland and is
based on revenues generated to- and reported by record labels, artist management
and copyright societies from the international music markets (Hauge 2008). This
model includes the three main revenue sources, but the model has presumably not
been used since the last report was published in 2008. Additionally, when
addressing statistics, it may be important to look beyond the numbers. In order to
obtain a deeper knowledge of how to develop effective measures to stimulate
Norwegian music exports, and generally increase innovation processes within the
music industry, it might be essential to gain actual experiences, skills, attitudes and
input from the music community itself. This can help industry professionals to
review the different growth-stimulating measures and identify which activities they
are currently good at - and which activities they need to improve in. Finnskog (2013)
Øivind Gehrken
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shares this notion and argues that the whole concept of cultural export is about
creating economic value, and the advantage that comes from gathering statistical
data is that the industry stakeholders are able to implement strategies that are
based on actual results. For example, if statistics identify a strong decline or a
saturated market within the live music industry, the industry can allocate the
resources to be used in relation to other activities. These statistics might especially
be useful if the government and the industry can do the same measurements over a
longer period in time, and on a yearly basis to analyse the development. Finnskog
(2013) suggests that: “The important thing is to acquire knowledge about where in
the value chain we should use our resources to improve the exports of Norwegian
music”.
Drucker (1992) argues that knowledge creates productivity and that a modern
society needs both scientific and technical people and people in the humanist-,
political-, economic- and behavioural disciplines. He believes that in order to
stimulate economic growth, a modern society needs people who can put knowledge
to work rather than people who are prisoners of discipline or method. Again, it
becomes natural to look to Sweden.
“Swedes have historically been very skilled at promoting and marketing their music.
I think it has a connection with the fact that that the Swedes live in a different
economic reality than the Norwegians do” (Lidell, quoted by Bäcklund 2013b).
This might reflect the notion made in section 3.3, where the thesis questioned the
relevance of a substantial financial government support. The Swedes are still highly
skilled at exporting music, even though the industry receives less financial support
from the government towards exporting activities than the Norwegian industry.
Thorsson (2013) believes that one of the most essential elements in a successful
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music export model is to acquire sustainable partners in the territory you are
exporting to. “For example, don't go to a territory with a project if you have no
partners or at least an idea on how to approach possible future partners there. And
choose your territories carefully, as you cannot be everywhere at once” (Thorsson
2013). This might suggest the importance of international market presence including
the knowledge of consumer behaviour in the respective markets.
In terms of research, the continuous market presence is where knowledge is
extracted to the players involved. What they gain out of experiences and expertise
in various ongoing processes, and how they are able to use this knowledge with
new business associates - is important when examining results of processes that
are initiated (Hauge 2008).
6.1 The Business Network – “International Meeting Places”
“In our view a firm’s environment is made up of networks, and this has
implications for the ways in which we think about learning, building trust, and
developing commitment, as well as about identifying and exploiting
opportunities. Such activities must be understood within the context of
business networks where the liability of outsidership is an impediment”
(Johanson & Vahlne 2009).
The Music out of Norway-report states that: “One way of obtaining knowledge is
to strengthen the networks that, until now, have seemed to be deficient and poorly
utilised” (Hauge 2008). The music industry is an industry where players rely on
good networks to succeed with their agendas, and a determined and systematic
development of international networks is of great importance (The Norwegian
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Ministry of Culture 2008). Music Norway was mentioned earlier in this thesis as a
“bridge-builder” between the Norwegian- and the international music industry.
To gain a better foothold in international markets, Music Norway established offices
in London and Berlin in 2008 and 2011 respectively in order to research business
possibilities, showcase productions, network in the two biggest European music
markets (Music Norway 2013). Dan Isenberg (2011) argues that a strong presence
outside of companies’ local market gives them better access to the latest
information about fast breaking market trends, products, customer needs and
competitor moves. Additionally, by exploring international markets, organisations
are able to get access to opportunities that they could never envision by staying
local. The efforts made particularly with Music Norway’s London office, might be
the reason to why performance rights’ payments generated to TONO from U.K.’s
PRS20 has grown from £0,16M in 2011 to £0,3M in 2012 (TONO 2013). When
addressing these numbers it might also be relevant to consider that the bigger
markets, such as the U.K. market, tend to influence other countries music markets
(Flattum 2013).
The ERIBA framework suggests that:
“An important point is that the creative industries need more than just creative
individuals. A system is important – with supportive structures that stimulate
encounters and thus the exchange of knowledge and creativity as a process.
An arena or forum in which to gather is necessary for informal communication,
validation by experts and small talk” (Nielsén 2008).
20
Performing Rights Society
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Such arenas or forums might arise and grow randomly, particularly in big cities. In
smaller places, however, it can be more difficult for this to occur naturally, and it
thus might require more government intervention. This notion is shared by the
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which states that:
“The main objective for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ foreign cultural
work is to create venues and forums that facilitate dialogue, exchange and
cooperation with other countries” (via the Norwegian Ministry of Culture 2008).
An important task for Music Norway’s international offices is to coordinate the
invitation process of businesses and media at international networking events in
Norway such as the by:Larm Conference and Øya International (Music Norway
2013). The former consists of two parts: Concerts21 and a conference, both of which
takes place in Oslo. The conference part, which is the largest Nordic music
conference, is designed as a meeting place for the Norwegian and foreign music
industries. A series of lectures, seminars and debates are held during the day. The
concerts take place at night and are open to the public. Their main focus is to
present artists that are on the verge of success, either in their homelands or
internationally (by:Larm 2013). Øya International; an industry networking event
integrated in the Øya Festival, also focuses on bringing the Norwegian and
international industry together, but concentrates to a larger extent on promoting
Norwegian music and Oslo as a tourist destination through international media. To
be able to attract the international media, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
cover the expenses involved with the international journalists’ travel and stay
(Midsjø 2011). Øya International and similar festivals with an international program
21
The concert part is referred to as by:Larm.
Øivind Gehrken
51 2MUS77H.2
can be important to the Norwegian music industry because international music
industry professionals invited to the events gets to see that Norwegian artists are
able to share the same stage as bigger international acts.
Another important factor about these industry’ meeting places is that the Norwegian
music industry is able to interact with the international music industry, which can
form a good base for building relations and extracting knowledge. For example, the
recent positive development with digital subscription services in Norway might offer
valuable knowledge that players in the international markets are seeking. In
exchange, the Norwegian players might be able to learn more about how to conduct
business in the respective international markets and further develop their
professional network.
It is important for creative businesses in Norway that creative forces outside of the
Norwegian environment can contribute with inspiration, ideas and new knowledge,
as well as the importance of creating connections for exports abroad (Hauge 2008).
Marketing an artist is arguably not just about media coverage or advertising, it can
also be about promoting Norwegian artists towards industry professionals in other
countries. For example, the Norwegian divisions of the major record labels are able
to utilise their business network to influence divisions in other countries to invest in
marketing a specific Norwegian artist in their country. This might create more
awareness to the artist and help sell more records, but also increase the demand
for the artist’s live performances or licensing rights.
Estimating the effects of these initiatives in terms of for example increased
booking or media coverage of Norwegian artists internationally is arguably quite
Øivind Gehrken
52 2MUS77H.2
difficult. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2013) argues that the mentioned
initiatives have increased the demand for Norwegian artists abroad, which can be
hard to document considering the identified lack of statistics to support this
argument. A short-term effect might offer decent media coverage of the event and
its surroundings within a specific time period, but the long-term effect of the
initiatives can be hard to measure systematically.
The opportunities for industry professional to learn and look at how others go about
their business can result in inspiration and knowledge. Furthermore, the results of a
functioning network, where constructive ideas are shared, can build confidence for
the individuals in the industry (Finnskog 2013). Learning by experience results in a
gradually more differentiated view of foreign markets, and of the individuals’ own
capabilities. It is such learning that makes developing foreign operations possible
(Johanson & Vahlne 2009).
Øivind Gehrken
53 2MUS77H.2
7. Conclusion
For Norway to become a music-exporting nation of significance and stimulate
economic growth, it is important that industry professionals establish international
business networks and gain experiences so that the industry can provide artists the
support that is needed to survive in competition with other talented international
artists. This is long-term work and Music Norway is helping to lay the foundation for
more and more Norwegian artists to eventually create international careers. A longterm strategy should aim to keep the revenues generated by Norwegian artists
abroad within the Norwegian music industry. To accomplish this, the industry might
need to gain more impulses and creativity from the cultural life, develop expertise
together with the educational institutions, and acquire more knowledge on how to
utilise public resources and business networks effectively through statistics and
data acquired from systematic research.
The government plays an important role in creating economic growth for players
in the music industry. It is vital for the industry that the government continue its
investments in the Norwegian cultural life, supporting and developing the coming
generations, which can increase the quality of the artistic output exploited
commercially at a later stage. Norwegian artists with ambitions of succeeding in
international markets need to make sure that their musical expressions appeals to
the markets they intend to compete in. To be able to identify demand, the artists’
stakeholders are dependent on being present in the respective markets, paying
close attention to market trends and analysing the effects of various marketing
activities.
Based on the same strategy used by ABBAʼs manager Stig Anderson; the
importance of creating sustainable Norwegian companies with a more powerful
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54 2MUS77H.2
influence, that can stand between the artists and the global market, cannot be
underestimated. Furthermore, continuous success with creating innovative
companies might develop a tradition of skilled entrepreneurship, which again might
build confidence to the industry on the same basis as seen in Sweden. Thus, the
government, the music industry and the educational institutions should work closer
together in order to educate and train future industry- entrepreneurs and
professionals by developing and improving the relevant educational programs.
Another important concept that should be incorporated in the educational programs
is the modern utilisation of new media. Because of the digitalisation and the
Internet, there is now an easier way to distribute music to international markets.
One substantial challenge remaining today, however - regards the industry’s ability
to market its artists towards international markets. To be able to exploit the new
media’s full potential, the industry might need to measure its effect in relevant
markets, hence there is a need for substantial research.
The gathering of statistics and data is also relevant when measuring the effect
of the government’s financial support in order to allocate resources more
strategically. The research also becomes relevant when examining the knowledge
and expertise acquired from market presence and industry meeting places.
Gaining knowledge and understanding how these initiatives can be fully utilised
might help the industry in order to reach economic growth with Norwegian music
exports.
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arMusicPrize/
Øvingsrom.no (2013) Om Øvningsrom.no (Online), Available at:
http://www.ovingsrom.no/om-ovingsrom-no/
Øivind Gehrken
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Appendices:
Appendix I:
Estimated Value of the Live Music Sector
Source: IFPI, 2010
Appendix II:
Global Live Music Industry 2006
Source: Laing, 2009
Øivind Gehrken
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Appendix III:
Local Repertoire
Source: IFPI, 2013 Appendix IV:
Phone interview with Director of Music Norway, Kathrine Synnes Finnskog,
conducted on the 6th of June 2013.
Hi, Kathrine. Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions for my
dissertation. Do you mind if I record this interview?
- Hi, no, that’s fine.
1. Which factors do you believe are essential for Norwegian recorded music in
order to gain recognition in international markets?
- Firstly, if Norwegian artists make music that is specifically customised for the
international market, they start off at the wrong end. That is because there are so
many other international pop acts to compete with, that it would require something
special to stand out. However, regardless if the musical expression is domesticallyor internationally inspired, the artist has to provide a cultural product that he’s able
to sell on an international market. Secondly, the artist’s manager, record label and
agent have to understand the type of market their aiming for with their music. Many
industry professionals immediately aim high and go for “world domination”, without
considering that international markets differs from the domestic. The ability to
identify market demand in international markets is crucial. Additionally, the market
for live music is becoming tighter and tighter, which makes it harder and harder for
artists to get gigs and representation internationally as well as domestically. This
can lead to artists, although receiving travel support, having to promote their own
gigs by producing flyers and paying for advertisement out of their own pockets. You
really have to put the efforts in to become a successful artist internationally in this
Øivind Gehrken
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current competitive landscape, in the end there’s only so much we can do to help
them.
2. How can the Norwegian music industry ensure that revenues generated by
Norwegian artists internationally benefit the Norwegian music industry rather
the international managements, record labels, etc?
- This is a substantial challenge. Not only are we competing with other countries to
produce successful artists internationally, Norwegian managements and record
labels also compete against international managements and record labels, which
are interested in working with Norwegian artists. An artist might a face a situation
where he has to choose whether to-, for example, either sign with a French
independent label or a Norwegian label. We have to make sure that the artist
choose the Norwegian label because he trust that the label is competent and can
help him succeed in international markets.
3. Following up on that last question: Do you think the fact that internationallabels and managements picked up and developed successful Norwegian
bands such as a-ha and Röyksopp was the reason to why these bands have
yet to generate a substantial income to the Norwegian music industry?
Particularly in relation to how ABBA and their team worked?
- Absolutely. ABBA got the help they needed from their local supporting team of
industry professionals. Their manager was extremely determined to make his
dream come through and was an important part of the success of ABBA. The level
of ambition is different in Sweden. When they export artists they might aim to create
the next ABBA or the next Robyn because they have these local, international level
artists to compare the new acts with. If we aim to export Norwegian artists with the
intent to reach the same level as top exporting countries such as Sweden we might
have an unrealistic approach. Thus, this is why we need to develop all sorts of
talent in the industry, both artists and managements, so there are higher standards
set to when you are ready for the international market. I believe that a lot of
Norwegian artists goes abroad to early and that these artists often gets extremely
disappointed when they realise that they are not received as they had imagined.
Or, you know, some might come back more motivated. It’s really about being selfconscious and I believe that some Norwegian managements and artists are a bit
naive when they travel abroad. The potential pitfalls regarding expenses are
present and you need to have done your homework properly when entering
unknown international markets.
4. Do you see the benefit of having a political framework and a general strategy
in order to increase Norwegian music exports?
- The Norwegian government invests a substantial amount of money in exporting
Norwegian artists internationally and actually more than the Swedish government
does. However, I believe that the Swedes’ somewhat lack of resources makes them
more dependent on working together to achieve results. I believe we can learn a lot
in that respect. My impression is that the Swedes are superior when it comes to
learning from each other and learn from others’ experiences. Us Norwegians are
maybe more occupied with applying for government grants to support our efforts
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and generally have another approach, which has made us look for other tools in
order to create something. The Swedes remain interesting to the international music
market because they are good at entrepreneurship and creating businesses from
the ground up. Companies such as Spotify, Soundcloud, Elektron and Teenage
Engineering are all Swedish. We might have been less efficient when it comes to
this sort of entrepreneurship here in Norway. I think this might be linked to
Norwegian traditions. We are a little country and I think this fact affects our
behaviour and confidence. However, Norway is interesting to the international
music market, because we have finally cracked the code on the digital streaming
services. We are even better then the Swedes, when it comes to percentage of
music consumers using these streaming services. So, the international music
community turns to Norway to understand how we achieved this. So for once, we’re
actually better then the Swedes at something within the music business.
5. How important is it to gather statistics and results from the Norwegian music
exports, and how can this data be utilised efficiently?
- Today, we see that the government is more interested in creating economic value
around the creative industries, develop the artists’ supporting team and focus on
results to further allocate the resources more properly. I think the whole concept of
cultural export is about creating economic value and the advantage that comes with
gathering statistical data is that you are able to implement strategies that are based
on actual results. For example, if you identify a strong decline within the live music
sector, then you are able to allocate your resources to be used elsewhere.
However, I believe that the statistics need to have function, and I believe that these
statistics are especially useful if you can do the same measurements over a longer
period in time and on a yearly basis, to analyse the development. The important
thing is to understand where in the value chain we should use our resources to
improve the exports of Norwegian music.
6. How can Norwegian music industry professionals utilise any of the
components in the Swedish export model, and if so, in what way?
- The Swedes have a history of creating music that is appreciated by the
international market. They have a lot of credibility on the international market in
relation to what type of music that is sellable. It started with ABBA, and the
Swedish music industry utilised their Eurovision victory to gain knowledge and build
an infrastructure with the international music community. Norway tried the same
with Alexander Rybak who won the Eurovision song contest in 2009, and the
concept was to deal directly with international companies while keeping the rights in
Norway to benefit the Norwegian music industry. During that period our office
doubled the workforce and I seem to recall that there were 4-6 nations that worked
full-time with just this one artist. This rarely happens, every one of us were
Norwegian and we all worked at the same office and we all had different task in
order to successfully attack the agency areas, publishing areas, etc of the
international market. Traditionally, Norwegian acts whom succeed internationally
tend to have international industry professionals assisting them, and because of
this, the revenue generated – stays abroad and does not benefit the Norwegian
music industry.
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7. How essential is it to have industry professionals with background in the
Norwegian music industry working in the international music market? And,
how important is a good education when it comes to the music business?
- A music education is relevant and fine, but it does not say anything about the
reality. Remember, you approach an industry that is constantly evolving. Music is all
about feelings and you cannot underestimate that. This industry is all about
personal relations and personal networks and continuously being present in
different markets. I can’t steal someone else’s network, but I can be inspired by it
and look at how others have done it. There is so much to learn and I get amazed
when I see people who are not interested in taking inspiration from others.
However, I think we are about to change that and I think the reason has to do with
confidence. When your network is starting to function, your confidence as for
example a manager grows and Norwegian managers now talk to each and
cooperates more than ever before. So, I think it’s all about being present in the
market, which the Swedes are very good at, and we’re not.
8. How important has festivals such as the Øya Festival in Oslo become for
Norwegian industry professionals looking to build a network with the
international music market?
- Øya and other Norwegian festivals with an international program are very
important to our music industry for several reasons. Firstly the international music
industry professionals invited to Øya gets to see that Norwegian artists are able to
share the same stage as international heavyweights. The most important thing
about these industry’ meeting places is that the Norwegian music industry get to
meet the international music industry, which forms a good base for building
relations. Secondly, the Øya Festival promotes Norwegian artists internationally by
hosting gigs in cities such as London to promote their festival. The festival acts like
a courier in that respect. Appendix V:
Email interview with Vice Director of Export Music Sweden, Jesper Thorsson,
conducted on the 18th of June 2013.
From: [email protected]
Subject:
Fwd: Music Export Thesis
Date: 18. juni 2013 19.29.45 GMT+02:00
To:
[email protected]
1. In your opinion, what are the most essential elements in a successful music
export model?
A clear long term plan. Sustainable partners in the territory you are exporting to. For
example don't go to a territory with a project if you have no partners or at least an
idea on how to approach possible future partners there. And choose your territories
carefully, you can't be everywhere at once.
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2. How has Sweden obtained the position as the largest music exporter of the world
per capita?
Really hard to answer. It is the ongoing question. I think it is a mixture of many
factors. A relatively stable society, almost all children has the chance to learn to
play an instrument and it is not impossible with rehearsal space if you form a band.
And I think within the music industry Swedes have a drive to become successful.
Also, Success leads to success. Even science ABBA or Europe musicians and the
industry at home seen that it is doable. That goes for many genres.
3. Do you think the digitalisation of recorded music, distribution and music retailers
has contributed to an easier entry for Scandinavian artists to bigger international
music markets? In what way?
Maybe today Sweden is looked upon as modern as being in the front when it comes
to streaming etc. But I doubt that alone helped for example Swedish songwriters or
touring rock bands. It is because of their talent and the music they export.
4. In what way can the Swedish music industry best utilise the statistics the Swedish
Agency for Economics and Regional Growth and Musiksverige provides yearly?
Hard facts are always great compared to rough estimates. Figures can help you to
plan your releases and export projects. And it is needed to explain the music
industry when talking to organizations, ministries and departments for example.
Øivind Gehrken
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Norwegian Music Exports

Transcription

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