Scandinavian music mag Gaffa is expanding beyond Denmark and Sweden to Norway and will be opening their new website later this month with the free monthly print edition to follow in spring 2012. Øyvind Rones from Groove.no has been hired as editor.
Gaffa reports that Danish publishing/performing rights organization KODA is charging a tax to music bloggers who post music: http://gaffa.dk/nyhed/52883
More here: http://politiken.dk/kultur/musik/ECE1400625/musikbloggere-frygter-fremtiden/ (in Danish, also see the related articles at the bottom)
The fine print: 109,69 Danish kroner per month for non-commercial blogs with less than 2000 downloads or streams, 219.38 kr. for under 5000 and 329.08 kr. for up to 10k. Exceed that and you enter commercial media territory.
is a new Danish label, home to Icelandic artist Dad Rocks! (aka Snævar Njáll Albertsson of Mimas), and wholly devoted to Creative Commons music licensing: http://fatherfigurerecords.com/
Dad Rocks!' debut album "Mount modern" will be released on November 8 with the labels (US), (UK) and (ICE) each handling it in their respective territories.
The latest Acid House Kings album "Music sounds better with you" is now also the world's first indiepop app: http://www.undertheradarmag.com/news/acid_house_kings_announce_ipad_app/
is Svensk Musik's label of the month for September -- go there to read an interview with bossman Rasmus Hansén: http://svenskmusik.org/article/september-luxury/
Billboard reports that has purchased Denmark's , parent label to , and Sweden's , among others: http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/record-labels/universal-music-acquires-denmark-s-mbo-group-1005339372.story
Spain's multidisciplinary Scandinavian arts festival Días Nórdicos is back for a 2nd year this coming September and October. As before, featured events will include talks, art exhibitions, film and of course, music -- artists confirmed so far include Zebra & Snake, Andi Almqvist, Anna Brønsted (Our Broken Garden), The Megaphonic Thrift, Junip and more. Full details: http://www.diasnordicos.com/
Scraps of Tape has officially launched their new record label/production company/artistic collective , their first release being the new SoT 7" single "Flera meter kort": http://scrapsoftape.wordpress.com/the-noble-beast-of-malmo/
Look for new releases from various constellations of the SoT membership in the not-so-distant future, both musical and otherwise.
Sebastian Hess of has started a new industry mixer event in Göteborg called "Indie After Work" where music biz types can gather and chat and make connections and maybe even check out a few potentially up-and-coming bands. The next event will happen in November I'm not sure if the acts scheduled to perform are confirmed yet, but you can check out some tunes via SoundCloud or get more info at Facebook.
Peter Bjorn and John, Miike Snow and Jocke Åhlund (Teddybears) have joined forces to start a new Stockholm-based label under the name : http://peterbjornandjohn.com/blog/2011/07/gimme-some-ingrid/
Apparently the financial situation surrounding The Hives is getting wackier and now they are being sued by Tambourine Studios: http://gaffa.se/nyhet/50304 (in Swedish)
Gaffa reports that the Swedish Grammis have split the Urban/Dance category back into electro/dance and hip-hop/soul for next year's awards: http://gaffa.se/nyhet/50120
They've also brought back the Best Video award and have followed the lead of P3 Guld by dropping the male/female artist categories to just have one Best Artist.
Efterklang will be closing down their label , except to release their own albums at home in Denmark/Scandinavia: http://rumraket.tumblr.com/post/6313444049/new-canon-blue-record-the-end-of-rumraket
The label's final non-Efterklang release will be US artist Canon Blue's sophomore album "Rumspringa", due out August 29. Read more commentary from Efterklang bassist/manager Rasmus Stolberg at Gaffa: http://gaffa.dk/nyhed/50093
Seems like a silly headline, but it actually makes sense when you think about it: http://www.thecmuwebsite.com/article/norwegian-government-provides-black-metal-training-for-diplomats/
has launched a new website called "Copenhagen Beta" featuring all sorts of various multimedia content from the label's roster, including live sessions, interviews and more: http://www.copenhagenbeta.dk/