My confidential informants on the street tell me that Kulturföreningen Pluto in Gröndal, Stockholm does not pay bands as promised, so if you were planning on gigging there and expecting to be compensated for your time and talent, think otherwise.
sits down for a chat with Fredrik Zmuda, CEO of Norway-based streaming music service WiMP, a competitor of Spotify: http://blogs.playgroundmusic.com/intlpub/music-business-interviews-wimp
Jazz label is the Svensk Musik label of the month: http://svenskmusik.org/article/april-hoob-records/
Not that I take their opinion very seriously, but it appears that Aftonbladet is now attempting to charge access for their music reviews via the "Plus" program.
Music Export Norway reports that singer/songwriter Thomas Dybdahl is the first signing to the new international imprint run by Larry Klein: http://www.musicexportnorway.no/dybdahl-first-signing-on-strange-cargo.4895977-149133.html
Swedish label has been reconfigured and passed into the hands of Norrbottens läns landsting (the county council of Norrbotten) as of March 1. The initial plan is for the municipality of Luleå to become part-owners later this spring with other Norrland municipalities to be offered partnerships in the future. Says the label: "Business will continue in a slightly altered direction. The new BD Pop is a production and resource centre with the mission to support artists and music productions based in Norrbotten and to contribute to such projects with contacts, knowledge, resources and arenas." More here: http://www.bdpop.se/about.php (in Swedish)
The March lineup for Ja Ja Ja,as curated by Rich Thane of The Line of Best Fit, has been confirmed for the 31st and will feature Team Me, Lucy Swann and When Saints Go Machine.
Now available, Nordvagr -- the iPhone app: http://www.nordvargr.com/
Check out Svensk Musik, a new website founded/funded by STIM (the Swedish Performing Rights Society) focusing on new/contemporary Swedish music for an international audience: http://svenskmusik.org/
Numerous essays are already online, as is a feature on their label of the month, .
Slightly OT but not really: Jakob Lusensky's book "Sounds like branding" (with design by Robert Samsonowitz, who brews a great beer besides playing in We Live in Trenches) will be getting an international release in July: http://www.soundslikebranding.com/?p=2136
The book's subtitle is "How to use the power of music to turn customers into fans", in case that helps perk your interest.
Swedish synth-focused mag Zero Music is going online-only after a 16-year run. Read the editors' statement here: http://www.zeromagazine.nu/nyhet.asp?id=1911 (in Swedish)
The publication will continue on as an online-only venture and as such will be expanding their web offerings in the near future.
Västerbottens Folkblad reports that the Folkrörelsearkivet (Popular Movement Archive) has awarded 200,000 SEK for the purpose of documenting and archiving the 90s hardcore scene in Umeå: http://www.folkbladet.nu/238486/2011/02/18/umea-hardcore-och-veganrorelse-arkiveras
Recordings, films, flyers, photos, interviews, fanzines -- all to be collected and preserved for posterity. The mission begins in March.
Drowned in Sound takes a detailed look at the past decade of Norwegian music with a special focus on its presence in the UK: http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4141322-out-of-the-black-%E2%80%93-norway-2000-2010-and-beyond
Danish label will be holding a lecture on the subject of alternative licensing along with Christian Villum of Creative Commons this Sunday, February 6 at Jagtvejens library. Expect about an hour of discussion to be followed by a live appearance by Papir. Entrance is free.
In other news, you can now hear a couple new tracks from The City Kill off their forthcoming LP "Days full of joy" at Bandcamp: http://thecitykill.bandcamp.com/album/days-full-of-joy
The official release date of said album is February 25; RIYL slow and gloomy Scandinavian rock.
The Hultsfred Festival will be back this year on July 14-16, in direct competition with the similarily troubled Arvika Fest. As for whether they'll weather the storm, we shall see, but they don't have any acts confirmed yet. Read more: http://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/musik/hultsfredsfestivalen-ateruppstar (in Swedish)