Movits! have done so well on iTunes following their Colbert Show appearance that Comedy Central has officially licensed their album from BD Pop for broader release: https://www.musikindustrin.se/artikel/1033/BD_Music_i_avtal_med_Comedy_Central_Records.html
Norwegian artist Jenny Hval, perhaps better known as Rockettothesky, has written a novel entitled "Perlebryggeriet" ("Perle Brewery"?) which will be released in October. Jenny says, "If you read it very carefully, you can hear the music." More info: https://kolonforlag.no/?type=book&ref=1243 (in Norwegian)
Groove reports that the Norwegian edition of hip-hop magazine Kingsize is ceasing publication: https://www.groove.no/html/news/21456799.html (in Norwegian)
Norwegian avant/metal label Duplicate Records is now doing direct sales of high quality mp3 downloads and are throwing in a bunch of extra tracks as a bonus for many releases: https://www.duplicate-records.com/mp3store.htm
In other label news, look for new 7"s from Lydia Laska and Carniwhöre this fall plus new CDs from both Enthral and Violated.
Magnus Uggla made headlines today by pulling his music off Spotify. The Local has the English-language rundown on his blog missive: https://www.thelocal.se/21286/20090813/
Swedish indie act The Sound of Arrows have a new video for the song "Into the clouds": https://vimeo.com/6034355
Said track will be released as a 12" single (and download) on September 21. Apparently the band has also relocated to the UK in the hopes of "making it" (at least, I assume so) and has hooked up with Big Life Management (Klaxons, The Verve, etc), so expect to hear lots more about them in the near future.
IAT contributor Vasilis Panagiotopoulos has a piece at Drowned in Sound on how the economic collapse has affected the Icelandic music scene: https://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4137547-the-icelandic-music-scene-after-the-economic-collapse
The Independent reports on the latest batch of Swedish artists to make inroads onto the international music scene: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/sweden--statesponsored-rock-valhalla-1758704.html
MI reports that Spotify is aiming at a US launch before the end of the year: https://www.musikindustrin.se/artikel/972/Spotify_siktar_pa_USA.html
If anyone out there wants to hook me up with an American ambassador invite, I won't say no. I'm too lazy to deal with proxies.
Looks like the folks behind Hultsfred Festival are in financial trouble again and are contemplating curtailing their activities: https://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/supersommar2009/article5540050.ab (in Swedish)
Swedish post-rock label And the Sound (Ef, Immanu El) has signed a new distro deal with Border Music for the territory of Scandinavia.
Devotion, the new Swedish webzine from the same people who brought you Panda, is now online: https://www.devotionmagazine.se/
Malmö-based indie/hardcore label Black Star Foundation (Holmes, Pg.Lost) has signed on with Sound Pollution as their new distributor. Look for new albums from both Abandon ("The dead end" 2CD) and Jesaiah ("Et tu hope") soon.
Gaffa reports that Copenhagen Records (Carpark North, Nephew) has seized the honor of being the first Danish label to offer lossless-quality music files for sale: https://gaffa.dk/nyhed/33351 (in Danish)
A new ordinance goes into effect on July 1 in Göteborg prohibiting street musicians from performing without a permit: https://www.thelocal.se/20362/20090630/
Jerry Bowman of Musik enligt Jerry/The Tram Sessions/TV4 responds: https://musikenligtjerry.blogspot.com/2009/06/lat-inget-tysta-er.html (in Swedish)