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28.11.14 Music Week 29
WHO’S PLAYING EUROSONIC NOORDERSLAG? Eurosonic Noorderslag takes place from January 14-17 in
Groningen in the Netherlands. 19 Icelandic bands will play music spanning Viking metal to electronica, as part of the Iceland Erupts campaign. Low Roar, Kaleo, Kiasmos, Júníus Meyvant, Rökkurró,
Samaris, Sóley and Vök, Árstíðir, dj. flugvél og geimskip, Fufanu, M-Band, Óbó, Skálmöld, Sólstafir, Tonik Ensemble, Ylja and Young Karin will be joined by the final band to be announced last week, Mammút (pictured), who won Best Album, Best Song and Best Album Cover at this year’s Icelandic Music Awards.
been taking jazz acts to a European meeting called Jazzahead for the last three years. We’ve been convincing the Government in the
last few years, changing the perspectives. So the pop side of the music scene in Iceland is being taken seriously as a business sector, not just an art form, which needs to be invested in. It’s changed dramatically in the last three years.
Have funding cuts been a problem? There have been two funding cuts in the last two years, but music has been better off than a lot of other creative industries. The last Government in power, up to mid-2013, put a very ambitious programme into operation called Investments In The Creative Industries. That doubled our music fund and created the export fund. The new Government cut this programme completely, but it left the export fund in place. Most of the creative industries got a worse deal than we did.
What was in place before IMX? The Air Bridge came to be around 2004/2005, but before that, people were just doing their own thing, completely. Things like this have had a big effect; also Iceland Airwaves, which has been inviting the music business to Iceland to see Icelandic music for 15 years now. That’s had a gradual effect. It’s definitely caused part of this export success. There are a lot of things that play into it; it’s not a simple solution, but a gradual combination of factors. Part of it is community, part of it is infrastructure.
How big is the role that music plays in the economy of Iceland? We’ve been collecting data on Iceland Airwaves - we haven’t been able to get data on music export because it’s all over the place, and it’s hard to get people to cough it up. Export bands like Sigur Ros, most of their business happens in England, their management is English. They’re not going to want to show us their bank accounts, but we can calculate their record sales, or how much they tour - it’s all going to be speculative to a large extent. Iceland Airwaves brings in a lot of money. I
think it rolls around £5 million in the economy here. It affects the currency in a period of a week, because there’s so much money being spent in Reykjavik in such a short space of time. All the hotels and restaurants are full. Iceland Airwaves used to be the only festival trying to operate internationally, marketing themselves outside of Iceland. But in the last three years we’ve seen two international franchises come into the market here - Sonar and ATP. They’re trying to build on the success Iceland Airwaves has achieved. It’s good for the economy, it’s good for Icelandic music in general. It’s a good venue for our musicians and creates a bigger floor and more diversity.
“Icelandic bands are very creative, and obsessed with carving out their own niche”
SIGGI BALDURSSON, ICELAND MUSIC EXPORT
Are Icelandic artists supported by the local media - with radio quotas for example? Oh yeah. STEF, the collections society, and the Icelandic Musicians’ Union have teamed up with Radio Rás 2, which is the pop version of the national radio, equivalent to BBC 6Music. They have a 50% rule that they made up themselves, and are probably the only ones following it. A few years ago there was a lot of talk between the biggest two radio stations. They both agreed on this quota, but I think Rás 2 is the only one following it. We still have our local hero syndrome, where the most popular bands are the ones you never hear, because they’re not exported. It reflects well in the roster of bands chosen for Eurosonic 2015.
In terms of exports, which territories are priorities? It varies from genre to genre. We’re working with markets that we think are good in a certain context. Germany is one, because it’s close and it’s big, and Scandinavia because it’s becoming more interactive. The Scandinavian music market is opening up a lot internally, with more programmes in place. In Germany, we have a good audience; Germans come over to Iceland as tourists, they buy a lot of Icelandic music. A lot of Icelandic artists do well there, so that’s a market we’re focussing on a lot, as well as the UK. Some artists have their own niche markets;
Ásgeir Trausti doesn’t do well in Germany, but he does very well in France. He doesn’t do well in England, but he does well in Australia and Japan. This isn’t reflective of what we’re trying to do with Eurosonic, where we’re putting some effort into PR in England and Germany, more so than in other markets. But that’s also because England is so influential.
Did anyone ever expect Iceland Airwaves to become as big as it has? I actually played at the very first festival. There were three bands; Sigur Ros, my project called Grindverk, and GusGus. There was one English band as well, I think. Like many things in Iceland, it was a family affair. There was a guy who worked for IcelandAir, Magnus Stephensen. He had a brother called Stephan Stephensen in GusGus, and they had an uncle called Steini Stephensen who was starting a company that did events. So IcelandAir
On the announcement, Sigtryggur Baldursson, MD
of Iceland Music Export, said: “Eurosonic Noorderslag provides a unique opportunity for Iceland to tell the remarkable story of our recent musical past and, in the shape of these artists, to present an idea of where we’re heading in the future. “These are exciting times and the diversity of this new
wave of Icelandic acts will, I hope, resonate with those travelling to Groningen. We feel confident that our music community is ready to open a new chapter and reach new international audiences.”
teamed up with GusGus, with Steini as the event manager. In my mind, Iceland Airwaves was started by the Stephensens, but it depends on who you talk to. It started growing very quickly, as they realised they had a great idea. It became a festival that everyone wanted to partake in. IcelandAir was keen early on, and quick to realise it was cheaper to import people from the music business to Iceland, than to export all these Icelandic bands. And it made business for them and companies in Reykjavik. They were basically business savvy.
What’s needed next to develop Iceland’s exports? For the first time, we have two international bands operating out of Iceland with management stationed in Iceland. This is very much a part of what we’re trying to do now, strengthening the infrastructure in Iceland, specifically the management side. For the artist, the management is so important because it’s business development. Management is the liaison for the artist with the rest of the business. I find more artists than less need help when it comes to managing their business. This is something I think we need to work on more now. Two years ago I was having discussions with
people who said we would never be able to manage international bands from Iceland. But it’s working, so I’m sure it will work for others. Because of the structure of the beast, that it’s such a community- based thing, I think it’s the best way to go. We don’t have the money yet to put in investments, unless the private sector starts investing in music companies like Record Records, small labels. It’s a very Icelandic way of treating a business,
where they’ve had contracts with artists for Iceland, but never had any business taking the artist out of the country. These record labels have created a protective custody within the country itself. Music companies in Iceland have always been weak when it comes to export, but the artists themselves are strong. That’s why I think it’s clever to focus on the management side, then we can start building companies.
Compared to when you started making music, how much has it changed? The biggest difference is album sales. When we were starting out, you could make a considerable amount selling records. You can’t do that today in the same way. You need to do a lot more diverse marketing, tour a lot more. Before, you’d tour to advertise a record; it’s almost the other way around today. Iceland is different to how it was 20 years ago;
there was no infrastructure in place to apply for a travel grant, let alone have someone to talk to about context. It was DIY, really. I think these things can co-exist well, and should. You shouldn’t lose the DIY perspective and the music community, even as we try to better the business side of it.
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