Sweden: The winner takes it all
With respect to our good friends in Denmark and Norway – Sweden leads the pack. A 2007 source placed Sweden as the world’s third-largest music exporter in revenue, behind only the US and UK.
When we allow for relative population sizes (Sweden’s just over 10 million), the reality is even more staggering, with the top three order reversed. Apparently, per capita, Sweden produces the most chart hits in the world. The fact is that Sweden punches well above its weight.
Petri Lundén takes a pragmaticallyminded outlook. “Success breeds success and brings forth new contenders continuously,” he says. “We had early success with Blue Swede and ABBA, orchestrated by Swedes throughout which meant that a lot of knowledge stayed ‘at home’ rather than having foreign producers, managers, film directors, agents and so on. This knowledge has then been shared between industry players to recreate international success (Roxette, The Cardigans, Europe, Ace Of Base, Max Martin, Avicii, and so on), and is still shared to this date. Colleagues rather than competitors.”