Pop Music Made in Småland Music Production and Entrepreneurship in Sweden

Using interviews with and academic studies of the careers of internationally-famous music producers and music industry professionals from Småland, Sweden, this open access book studies the history and present state of pop music production and entrepreneurship. An exceptionally high number of established and emerging pop artists and producers from this region of Sweden have had significant success on the international stage. This book describes how the situation for music producers and artists from Småland has changed during the past 50 years or so, starting in the 1970s with the so-called ‘Swedish music wonder’ and ending with the situation contemporary artists and entrepreneurs are facing. The field has changed massively both in terms of technology (from analogue to digital), social production (from individual productions to collective projects), distribution and marketing (from selling concert tickets and LPs to creating “prosuming” fanbases and multipronged careers considering genres, venues and activities). This book will be of interest to students of and professionals in music production; music, economy and media scholars; readers active in creative industries; and fans of (Swedish) pop music.

 1. Creativity and creation: How music was and is created.- 2. From beginner to expert: How to learn and teach to be a professional music producer.- 3. Markets and entrepreneurs: How copyright, distribution and media products.- 4. Marketing and entrepreneurship: How the relation between music producers and music consumers has changed during the past 40 years.- 5. Genres and media: How media employed in music production and entrepreneurship have multiplied and diversified.- 6. Technology and product: How digital music production places itself apart from analogue.

Martin Knust is an associate professor in musicology. He studied musicology, theology and philosophy at the University of Greifswald, the Humboldt University Berlin and the Technical University Dresden. He has had academic appointments and lectureships in Germany and Sweden, among others as postdoctoral fellow at Stockholm University. He is member of Linnæus research center for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies, board member of research school The Future of Democracy (FUDEM) and leader of a 3-year research project about digital music production, funded by the Family Kamprad Foundation (2023–25).