In cooperation with the Nordic Industrial Fund  a team of researchers from all five Nordic countries have been engaged to investigate the industrial competitiveness of the Nordic music industry.

The project has two major aims. Firstly, a detailed mapping of the industry will take place in order to identify the scale and scope of the industry as well as each national industry’s strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. An important aspect of this ‘mapping’ is to put each of the national industries into comparative perspective to see what each country can learn from the other and also so as to develop common policies and initiatives to tackle barriers to growth.

The second part of the project involves each national team undertaking a variety of detailed case studies on important aspects of the industry. The various national case studies will put emphasis on different aspects of the intersection between functional, geographical and institutional levels of analysis. Examples include: linkages between independents and the global music majors; the developing music services industry (e.g. song-writing, mixing, postproduction, etc.); ways in which the music industry can incorporate and profit from developments in IT and the internet; how the structure of distribution and marketing channels in the US and UK effect market access conditions; problems facing start-up firms and projects in the music industry.

The project is fully granted by the Nordic Industrial Fund (a part of the Nordic Council, and the Nordic Council of Ministers), and the project period runs from April 2002 to March 2003.

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