The Music Man

Photo by Magnus Skoglöf

Being a record label boss isn't easy these days . CD sales have shrunken in half in the last five years, eaten away by piracy and easy file-sharing. But Fredrik Ekander, CEO of Bonnier Amigo Music Group, knows that it's time to get creative.

"There has never been so much music consumed as now. Everywhere you go, you see people with white headphones and an iPod, and they want to fill it with music," Fredrik says. "Greater access to information on the Internet also means the appetite for new music is growing. And if we talk of physical formats like CDs, we can build in added value, like collector's editions and exclusive content."

Fredrik also thinks that digital evolution in the mobile market will help the music business break ground with new customers around the world.

Everywhere you go, you see people with white headphones and an iPod, and they want to fill it with music.
—Fredrik Ekander

"All major mobile operators today sell phones based on music. Now when we start getting paid for music in countries like Russia, China, India and most of Latin America, we open up huge markets where we have never earned a dime in the past because of CD-copying."

Bonnier Amigo Music Group is Sweden's largest independent music company, though it's still dwarfed by giant international competitors like EMI and Sony BMG. But there are benefits to being the brash, young upstart.

"We can offer all the musical talent in the Nordic region a much more attractive platform than the majors. We have the most progressive digital strategy of all major music companies in the territory and we're very quick when it comes to seizing new opportunities to deliver our music. We tailor solutions for each individual artist using just the artist's needs and we cooperate very successfully with the best foreign music companies to launch our artists internationally."

Bonnier Amigo has a Nordic catalogue of around 30 of its own artists; they also hold distribution deals with over a hundred labels. In a special deal with Sony BMG, Bonnier Amigo snagged multi-platinum selling rock band Oasis. They were the first international supergroup to sign over to the company since Ekander began working there—and they won't be the last.

Other international artists being distributed successfully by Bonnier Amigo include Nickelback, Katie Melua, Jem, Slipknot and Fleet Foxes. Sweden's best-selling pop band, BWO, was the first national band to move from a major label (EMI) to Bonnier Amigo, as part of their participation in the 2009 music festival, Melodifestivalen. But BWO is just one of a number of very promising artists being released by Bonnier Amigo right now.

"We have new albums at once with two of the Nordic region's most successful artists: Norwegian Madcon, who has been on England list of over four months and Finnish Sunrise Avenue, which quickly sold half a million of their debut album. Anna Christofferson & Steve Dobrogosz has released the album "River Time" that landed on many year's Best of 2008 lists; we also have Pauline and Molotov Jive, two Swedish artists that you certainly will hear more of in 2009."

The label's list of new artists may be growing, but Fredrik's goal is clear: "We will strive to be the most attractive label for new and established artists, and I know that we can be. The challenge is to write new Nordic music history."