Music Export Finland

Anna Hildur Takes On NOMEX Role

2012-01-31T10:35:30+00:00

Nordic Music Export (NOMEX) has been granted 2 million Danish Kronas from Nordic Council of Ministers. This is following the presentation of the NOMEX strategy, Strength in Unity.

Anna Hildur Hildibrandsdottir, former MD of Iceland Music Export, has been hired to be the programme director of NOMEX and starts her job full time on February 1st. Anna will be working alongside the Icelandic, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian and Danish export offices and focusing on strengthening connections across the Nordic market, while establishing a Nordic brand for music.

Anna will also be developing collaborative relationships with companies in the travel industry to benefit artists, promoters and music fans alike, as well as working on Nordic music in the Nordic media, building awareness of original contemporary music from all five countries.

Gunnar Madsen, head of Rosa The Danish Rock Council, is the chairman of the NOMEX board: "It's exciting to have funding to strengthen the Nordic collaboration. We have been working together informally for years so this is a very pleasing development which compliments the work that we are doing at the export offices in all of the countries.”

“We welcome Anna in her new role. She has a great experience both from working as a music manager in the past and PR person and consultant for brands like Iceland Airwaves and countless projects as well as her latest job as an MD at Iceland Music Export. Her knowledge and insight into the Nordic music scene will be helpful in establishing this new programme which brings Nordic music a platform which Films and Games have had for years.”

Anna Hildur will be based in London where she has lived for over 20 years but is spending a lot of her time in the different Nordic Capitals over the next few months.

Further information
Anna Hildur Hildibrandsdottir
anna@nordicmusicexport.com

A big, tasty slice of the Finnish music scene at Midem

2012-01-25T07:59:10+00:00

Midem, held in Cannes on January 28-31, is one of the world’s biggest gatherings of music business professionals, drawing more than 7,000 participants from some 80 countries. This year 26 Finnish companies from across the music field are taking part, sharing space with other Nordic exhibitors.

Representing Finland are companies such as Comusic Productions, which manages the rock band Sunrise Avenue. Since winning the European Border Breaker Award, the band has sold gold and platinum in many countries around the continent, yet still has great potential to expand its popularity. “We’re looking for partners to boost the band’s career in other parts of Europe, South and North America and Asia,” says Anne Laaksonen of Comusic Productions. Also on hand in Cannes are übercool Finnish labels Spinefarm Records, Rockadillo Records and Texicalli Records, cutting-edge studio production firms such as Chartmakers, Finnvox Studios and TomFloor Production, as well as Elements Music, whose songwriters have recently scored hits in Germany, Greece and elsewhere.

Like last year, midemlab will reward the most exciting music-related tech start-ups. This year’s finalists include Finnish developer Ovelin. Its guitar-instruction iPad game Wildchords scooped up the Northern Dimension Music Innovation Award at last autumn’s Music & Media Finland Innovation Forum. As another example of Finnish technology know-how, LiveMusicStage.com will present an interactive online show with Postyr Project, an electronic vocal group, on Sunday, January 29 at 3pm. Two live gigs from Denmark can be seen at the Nordic Pavilion.

Music Export Finland jump-starts Midem by hosting its own showcase in Paris on Friday, January 27. The Helsinki Mon Amour show at the legendary Flèche d’Or club presents three up-and-coming Finnish indie acts: French Films (GAEA Records), Burning Hearts (Solina Records) and Zebra & Snake (100% Records). The artists were hand-picked with three local partners: promoters Super Agency, PR agency Boogie Drugstore and media partner Tsugi magazine. The Finnish Institute in France co-hosts the evening.

“These three bands are a great fit for the French market, and since we’ve excellent feedback from this club event before, we decided to do it again,” says Music Export Finland project manager Sami Häikiö. “There’s a lot of buzz around Finnish indie bands worldwide at the moment, and now Parisians have a chance to check out some of the most promising new acts themselves.”

More information
Music Export Finland
Sami Häikiö, Project Manager
Tel. +358 20 730 2230
Email: sami@musex.fi

Feature of the Month: French Films

2012-01-11T11:48:59+00:00

The best thing to come out of Finland since Jari Litmanen...
- Compromise Music

French Films are the real deal. If you haven't given their new album 'Imaginary Future' a listen yet, the time is now.
- Fake Plastic Tunes

What started out as a bedroom solo project for Johannes Leppänen has turned into a tune-laden touring machine with a ferocious work ethic. And they have two gigs at this year’s Eurosonic! With three lead singers, a sun drenched bucketful of catchy indie songs with more hyperkinetic guitars than you can shake a can of Battery at and thousands upon thousands of European miles on their odometer, they are a force to be reckoned with. No ironic detachment on offer here.

Their rise has been meteoric. A demo or two resulted in a global blog buzz. After releasing one four-song EP and even before a full-length album was out, the band had played in 11 countries and licensed one of their tunes for a Billabong video. Last July, a gaggle of Finnish critics chose French Films and Siinai as the acts with the biggest potential to make out in the big bad world. They released their debut album late last year and they’ve been on the road ever since. All in all, they’ve been a far more frequent sight on foreign stages than Finnish ones.

This month the band plays two gigs at Eurosonic, on Wednesday and Friday. On Thursday they play Bremen. That work ethic… The rest of January will see them traipsing around Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

In Austria they topped the FM4 chart and Imaginary Future was the station’s album of the month in December. Andreas Gstettner at the station went into Referenzautomatismus-mode and came up with The Drums, The Cure, The Editors, Interpol, Joy Division…

I've found a treat, a really good band. @frenchfilmsband , see this, very good indeed. - Edwyn Collins on Twitter. See what Edwyn was excited about.

See other videos: You Don’t Know and Golden Sea.

Playing at Eurosonic in Groningen, Netherlands on Wednesday, Jan 11 and Friday, Jan 13
Imaginary Future (2011) released in Scandinavia, Japan, Germany, Austria and Switzerland
FM4 Austria album of the month
Two features on Record of the Day. Here’s the latest.
Manager/Agent (Finland): Esa Tontti, esa@gaea.fi
Agent, Rest Of Europe: Björn Bauch, bjoern.bauch@ssc.de
See tour dates here
Websites: Facebook | Soundcloud

Tuomo Tähtinen appointed Executive Director at Music Finland

2012-01-10T09:07:57+00:00

Music Finland’s Board of Directors has appointed Tuomo Tähtinen as the first Executive Director of Music Finland. Tähtinen will commence his new post on February 1st, 2012.

Tähtinen, 29, has been with Music Export Finland since December 2008, first overseeing marketing and communications, and managing operations in the UK and the USA, and later as the Acting Executive Director. Tähtinen joined Music Export Finland from Warner Music Finland.

“With this merger we’re creating an organization with exceptional and substantial skills and knowledge of Finnish music and the international music industry. It’s excellent that this top-tier team gets Tuomo as their leader. His energy, international expertise and co-operation skills will be instrumental in building the organization”, comments Music Finland’s Chairman of the Board, Pekka Sipilä.

“A whole new chapter is beginning as Music Finland starts getting into shape. The new organization is a wonderful combination of talent with international know-how and extensive knowledge of music and the music industry. We are now able to reach a wider clientele and offer a broader range of services to our clients and partners all around the globe. I’m extremely delighted and proud to be part of building Music Finland”, adds Tähtinen.

The operations of Music Export Finland and the Finnish Music Information Centre Fimic will be integrated into Music Finland during 2012. The founding members of Music Finland are the Copyright Society of Performing Artists and Phonogram Producers in Finland (Gramex), IFPI Finland, Finnish Music Publishers’ Association, Finnish Musicians' Union, Finnish Independent Labels Association (IndieCo), Finnish Society of Popular Music Composers and Authors (Elvis), Finnish Composers’ Copyright Society (Teosto), and the Society of Finnish Composers.

Further information
Mr. Tuomo Tähtinen, Acting Executive Director
Music Export Finland
+358 20 730 2230 / tuomo@musex.fi

Mr. Pekka Sipilä, Chairman of the Board
Music Finland
+358 50 544 7207 / pekka.sipila@musiikkikustantajat.fi

Mirel Wagner (FI), Philco Fiction (NO) and Giana Factory (DK) play Ja Ja Ja in January

2011-12-20T12:12:31+00:00

As the last Ja Ja Ja was a massive two year anniversary celebration with - as per always - incredible music, and due to us having a month off for Christmas, January’s Ja Ja Ja had to be a pretty special come-back affair.

So as well as bringing you three acts that are brilliant and renowned in their Nordic homelands, we’ve brought you three that are blowing people away internationally and in a world of their own. Mirel Wagner makes stripped down blues of such fragility and beauty, words do not do her justice. Philco Fiction have had both our media partners Record of the Day and the Nordic music connoisseurs at The Line of Best Fit raving with their bold use of instrumentation and songwriting skills, and Giana Factory have created their own blend of noir-pop that won them international adoration from their first EP release onwards.

Ja Ja Ja, I for one have missed you and I am currently more excited by this line-up than I am about Christmas. Who says January is for staying in? More info on all acts playing including links to music, plus stage times and venue details below.

Mirel Wagner

Germany’s Spex magazine said of Wagner: "Songwriting can hardly be more minimalistic, no-frills, more strict as Mirel Wagner's sparse music”. While often categorized as blues, it has fragility and beauty that makes it as distinctive as Mirel Wagner herself, being Ethiopia born, but Finland raised. Learning guitar at an early age, Wagner wrote her first song ‘To The Bone’ (the opener of her self-titled debut) at only 16 and began performing at open mic nights in Helsinki where she was spotted by an American music journalist, Jean Ramsay. He promptly wrote of her; "Mirel Wagner is the real deal, an innovator among imitators. In a genre ridden with cliches she cuts through with the sheer the power of her lyrics and intricately finger picked guitar. And that voice… it is the antithesis of how a young woman in her early twenties should sound. It has those world-weary and resigned tones that make Billie Holiday and Leonard Cohen so appealing. It sounds like the truth...." (Jean Ramsay/Rumba). A photographer friend of Ramsay’s was equally taken, offering to finance the recording her of self-titled debut which was released in Finland in 2011 and now through Europe through Bone Voyage Recordings and soon to be released in North America and Japan via Friendly Fire Recordings. The record of nimbly picked, almost trance-inducing guitar is stripped to the bone, creating a strange but captivating tension felt even more in Wagner’s live performances and heightened again by the songs themes of necromancy, love, death, the devil and desire.

Listen to the full self-titled album here: mirelwagner.bandcamp.com
‘No Death’ video: vimeo.com/27824241

Other links
www.bonevoyagerecordings.com/artists/mirel-wagner
http://www.BoneVoyageRecordings.com

Philco Fiction

The Dance Yrself Clean and Take Me To The Vineyard blogs are just two of many to have raved about Oslo trio Philco Fiction, with the former describing the sound as such: “Throw The Knife, Lykke Li, The XX and Regina Spektor into a glorious musical blender and you get the Norwegian trio Philco Fiction” and the latter declaring the band’s second album ‘Take It Personally’ as “One of my favourite records of 2011, just the most unclassifiable, deep, stunning album”.

‘Take It Personally’ (on Norwegian label Brilliance) is full of rich, haunting songs with frank lyrics, giant choruses and effortlessly sparse, yet lush arrangements.

The full album is currently being streamed exclusively on Ja Ja Ja blog: www.jajajamusic.com/index.php/2011/10/listen-philco-fiction-take-it-personal-exclusive-album-stream with Richard Thane, editor-in-chief of the blog and creator of The Line of Best Fit, declaring it “beautifully produced to the point of pin-precision perfection. A truly stunning collection of songs”.

The music offers up inspired instrumentation, twisty production tics (courtesy of Anders and Biarne from the band), epic, broken-hearted piano ballads recalling prime Prince, pop symphonies that glide through warped electronics, speaker-popping R ‘n’ B spasms, tip-toeing Bjork-like flights of fancy and a fondness for Motown string flourishes. Live, though, is where the band truly come alive, with a weird, charismatic and theatrical show, honed with European and American tours with the likes of Wild Birds, Peacedrums and I Blame Coco.

‘Finally’ Music video: youtu.be/1up-60MaPao

Other Links:
http://www.facebook.com/philcofiction
http://www.philcofiction.com

Giana Factory

Giana Factory played their first show in 2008, supporting Glasvegas at several major European dates at the height of the latter’s fame, and have subsequently supported the likes of Autolux, The Raveonettes and The Asteroid’s Galaxy Tour.

The release of the Danish female trio’s debut EP of unique noir-pop ‘Bloody Game’ (2009) similarly resulted in immediate accolades and early career successes, with blogosphere adoration coming from top international renowned tastemakers like Nylon Magazine and Pitchfork: “This Danish troupe specializes in frozen cold, electronic minimalism, heightening drama through an eerie starkness” - Pitchfork (US).

Back home, on Danish national radio their first single ‘Rainbow Girl’ was on A-list rotation and both major newspaper Politiken and the esteemed music magazine Soundvenue have featured covers of the trio.

In 2010 Giana Factory finally releases their debut album ‘Save The Youth’ in Denmark. Full of gloomy synths, crisp drum pads, atmospheric guitar and sparkingly fresh melody, the trio created a sound entirely their own. Internationally heralded, with prominent UK press predicting their soon-to-be international success - "Mesmerising, and bound to end up up on England's shores sooner rather than later” - Drowned in Sound, 2012 is the year they will release their debut worldwide, preceded with a special showcase at Ja Ja Ja.

Listen to ‘Rainbow Girl’ here: soundcloud.com/gianafactory/01-rainbow-girl-radio-edit

Videos:
‘Darkness’: www.mtviggy.com/videos/giana-factory-darkness
‘Rainbow Girl’: www.mtviggy.com/videos/giana-factory-rainbow-girl

Further info and showtimes at www.jajajamusic.com

Feature of the Month: Reckless Love

2011-12-14T12:24:43+00:00

While still retaining those Van Halen hooks, Reckless Love proves this time around that they've matured in sound and it's evident from the word go.
- Gemma-Louise Johnson, Sleaze Roxx

I can gladly say that these Finnish rockers have not hit the dreaded sophomore slump with album #2. If you are a fan of 80s style hard rock and pop metal, you are going to love the new set of tunes on Animal Attraction!
- Hard Rock Hideout

Reckless Love - that plays at the 2012 Eurosonic Festival in Groningen - has come along way from Kuopio, a bucolic university town in central Finland where the band was started back in 2001. The band has put out two international albums full of the kind of in-your-face good time hard rock just can’t be denied, if you are a carbon-based life form with a beating heart. Tours and festival gigs are a testament to this. People as far away as Japan go totally nuts under the assault of big tunes, big guitars, thundering drums and big hair.

You know that classic story of the band from the sticks coming to the big city and taking the world by storm with their totally fresh and non-cynical rock’n’roll music? Usually the band comes from some Midwestern state, like Michigan, Ohio or Indiana and gets off the bus in Hollywood, shacks up with some strippers or lives in a basement with the band gear and then sets Hollywood on fire.

In the case of glam rockers Reckless Love, change the Midwestern state to Kuopio and Hollywood to Helsinki. Yes, we know Helsinki = Hollywood is stretching it to the point of ripping the fabric of reality, but the fact of the matter is that the analogy fits Reckless Love too perfectly for us to let such trifling facts keep us from some merry myth-making. Also, there were no strippers involved. Or living at the practice space. But, still…

Reckless Love is fun. Like the mythical Hollywood was always fun.

Rock music goes through periods of being fun on a regular basis, like in the LA of the 1980s. That’s the kind of fun on offer here. Big melodies, huge choruses, bigger hair, tight guitar riffs… It’s all there and rendered with enough personality to make it all their own. This recipe has seen them through a couple of UK tours, as well as major festival gigs at Loud in Japan and Download in the UK.

Check this out for an idea…

Playing at Eurosonic: Groningen, Netherlands at Huize Maas, January 13, 2012
Albums: Reckless Love (2010), Animal Attraction (2011), released in the UK and Japan
Signed to Spinefarm/Universal Music
Management: Seppo Vesterinen/Hinterland Oy (seppo@heartagram.com)
Booking Finland: Tiina Vuorinen (tiina.vuorinen@redberg.fi)
Booking rest of Europe: Jim Morewood (jim@eccentrigentorg.com)
Press: Satu Snellman/Universal Music (satu.snellman@umusic.com)
Read, watch and listen: www.recklesslove.com | MySpace | YouTube | Spotify

Meira Pappi appointed Fixed-Term Project Manager at Music Export Finland

2011-12-08T15:47:14+00:00

Ms. Meira Pappi will be overseeing Music Export Finland’s productions at Eurosonic, by:Larm, South by Southwest and Canadian Music Week in 2012.

Meira Pappi has previously worked with Music Export Finland as an Export Assistant and a Fixed-Term Project Manager in 2009-2010. She has also worked with Finnish Music Information Centre Fimic in 2010-2011 and has a diverse work experience in music.

Meira Pappi will be working with Music Export Finland from December 7, 2011 to February 29, 2012.

Contact information
Ms. Meira Pappi
Project Manager
Email: meira@musex.fi
Phone: +358 50 3623 202

Tuomo Tähtinen appointed Acting Executive Director at Music Export Finland

2011-11-29T10:49:42+00:00

Mr. Tuomo Tähtinen – currently Project Manager responsible for Music Export Finland’s operations in the UK and USA – is taking over from Ms. Paulina Ahokas as Acting Executive Director on November 29^th, 2011.

Tuomo Tähtinen has been with Music Export Finland since December 2008, overseeing marketing and communications, and managing operations in the UK and USA. Tähtinen has been appointed Acting Executive Director until the Executive Director of Music Finland – the new organization resulting from the merger of Music Export Finland and the Finnish Music Information Centre Fimic – is appointed.

Music Export Finland’s task is to help the Finnish music industry increase its export revenues. In 2010, Music Export Finland ran 43 export projects in 14 countries, with 88 Finnish artists showcasing in 10 countries and professionals from 296 Finnish companies meeting their international colleagues.

The operations of Music Export Finland and the Finnish Music Information Centre Fimic will be integrated into Music Finland during 2012. The founding members of Music Finland are the Copyright Society of Performing Artists and Phonogram Producers in Finland Gramex, IFPI Finland, Finnish Music Publishers’ Association, Finnish Musicians' Union, Finnish Independent Labels Association IndieCo, Finnish Society of Popular Music Composers and Authors Elvis, Finnish Composers’ Copyright Society Teosto, and the Society of Finnish Composers.

Music Export Finland’s board members would like to thank Paulina Ahokas – who has been appointed Managing Director of Tampere Hall – for her valuable work for Finnish music exports.

Further information
Mr. Tuomo Tähtinen, Acting Executive Director
Music Export Finland
+358 20 730 2230 / tuomo@musex.fi

Mr. Veikko Koivumäki, Chairman of the Board
Music Export Finland
+358 40 547 0646 / wemppa@ratasmusic.fi

Feature of the Month: Semmarit

2011-11-09T14:48:15+00:00

"With sincerity and passion, their live show in Beijing deeply moved everyone, bringing out both laughters and tears."
- Christie Lee, China Daily

" If you love life, love music, love dance, love drama, love humor, love passion, then you will most love Semmarit! "
- Sohu Music

“Semmarit firmly grasp the audience’s attention… Their endless innovation breaks all boundaries on stage.”
- China Daily

How does Semmarit, an a capella male choir started by a group of students from the University of Jyväskylä, end up performing for hundreds of millions of people in China? And can they take it even further? The answer to the first question is “tenacity”. And by having a methodical plan with local partners. Semmarit has been working with Wu Promotions in China, using a good old-fashioned five-year plan. They are now two years into their cooperation and things are looking good.

Semmarit performed in a televised broadcast of the final gala of an internationals expo in Xi án. With hundreds of millions of viewers, Semmarit was given the best possible slot for their number, right before the ultimate climax of the show. The budget for the show exceeded that of the Eurovision Song Contest. Just to give you an idea of the scale.

As for the second question, let’s just mention that from Xi án they moved on to the studios of CCTV, a national broadcaster, to record two more performances for a documentary on Chinese culture to be aired on national television in China next year. Semmarit provides the music for the part that deals with the Nordic countries. They are in talks with Hunan TV, as well as working on a tour of China for 2012. The answer is "yes".

From pop, rock and metal to Oriental spices, with languages ranging from Finnish to English, French, German, Portuguese and Chinese, Semmarit is a group for places and times. The combination of visual comedy, sharp choreography, great music sung to perfection, impressive showmanship and technological dazzle works equally at home and abroad. They’re equally at home on a street corner or at the stadium.

Over the last decade Semmarit has toured abroad extensively from North America to China.

Don’t call them a band, don’t call them a choir, they’re something else altogether. And more. They’re Semmarit.

Two number one selling albums in Finland
Official World Expo rep in Lisbon (1998) and Hannover (2000), toured US and Canada in 2003, China in 2010, with performances in Sweden and Switzerland, too
Three trips to China within the last year and major tour planned for 2012, in cooperation with Wu Promotions
Great visibility on national CCTV3 network in China
Booking: Mikko Miettinen (mikko.miettinen@semmarit.fi)
Communications: Markus Paananen (markus.paananen@semmarit.fi)
Website: www.semmarit.fi/in-english

Ja Ja Ja Celebrates its Two-Year Anniversary!

2011-11-01T14:28:53+00:00

Ja Ja Ja - the UK’s no. 1 Nordic night - celebrates its anniversary in style on November 24th with an amazing lineup that includes French Films, Marit Larsen and Sóley as well as DJ sets from Ja Ja Ja DJs and Project Fresh Socks.

French Films – a Finnish five-piece – make the kind of sunny surf rock and new wave that gets tastemakers like Pitchfork swooning. This year they released their first EP Golden Sea, followed by their album Imaginary Future which is full of sunny and cloudy sounds, wide echoes, young energetic drive and escapist vocals.

There was no way we were going to have a two-year anniversary shaped Nordic knees-up without bagging Marit Larsen. The biggest star in Norway (not to mention Germany, Switzerland and Austria). Her debut Under the Surface (2006) went gold in only three weeks and her follow up album The Chase (2008) included the track ‘If A Song Could Get Me You’ which orbited the Norway single chart for twenty-four weeks! Larsen to date has sold over 300k singles and 250k albums.

Sóley may be familiar to some from her role in the hugely respected band Seabear. Solo, her work has been likened to Joanna Newson (minus her harp). Both her debut EP Theatre Island and album We Sink released in September won glowing reviews for their hazy compositions of evolving piano: shimmering to dark and rich. It’s, however, her incredible vocal which cements the music’s captivating intimacy and quirkiness.

7:30pm ’til late
October 24, 2011. The Lexington, London N1 9JB
Tickets £5 adv / £6 on the door
www.jajajamusic.com