The Swedish Artists' Council is launching a new international studio residency in Örebro after three years of development in Närke. During the launch, the bands Speedway (Revelation Records) and The Kvaen (Metal Blade Records) tested the stay and reported only positive experiences of Fascination Street Studios and the producer Jens Bogren with colleagues. Applications are now open.
Read more here!
About taxes, declarations and social security systems when you are going to work outside your home country.
Many artists work abroad – sometimes regularly, sometimes temporarily – and some live there for a period of time. This raises questions about taxes, declarations and social security systems. Here you will find out what you should consider before taking a job abroad.
Read more here!
We want to take this opportunity to cheer ourselves up properly as so many of our members have received tour support and of course want to congratulate those who have received the support most warmly! To those of us who have applied for a grant and did not receive support this round, we also want to take this opportunity to really encourage and encourage you to apply again - in grant applications it is important to be persistent and keep applying - to be a tractor and not a Ferrari - to quote our dear member Fredy Clue!
Big congratulations to:
Elin Teilus, Anna Heikinen, Emilia Amper, Bach Jazz, Shtoltse lider, Groupa, Anders Hagberg, Helena Ek & Peter Janson, MUSICMUSICMUSIC, Nann Carling, Lina Nyberg, Kaja, Among Lynx, Malvakvartetten, Martina Almgren, My Dear Companion, Sisters of Invention, Sallyswag, Sara Aldén, SKROT, Süperstar Orkestar, Terese Lien Evenstad Quintet (TLEQ), The Gothenburg Combo, Thor & Olle, William Soovik Grand Finale.
🎉🎉🎉
The Swedish Arts Council and Studio Cirkus start a national music residency to give musical artists the opportunity to develop their art and promote cultural exchange, with support from Region Dalarna. A two-year pilot project has been carried out with singer Fia Ekberg and jazz musician Isak Hedtjärn, who, together with colleagues, have worked in a creative environment with a concert hall and recording studio.
Read more here!
The Talent Leadership Programme (TLP) 2025–2026 is a Creative Europe-funded initiative for women and gender minorities in the music industry. Over six months, participants will receive tools, networks and support to develop as leaders and drive change in music and society.
The application is open until November 12 2025.
Mandatory participation in Tallinn Music Week (April 2026) and Reeperbahn Festival (Sept 2026).
Take this unique chance to grow, network and influence the music industry of the future!
Read more and apply here.
In 2025, we will carry out two arm-hook trips with the aim of new contact areas and live contexts, and now it's time for WOMEX in Tampere, Finland, October 22-26. 🔥 Musikcentrum Riks, the Swedish Cultural Administration VGR and Musik i Syd run our digital showcase platform Live Music From Sweden (LMFS), with this autumn's focus on the project ExpoReady. The purpose of the project is to put the live scene at the center and take the step away from the digital format.
Two of Musikcentrum Väst's members, Livet Nord (Livet Nord's orchestra, Kaja and others) and Jakob Rolandsson (Vädur) will travel arm in arm with the Västra Götaland Cultural Administration, folk and world music producer Emma Johansson and organizer Anna van der Tol.
The trip to WOMEX creates opportunities to network and meet musicians, bookers, organizers and valuable contacts for new (or further) international steps forward for our acts. We would also like to take this opportunity to highlight that Musikcentrum Öst's member act BITOI will be playing a showcase during WOMEX, don't miss this if you are going to the fair! Performance time: Saturday 25 October at 13:00. Read more at WOMEX official website.
Don't miss the "three quick" interview with WOMEX-current MCV act Fredy Clue at Live Music From Swedens website!
Here is MCV's selection of folk and world music acts attending WOMEX:
Our digital storefront and showcase platform Live Music From Sweden (LMFS) has received a bit of a new look in the new LMFS project ExpoReady! The purpose of the export project is to make new international efforts with the live scene in focus. In doing so, we are taking further steps away from the digital format – a format that has been much needed during the pandemic, but which we are now broadening with arm-in-arm trips and physical meetings with the aim of new contact surfaces and live contexts. On September 17-20, MCV therefore traveled together with the Cultural Administration VGR to the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, arm-in-arm with the Gothenburg-based artist and producer Klara Goliger and the organizer Qia Hjelmäng from Sagateatern in Borås. The primary focus of the trip has been to put Swedish music on the map, offer practitioners new export contexts and initiate work opportunities for Sweden's professional musicians, artists and arrangers. By joining hands with actors in our region, we have also been able to support and monitor the interests and ideas that exist to create new opportunities and collaborations. A very fun part of the journey has been to just stay together in a small team and explore new impressions together!
For a total of 2,5 days we were on site at the Reeperbahn – a festival with a conference and a showcase section. In other words, awesome concert experiences were interspersed with seminars, panel discussions, meetings and presentations/networking. Overall, there is a focus on discussions around music policy, AI and technical innovation, sustainability and equality in the industry. Over the years, Reeperbahn has also grown to include more cultural expressions such as art exhibitions, film screenings, performances, etc. We were able to take part in smaller club gigs, outdoor gigs and larger gigs in a theater stage format. Inspiring and intense in a fun way, as the entire festival is spread out over different stage areas and venues, theaters and clubs, but also outdoors over a larger area in the same city district.
On our agenda were several visits to so-called “receptions” → i.e. presentations or receptions organized by a host country or other actor, often at a venue or gathering place with brunch or coffee and a chance to make new contacts. The idea here is that you should be able to mingle or take part in showcases and meet others in the industry. We were at a reception organized by CNM – Centre National de la Musique in France. It is a public institution whose purpose is to support, promote and develop the music sector in France, with a focus on all genres. We managed to visit additional receptions organized by Estonia, Ukraine and Germany where we met interesting key people from each country's export office and with whom we discussed possible future collaborations.
ExMS Jesper Thorsson and Westside Music Sweden's Gustav Påhlsson and Mattias Tell.
During the festival we also took the opportunity to meet the Swedish export office Export Music Sweden under their banner 'Meet the Swedes' – a chance for delegates from all over the world to talk to Sweden-based actors. Read more about ExMS here! We also attended an inspiring lecture with participants from the program Key change. Keychange is a European initiative that works for gender equality and inclusion in the music industry. Keychange works to increase the representation of women and gender minorities in the music industry – both on stage and behind the scenes (e.g. as producers, songwriters, arrangers, decision-makers). Our sister association Musikcentrum Öst has co-founded Keychange.
Through meetings and scheduled events, we became acquainted with several organizations and initiatives in Germany:
- Hamburg Music who talked about their new innovation project MI-RAP (Music Industry Resilience Acceleration Programme).
- Rock City Hamburg which appeared to have similar working structures to MCV.
-The North German umbrella organization State Music Council SH (roughly like a “State Music Council” for North German music organizations and actors)
-Popnet – North German music network for popular music
The Västra Götaland Cultural Administration, popular music producer Maja-Karin Fredriksson and Sagateatern in Borås, organizer Qia Hjelmäng.
A summary of these days is that the festival brings together an incredible number of performers, artists, performing artists and just as many key people with functions around them (agents, bookers, organizers). Since the Reeperbahn Festival has a general focus on pop/indie and a lot of subgenres around it, it also brings together a lot of various actors in one place. It was cool to take part in so many expressions and formats of music, and we can conclude that it makes a big difference to actually be there physically to form relationships, fruitful meetings and ideas with people. We will continue to work on new collaborations to clarify for our members how the German music industry works and what opportunities for collaboration exist within popular music and related genres. Thanks for this time, Reeperbahn! ✨
/Annelie for the MCV office