Immense interest for free Norwegian music

Incredible 2,5 million music files were downloaded from musikkonline.no last week as part of TONO’s 75th anniversary. The response was overwhelming for the organisers, who are happy to register that Norwegian music never has been downloaded so heavily before. MIC presents the ten most popular artists.

05.12.2003 | By: Bente Kalsnes

The downloading frenzy gave musikkkonline.no 48 000 new users, and leading actors within the industry state that music history was written last week.
“With more than 2,5 million music files were downloaded, and less the 1 percent negative feedback, it means that a large number of Norwegian have a broad and positive view of Norwegian music, wrote Eirik Brataas, managing director of Phonofile in MIC's Norwegian music magazine, Ballade.

Music traffic jam
TONO, Norway's Performing Rights Society, was established 75 years ago to protect the rights of Norwegian and foreign composers, authors and publishers of music. For one week, people were encouraged to legally download Norwegian music from musikkonline, operated by Phonofile.

“The traffic was been surprisingly busy, ten times more than we had expected”, says Morten Halle, chairman in TONO to Norwegian daily Aftenposten.

“We have looked upon this as a great marketing opportunity for Norwegian music, and maybe we even have routed some users towards legal music services, says Halle.

Newbie Karin Park most popular
Free digital music also stirred some noise. Phonofile’s server broke down several times during the heaviest downloading craze, and some labels, such as Tellé Records, protested the musical give-aways, arguing that neither artists nor record companies were asked for permission. Later, it eventually became clear that all companies were “warned” ahead of time and could guard against the free downloading.

Nevertheless, most popular downloaded artists and albums were:

1. Karin Park: Superworldunknown
2. Thomas Dybdahl: Stray dogs
3. Dumdumboy: 1001 watt (live)
4. Ole Paus & Jonas Fjeld: Tolv rustne strenger
5. Tramteateret: Pelle Parafins Bøljeband 40 beste (2 CDs)
6. Thomas Dybdahl: That great October sound
7. Bare Egil Band: Absolutt ikke Bare Egil Band
8. Ephemera: Air
9. Klovner i kamp: Kunsten å fortelle
10. Bjørn Eidsvåg: Hittil og littil

Headlines:

Himmelkvad

Celebrated vocal ensemble Nordic Voices is currently out on its promo tour for their new outing ‘Himmelkvad’, a critically acclaimed album presenting Norwegian composer Lasse Thoresen’s unique vocal universe. MIC Norway takes a closer look at the cutting-edge vocal ensemble and ground-breaking composer.

I was the devil in my younger years

Late Feb sees Enslaved heading out on a month-long European tour. MIC Norway hooked up with Enslaved’s Ivar Peersen to talk about musical cross pollination, inspirational sources, humour and his fascination for singer-songwriter Stein Torleif Bjella.

99 Minutes #20

2012’s first 99 Minutes webcast kicks off with a not-to-be-missed interview with Enslaved’s Ivar Peersen and an accompanying playlist that features tracks from such diverse acts as Team Me, Nils Petter Molvær, Magnet and Prins Thomas.