From A-ha’s ‘Take On Me’’s permanent place on the playlists of retro music-loving bars to Alan Walker’s countless gigs, music from Norway has always been popular in India. In recent years, there’s been a concentrated effort to foster crossovers and collaborations between the music industries of the two countries thanks to the efforts of Music Norway.
The music export organisation “has been dedicated to building strong connections between the Norwegian and Indian music industries for several years now”, says Helene Dolva Broch, who heads Music Norway’s ‘department for internationalisation’.
The office has hosted music industry professionals and press from India at events such as the Øya Festival and the by:Larm conference where they have met with their Norwegian counterparts as well as local artists.
It has also brought teams from Norwegian music companies to Indian trade missions, as part of which they have attended conferences such as All About Music and India International Music Week. “Both of these platforms have allowed us to deepen our understanding of the Indian market and foster valuable relationships within the local industry,” says Broch.
In the third instalment of this series in which we interview the heads of international music industry organisations about their experiences of working with the Indian music industry, she tells us about the opportunities for and challenges of cultural exchange between musicians in the two nations.
What, according to you, is the most unique thing about the Indian music market?
The music market in India is very driven by visual content, which is perhaps due to the historic parallel to the Indian film industry. This makes the way people consume music—with YouTube being the No.1 platform—quite unique compared to western music markets.
What’s the most exciting thing about the Indian music market?
We find it really exciting that it’s so diverse both in terms of language and musical styles. India has a very strong home market and a great global appeal.
What’s the most challenging thing about the Indian music market?
It’s challenging, yet at the same time exciting, to learn and understand the regional differences including all the different languages. India is such a large country, and you need to invest a lot of time in the market to build industry relations and fans.
What are some of the things the Indian music business could learn from the Norwegian market?
Norway is such a small country with a limited home market and because of that the Norwegian industry and creatives seek international opportunities and collaborations quite fast. Don´t know if we would go as far as to say it’s something to learn from, but we think it makes you keep an open mind, and gaining international attention and momentum will strengthen your position in the home market over time.
What are some of the things the Norwegian music business could learn from India?
We find the music business in India to be very entrepreneurial and ambitious. This is something we can learn from.
Where do you see the most potential (for e.g. which genres, artists, etc.) for the import of / collaboration with Norwegian artists within India?
Norway has a lot of talented niche artists and more commercially-driven artists, and we believe both can find an audience in India. Either through building up a presence over time or through the right local collaboration. Artists from Norway like [electronic music producers] Alan Walker [and] Kygo, [and singer-songwriters] Aurora and girl in red have all established a strong fanbase in India, which is inspiring to other acts. We think the potential is best for artists who manage to engage music fans in general, and at the same time make market-specific content to activate locally.
We’re excited to explore opportunities for collaboration between songwriters and producers from Norway, who are eager to make new and exciting music with a global relevance, and artists and creators in India. We believe this can be a good match with the fast-rising independent music market in India.
Where do you see the most potential (for e.g. which genres, artists, etc.) for the import of / collaboration with Indian artists within Norway?
Norway is largely a pop market, but has also many opportunities for other genres, perhaps predominantly on the live side. Norway, and the Nordic-region as a whole, has a wide range of venues and festivals that function as arenas for discovering artists from all over the world. It would be interesting to see, for example, how Indian hip-hop would work here.
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