Wow, what a year! In this blog post we gathered a lot, but far from all, memories of 2015.
Jan 15-18- The year started out strong with Seinabo Sey, Kate Boy, Alice Boman, Jenny Wilson, Postiljonen, NoNoNo, INVSN, Sumie, Lowing, Tiger Bell, Mariam the Believer, Truckfighters, Elliphant on the Eurosonic stage in Groningen, Holland!
Feb 8th- Max Martin accepts a Grammy for Producer Of The Year in Los Angeles!
Feb 26th- First Export Music Sweden seminar of the year! We started with the topic music synchronization rights and music supervising of Swedish music abroad. Our panel consisted of Jon Pugh (Sony ATV UK), Mimmi Bashiri (Extreme Music), Eva Hällefors (Warner Music Scandinavia) and Iain Cooke (Music Supervisor in the UK).See it again (in English) >
March 17-22- At South By South West in Austin, Texas, Swedish artists like Amason, Seinabo Sey, Beldina, Tove Lo and Laleh were making some serious shows at the enormous festival. Actually, a lot of Swedes were. They were so many that you just have to check out all acts by yourself in our folder “SXSW – Your Guide To Sweden” here >
March 19th- Another award for producer and song writer Max Martin! This time the Music Export Prize from the Swedish Government. He also recieved the honory award for extraordinary accomplishments! Congrats again and well earned!
March 31th- This is the day we released our strategy for music export 2015/2016 that we made together with Musiksverige!
Read the whole strategy here > (In swedish)
April 7th- Our second seminar of the year was about the Norwegian music market. Led by Stein Bjelland, we got a Crash Course about Norway.See the Crash Course here (in English) >
April 23-26- Time for Jazzahead Festival in Bremen! ExMS had a stand for all the Swedish delegates. We had a chat with three of the Swedish jazz artists preforming at the festival, Cure-a-Phobia, The Other Woman and Susanna Risberg, see all the interviews in English here > 
…We also had a little chat with Siggi Logh, the founder of ACT Music in Germany, read the interview (in English) here >
May 6th- This is when we invited Claire Mas, Head of Digital Training at Music:)Ally, to teach us more about Digital Marketing and Advertising. Facebook, Google and Twitter where the main focus platforms. What works and what doesn’t? And how about the budget? Watch to get the answers to these questions and more…See part one – Digital Marketing (in English) here >
See part two – Digital Advertising (in English) here >
May 14-16 – The Brighton based showcase festival The Great Escape had a bunch of Swedish acts this year: Mapei, Seinabo Sey, 1987, Andreas Moe, Elias, Kate Boy, Les Big Bird & Sudankistan. We were there to check it out for the first time and we can now say it’s a great festival to visit, especially if your’e interested in the UK market! 
May 20-23 – Time for Classical:NEXT in Rotterdam where we had a stand representing all the Swedes who were there. We also helped to arrange the Swedish showcase concept SEKT together with Stim and FST where four Swedish artists/composer preformed: Fredrik Olofsson, Hanna Hartman, Sofia Jernberg and George Kentros. Read the interviews here “Four Swedish Artists You Should See at Classical:NEXT 2015” > (in English). 
May 24th – Sweden wins the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Heroes preformed by Måns Zelmerlöw!
May 28-30- It was time for Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona where José Gonzáles was the only Swedish act to preform! Good enough, he’s awesome.[/one_whole
June 21-23- Jesper attended a panel New Music Seminar in New York, one of the biggest platforms for music industry professionals. Jesper checking out the Summerstage venue in Central Park with the promoters and Swedish Consulate and Swedish Embassy.July- Time for some holidays!
Aug 18th- We got Twitter!
Aug 10th – Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri writes about the importance of music export and how the Swedish Minister of Enterprise have to listen to Avicii and “WAKE ME UP”. Read the article here (in Swedish) >Sep 15th- We held a seminar called “Export Funding – How To Finance Your International Career With State Funding” with:Isabel Thomson , International coordinator at Musikverket (Swedish Preforming Arts Agency)
Jakob Uddling, Case Worker for Music at Kulturrådet (Swedish Arts Council)
Hasse Lindgren, Case Worker for Music at Konstnärsnämnden (The Swedish Arts Grants Committee)
Ragnar Berthling, Musikcentrum Öst (non-profit network of musicians).
Sep 23-26- It was time for Reeperbahn Festival. We did a matchmaking on site together with Reeperbahn Conference, which turned out to be a success at one of Europe’s most important meeting points. We would be happy to do it again next year! Among the Swedish delegates: Agency Group, Musikcentrum Sweden, Versity and Zorch. Among the German: Motor, Seaside Touring, Odyssey, and Believe Digital.Swedish acts who played at the festival: For BDK, Vita Bergen, XOV, Elias, Cub & Wolf, Beatrice Eli, Black Temple, Andreas Moe.
We had a little chat with Elias > and Vita Bergen > (in English)
Oct 6-8- Time for South Korea and Seoul! Jesper from ExMS visited the MU:CON conference and some organizations to form new contacts for future activities. An interesting market, especially for Swedish songwriters.
Oct 14-18- The biggest electronic Festival: Amsterdam Dance Event went down in mid October!We went there to make sure our folder “Amsterdam Dance Event 2015 – Your Guide to Sweden” was put in everyones delegate bags. And YES, they were there. A lot of Swedish artists and DJ’s like Joel Mull, Kornél Kovács, Kate Boy, Alesso and Ida Engberg, see all here >O
ct 21-25- We spent 4 days in Budapest at The World Music Expo (WOMEX) and had for the first time full responsibility for the Swedish stand. About 80 Swedish delegates where there with us! A lot of business cards where handed out. Read more in Musikindustrin (in Swedish) > and check out our interviews with…
ct 21-25- We spent 4 days in Budapest at The World Music Expo (WOMEX) and had for the first time full responsibility for the Swedish stand. About 80 Swedish delegates where there with us! A lot of business cards where handed out. Read more in Musikindustrin (in Swedish) > and check out our interviews with…
Andreas Unge, world music producer (in Swedish) >
and musical duo Sousou & Maher Cissoko (in Swedish) >
and the organization Folk Musicians Against Racism (in English) > 
Nov 8th- Swedish Jazz at the Embassy in Berlin, with jazz groups Isabella Lundgren, Carl Bagge Trio, Fredrik Kronkvist Quartet and Emil Brandqvist Trio.
Also in Nov 26th – More Swedish jazz in Germany! This time at the Jazz club Unterfahrt in München, with Davids Angels, Nacka Forum and Klabbes Bank.
Nov 19-21- Hokuo Night in Tokyo! We went to Japan and the worlds second largest music market together with Swedish songwriter Ana Diaz and rock band Nitrodive. On the picture it’s Ana Diaz + Jesper Thorsson in the studio together with Japanese local producers. A very successful visit!
Nov 27th – Our first genre specific seminar! First one was about hard rock and was led by Ika Johannesson who interviewed three bad asses on stage: Klara Force from Crucified Barbara, Per Sundström from Sabaton and Lord Ahriman from Dark Funeral. 
Dec 4th – Last Export Music Sweden Seminar of the year and we dedicated the whooole day long to the US music market. With a awesome line up of speakers we got a proper education of how it works on the other side of the Atlantic ocean. With us: Robert Levine (NYC based journalist), US Embassy, Atena Banisaid (Ten Music Group), Tricia Arnold (The Orchard), Jerker Edström (Bird&Bird), Matthew Peterson (US/SWE composer) and Marni Wandner (Sneak Attack PR).
Dec 8th – What a night! Five of our most promising artists filled the house at Baby’s Allright, Brooklyn NYC at Sweden Makes Music. Zhala, XOV, Duvchi, Silvana Imam and André Laos. See a bunch of awesome pictures here > 
In the midst of the reporting we realize: damn, we bring nice stuff to the conferences, trade fairs and festivals… Thank you Lebowski for making us look so good.