The nation that gave the world ABBA punches far above its weight in world pop music. In early April, Zara Larsson was the fourth-biggest feminine artist on Spotify, behind Taylor Swift, Olivia Dean, and Raye. The month prior, Larsson had turn into the primary Swedish artist to prime the Billboard World 200. Her followers had been delighted. So had been Swedes.
Sweden’s music trade is a transparent instance of soppy energy. A military of Swedish songwriters and producers seem within the credit of pop hits. Max Martin has written extra chart-toppers than anybody besides Paul McCartney. The Swedish Home Mafia, Avicii, and Robyn are family names.
With a inhabitants of simply 10.6 million folks, Sweden is certainly one of four net music exporters, alongside Britain, the US, and South Korea. The query is what sort of system produces such recurring success. That’s the reason Stockholm, Sweden’s capital, is constructing the cultural infrastructure to cement its mushy energy.
CREATIVE REUSE
On April 29, the inaugural Stockholm Music Week (SMW) completed in Slakthusområdet, the previous meatpacking district the place Stockholm now concentrates extra of its artistic economic system in a single place. Based by former Spotify govt Johan Seidefors, SMW united decision-makers from music, tech, authorities, and academia to debate the place music goes subsequent.
There have been discussions on the way forward for creativity, attended by Google DeepMind and YouTube. Grammy-nominated songwriter Patrik Berger mentioned AI is “a boxing accomplice,” not a stand-in for human musical expertise. AI is “larger in its philosophical implications than the synth or the drum machine, even when equally unstoppable,” mentioned ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus. SMW got here as Stockholm is remodeling the meatpacking district right into a vibrant cultural vacation spot, a part of a city-wide wager on music as an engine of city renewal.
Slakthusområdet, the weird Artwork Nouveau former slaughterhouse, opened in 1912. When trade started to maneuver exterior the town middle within the late twentieth century, huge areas had been left behind with city grit ripe for repurposing.
New workplaces, homes, and eating places will assist the workforce that sustains the artistic economic system, whereas adaptive reuse of buildings preserves Slakthusområdet’s industrial heritage. The imaginative and prescient replicates the logic that has produced Sweden’s musical expertise: Cultural excellence will depend on bodily infrastructure the place the humanities will be produced and consumed.
CULTURAL POLICY BOLSTERS MUSIC
One motive Sweden produces distinctive music is due to cultural coverage.
No ministry designed Max Martin. However the ecosystem that made somebody like him doable was purpose-built: widespread studio clusters and kommunala musikskolan—publicly funded, native artwork faculties the place all youngsters obtain music lessons till age 15. These faculties function in 286 of Sweden’s 290 municipalities, in keeping with the Swedish Arts Colleges Council. The coverage goals to construct the following technology of musicians, and treats entry to tradition with no consideration. Sponsored studios imply that musicians who give an space worth don’t want to depart.
This issues as a result of cities wealthy in tradition are locations the place folks thrive and which magnetize guests. Tradition improves residents’ high quality of life, sense of id, and feeling of belonging—key metrics in Atrium Ljungberg’s Human Sustainability Index guiding developments comparable to Slakthusområdet.
Stockholm is already a artistic hub, with greater than 39,500 companies within the artistic and cultural industries—round 3 times as many per capita as Los Angeles, in keeping with the World Cities Culture Report. In Stockholm, the sector generates greater than 400 billion kronor ($38 billion) yearly, in keeping with a brand new report by Region Stockholm, placing it on par with the area’s sizable monetary sector. Density helps Stockholm’s artistic scene flourish: Music, tech, style, and design sit in shut proximity, producing a dynamic cross-pollination that’s unmatched elsewhere.
MODELS TO FOLLOW
Cities that perceive the worth of creativity—accounting for 3.1% of global GDP—are pulling forward. In 2018, Huntsville, Alabama commissioned the first municipal music audit in the United States. That led to a devoted music workplace, focused funding, and in 2022, $40 million to develop a world-class amphitheater. Treating music as financial infrastructure turned out to be good enterprise: Tourism expenditure within the county reached $2.4 billion in 2023 and 2024.
I like to think about Slakthusområdet because the Nashville mannequin utilized to a Nordic metropolis, outstanding for its artistic infrastructure density. Stockholm’s creatives want areas to create, community, and carry out. In March, Common Music Group moved right into a market corridor on the district’s coronary heart. Building is beginning on a Stockholm College of the Arts campus, to be accomplished by 2030, so the artistic expertise pipeline can proceed.
Close by sits the reopened Avicii Enviornment—the unique Sphere, 34 years earlier than Vegas—Solen, which the Michelin Information calls “a bang on-trend spot,” and warehouse golf equipment. The thought is {that a} assembly between a label’s music scouts and an rising songwriter at Stockholm Roast, the native espresso bar, is intentional, not a coincidence.
Many native developments method tradition as a final touch, such because the gallery that opens after the workplaces replenish. Mannheim in Germany, now a UNESCO Metropolis of Music, inverted this mannequin to spectacular impact. The Jungbusch former harbor space grew right into a music hub, with a college for widespread music and efficiency areas. They constructed Musikpark, Germany’s solely music-focused startup hub, dwelling to over 50 corporations. Their growth considered music as a lever for driving innovation, supporting financial diversification, and retaining expertise.
Metropolis planners are more and more conscious that tradition wants the best infrastructure to develop. An index compiled by AEA Consulting counted 267 cultural infrastructure initiatives introduced in 2025, representing $13.6 billion of deliberate funding. That’s the highest variety of introduced initiatives within the final decade. An institutionally established cultural sector permits a vigorous grassroots scene to flourish, supported by the best insurance policies.
Leveraging Stockholm as a artistic metropolis of music will each drive financial progress and improve the town’s long-term worth to residents and companies. Hear it from Zara Larsson, who rounded off SMW, saying “Swedish music is the very best on the planet!”
Linus Kjellberg is head of enterprise growth at Atrium Ljungberg.
