![Iceland’s Music Artists Face Deep Economic Crisis]]>
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Despite its tiny size, Iceland has made a big impact on the international music scene. Artists like Bjork have become household names around world. So when Iceland’s entire financial system collapsed last year, its music community felt the affects. And the country’s most important cultural event, the Iceland Airwaves festival, was no exception. Music critic Althea Legaspi has covered the festival since it started 11 years ago. She was there during the financial collapse. And at this year’s festival, even though things are far from back to normal, there’s a sense that Iceland’s artistic community might just be able to turn the economy around…ambi: protestThis is what it sounded like in October 2008, in the midst of Iceland’s biggest cultural event.Icelanders had gathered in front of Parliament in Reykyjak, the capital.They’re chanting, “Down with everybody, down with the government…”Political protests don’t normally occur during Iceland’s music festivals but the country was in shock. It had literally gone bankrupt.Just a year earlier Iceland’s currency, the Kronor, was riding high. A modest meal could set you back $40 American, you’d shell out $13 for a beer.Economist Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson says the collapse happened because Iceland moved away from a more centralized economy to a more free economy with privately operated banks and a strategy of overleveraged capital became the norm.EYJOLFUR: The short version of the story is: highly leveraged banks in Iceland, resulting in a highly leveraged economy that was not able to withstand the storm from the world financial market when they collapsed.Compounding the crisis was the fact that many Icelanders were also living on credit. Festival musicians were no exception.Back in 2007 Haukur Magnússon from the band Reykjavik and his uncle and bandmate Gummi said credit cards were being used like cash and it didn’t matter if you actually had any real money.HAUKUR: We all have Visa, you can get loans like, you just call the bank. I need two millions, can you lend me that? And they’re like OK, I’ll do it.
GUMMI: We have a serious problem with inflation right now, well it’s turning, it might get serious. Everybody in Iceland owes at least 600,000 Kronor…Last year, when all three major Icelandic banks collapsed, Icelandic currency was virtually useless outside of Iceland, and the Kronor could not be traded for foreign currency. The band Reykjavik was about to release its sophomore album, The Blood, but the possibility of touring internationally was financially out of the question. This also posed a serious problem for the Iceland Airwaves festival, which had international headlining acts to pay, as Iceland Airwaves organizer, Thorsteinn Stephense explained last year at a downtown hotel.THORSTEIN: It hasn’t worked out still. We’re having difficulty transferring payments to the artists. To be honest, we haven’t paid anyone yet, and the festival is almost over. So That’s kind of an awkward situation. But that’s a technical matter. The bank has our money, they have been working on our transfers, but the situation at the moment in Iceland is basically we’re like Cuba, there’s a trade embargo on Iceland into the UK at least, and I think most countries. So bank transfers are not easy to get through.Still, Iceland Airwaves went on as planned, and despite a general state of shock it gave Icelanders a much needed moment to celebrate.Now in 2009, the bank transfer issues have resolved.Unemployment has reached seven percent, but amid the uncertainty, there is also hope.Its three economic industries, fishing, aluminum and tourism, are holding steady.And art and culture is also thriving.
ambi: festival
2009’s Iceland Airwaves sold out three weeks in advance, the fastest in its 11-year history. As in past years venues rocked to the brim with Icelandic artists.Anna Hildur is the managing director for Iceland Music Export. The company works in conjunction with the Icelandic government to promote Icelandic music internationally.She’s setting up a gallery event for Iceland Airwaves.She says bands such as Icelandic acts Sigur Ros and Emiliana Torrini have taken new Icelandic acts on the road. So now even more of Iceland’s musical talent has been showcased internationally.HILDUR: I mean, I think what’s important to think about in these kinds of times is you’re forced to think differently and you’re forced to go and look for collaborations outside your country, and that’s healthy for every body. So in that sense, I’m not saying I would have wished this upon our nation, but I am saying there are ways of working ourselves out of this and this is definitely what the music community is doing and I’m really happy to be part of that.Reykjavik singer Bóas Hallgrímsson agrees.HALLGRIMSSON: If we go back in time to when we talked last time, we that it would improve artists, and I think it has. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of interesting things going on musically and in graphic arts this year, and that did not come as a surprise to me. I think that’s just gonna continue absolutely.And the band’s guitarist Magnússon contends that when you’re already at the bottom, there’s nowhere left but up.And it’s sometimes that bottom that sparks the biggest ideas says Guðmundsson who incidentally is an economist for a video gaming company. He believes Iceland’s economy could rebound within the next three to five years if a few things happen: that Iceland joins the EU to be a bigger part of the global community, pays the debt owed to international borrowers from Ice Save, a failed savings account that dissolved when the Icelandic bank that created it collapsed, and that it maintains and improves its free education system. He also says an environment that nurtures startups and entrepreneurship could serve as a strong foundation. And that tip is already in the works.EYOLFUR: We have just across the street from where we are sitting, a melting pot called House of Ideas, where people just come together there are several start up companies there and already between 20 and 30 pp working on various projects. It’s amazing how fast that has sprung up within the past few months after the crash. We have Airwaves, we had two film festivals, another musical festival. And the market is unlimited for that, and there are six billion people in the world that need to be entertained, and Icelanders can do their part in helping to entertain them. And if we decide to go down that road, we have a great potential.
(via Worldview - Iceland’s Music Artists Face Deep Economic Crisis by our good friend, journalist Althea Legaspi- click to download podcast)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kun6obF4qU1qanftbo1_250.png)
Iceland’s Music Artists Face Deep Economic Crisis
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The Iceland band “Reykjavik” playing in 2008
Despite its tiny size, Iceland has made a big impact on the international music scene. Artists like Bjork have become household names around world. So when Iceland’s entire financial system collapsed last year, its music community felt the affects. And the country’s most important cultural event, the Iceland Airwaves festival, was no exception. Music critic Althea Legaspi has covered the festival since it started 11 years ago. She was there during the financial collapse. And at this year’s festival, even though things are far from back to normal, there’s a sense that Iceland’s artistic community might just be able to turn the economy around…
ambi: protest
This is what it sounded like in October 2008, in the midst of Iceland’s biggest cultural event.
Icelanders had gathered in front of Parliament in Reykyjak, the capital.
They’re chanting, “Down with everybody, down with the government…”
Political protests don’t normally occur during Iceland’s music festivals but the country was in shock. It had literally gone bankrupt.
Just a year earlier Iceland’s currency, the Kronor, was riding high. A modest meal could set you back $40 American, you’d shell out $13 for a beer.
Economist Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson says the collapse happened because Iceland moved away from a more centralized economy to a more free economy with privately operated banks and a strategy of overleveraged capital became the norm.
EYJOLFUR: The short version of the story is: highly leveraged banks in Iceland, resulting in a highly leveraged economy that was not able to withstand the storm from the world financial market when they collapsed.
Compounding the crisis was the fact that many Icelanders were also living on credit. Festival musicians were no exception.
Back in 2007 Haukur Magnússon from the band Reykjavik and his uncle and bandmate Gummi said credit cards were being used like cash and it didn’t matter if you actually had any real money.
HAUKUR: We all have Visa, you can get loans like, you just call the bank. I need two millions, can you lend me that? And they’re like OK, I’ll do it.
GUMMI: We have a serious problem with inflation right now, well it’s turning, it might get serious. Everybody in Iceland owes at least 600,000 Kronor…
Last year, when all three major Icelandic banks collapsed, Icelandic currency was virtually useless outside of Iceland, and the Kronor could not be traded for foreign currency. The band Reykjavik was about to release its sophomore album, The Blood, but the possibility of touring internationally was financially out of the question. This also posed a serious problem for the Iceland Airwaves festival, which had international headlining acts to pay, as Iceland Airwaves organizer, Thorsteinn Stephense explained last year at a downtown hotel.
THORSTEIN: It hasn’t worked out still. We’re having difficulty transferring payments to the artists. To be honest, we haven’t paid anyone yet, and the festival is almost over. So That’s kind of an awkward situation. But that’s a technical matter. The bank has our money, they have been working on our transfers, but the situation at the moment in Iceland is basically we’re like Cuba, there’s a trade embargo on Iceland into the UK at least, and I think most countries. So bank transfers are not easy to get through.
Still, Iceland Airwaves went on as planned, and despite a general state of shock it gave Icelanders a much needed moment to celebrate.
Now in 2009, the bank transfer issues have resolved.
Unemployment has reached seven percent, but amid the uncertainty, there is also hope.
Its three economic industries, fishing, aluminum and tourism, are holding steady.
And art and culture is also thriving.
ambi: festival
2009’s Iceland Airwaves sold out three weeks in advance, the fastest in its 11-year history. As in past years venues rocked to the brim with Icelandic artists.
Anna Hildur is the managing director for Iceland Music Export. The company works in conjunction with the Icelandic government to promote Icelandic music internationally.
She’s setting up a gallery event for Iceland Airwaves.
She says bands such as Icelandic acts Sigur Ros and Emiliana Torrini have taken new Icelandic acts on the road. So now even more of Iceland’s musical talent has been showcased internationally.
HILDUR: I mean, I think what’s important to think about in these kinds of times is you’re forced to think differently and you’re forced to go and look for collaborations outside your country, and that’s healthy for every body. So in that sense, I’m not saying I would have wished this upon our nation, but I am saying there are ways of working ourselves out of this and this is definitely what the music community is doing and I’m really happy to be part of that.
Reykjavik singer Bóas Hallgrímsson agrees.
HALLGRIMSSON: If we go back in time to when we talked last time, we that it would improve artists, and I think it has. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of interesting things going on musically and in graphic arts this year, and that did not come as a surprise to me. I think that’s just gonna continue absolutely.
And the band’s guitarist Magnússon contends that when you’re already at the bottom, there’s nowhere left but up.
And it’s sometimes that bottom that sparks the biggest ideas says Guðmundsson who incidentally is an economist for a video gaming company. He believes Iceland’s economy could rebound within the next three to five years if a few things happen: that Iceland joins the EU to be a bigger part of the global community, pays the debt owed to international borrowers from Ice Save, a failed savings account that dissolved when the Icelandic bank that created it collapsed, and that it maintains and improves its free education system. He also says an environment that nurtures startups and entrepreneurship could serve as a strong foundation. And that tip is already in the works.
EYOLFUR: We have just across the street from where we are sitting, a melting pot called House of Ideas, where people just come together there are several start up companies there and already between 20 and 30 pp working on various projects. It’s amazing how fast that has sprung up within the past few months after the crash. We have Airwaves, we had two film festivals, another musical festival. And the market is unlimited for that, and there are six billion people in the world that need to be entertained, and Icelanders can do their part in helping to entertain them. And if we decide to go down that road, we have a great potential.
(via Worldview - Iceland’s Music Artists Face Deep Economic Crisis by our good friend, journalist Althea Legaspi- click to download podcast)
