ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the phenomenon of Swedish music export into a broader historical context, showing how and by whom the success story was constructed. Emphasis is not so much on Swedish music in itself, but rather on the political use of music in so-called "nation branding," and on the disparate ways to affirm the idea of music as engine for economic growth. The creation of "economies" is a selective process; from the totality of economic relations, certain subsets are made into what Jessop terms economic imaginaries. Sweden's organized musicians had partially different concerns. Ever since it was founded in 1907, the Swedish Musicians' Union had been trying hard to limit the influx of foreign musicians. Music was no longer thought of as the symbol of a new, light, post-industrial economy that would gradually replace the old, heavy, industrial one. Rather, it was assigned the role of facilitator in the quest for maximizing Swedish exports of rather traditional, heavy products.
