I was talking to a friend the other day about how hard people in Sweden have to support their friends and be happy for their success. We even have a epithet for it “The Jante Law”. Wikipedia lists it as “a pattern of group behavior towards individuals within Scandinavian communities, which negatively portrays and criticizes individual success and achievement as unworthy and inappropriate.” Or as Morrissey so eloquently put it: “We hate it when our friends become successful”.
It’s a quite unpleasant thing and you will see it everywhere, even how people are portrayed in media sometimes. Well I’ve had my share, being an artist and performer. It’s sad when there’s a competition between artists and other actors in the music industry, when we all could benefit from helping and supporting each other. Especially in such a small country as Sweden.
But I think the worst thing is when people who are your friends don’t support you or can be happy for you. Every day I’m stunned by how wonderful my fans and friends abroad are. Helping me out in so many ways. Some whom I haven’t even met. Like with my pledge for my EPs. Or now that I’ve applied for an artist visa. How generous and helpful people really are.
However It makes me just as sad when real life friends brushes off my pledgemusic project with the notion that supporting by pledging would be the same as them giving me a salary. Like I would use the money to party on the town or something (and the funny thing is that they’d gladly buy me a beer any time). And then, they all enjoy my music for free on Spotify. Don’t get me wrong. I want people to enjoy my music for free, but I’m sad to experience that Swedes sometimes are not as generous and loving as other nationalities.
My new goal is therefor to be a better person and support friends and colleagues more. And today I’m starting with my friend Scott. Scott is the writer, designer and publisher of the magazine K Composite. He’s been doing it for years and now he’s working on a new issue. If you like independent magazines, you’ll like K Composite. It’s basically a really beatutiful magazine containing interviews with regular people. Scott has a pledge at Kickstarter to fund the new issue and I think you should all check it out now.
What was that? … Well of course I pledged!!!
