Melody Grand Prix Subwoolfer Award Winners Hide From Artists Organizations Around the World – VG

The identity is so confidential that the organizations that give them the money are not told who the Subwoolfer is. An experienced director of persuasive art says that anonymity must be fought for by the MGP winners.

In line with expectations tuk sour subwoolfer At the final of the Melodi Grand Prix on Saturday night.

At the same time, it became clear that their spokesman and “interpreter” was music producer Karl Henrik Wahl.

But other than that, they still hide their identity – a strategy they will apparently try to continue until the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin in May.

Among the measures they have implemented so as not to be revealed is the use of pseudonyms for artists in credit overviews on streaming platforms. There you will usually find the names of each of the performers, songwriters, and technical staff.

In the credits for “Give That Wolf A Banana” a proper name is mentioned in some places: Jonas Kron, a Swedish producer who has a studio in Oslo. According to the credit, he mixed the winning song.

Kroon has recently composed music with Ylvis and Gaute Ormåsen – both suggested as sub-woofers – and a number of other Norwegian artists. He did not respond to VG’s request for comment.

– It doesn’t come up with anything like it

Subwoolfer has also taken action against organizations that ensure artists and songwriters receive royalties for the use of their material.

The reward agency Gramo raises money for performers and producers for the broadcast and public performance of music.

Their communications director, Rita H. Mamelund, says no one at Grammo knows who the Subwoolfer is.

– So far, only nicknames appear in all reports, and so do ours, says Mamelund.

She explains that this is a rare maneuver in the industry.

Personally, I do not come out with similar stories.

Mamelund says there is a three-year statute of limitations on Grammo’s wages. Ergo, Subwoolfer has plenty of time to reveal himself and claim his right.

– If the recordings generate fairly pay, I guess we’ll eventually get to know who they are, laughs.

Secret for members

The Norwegian company TONO manages the rights on behalf of the songwriters. Since TONO, unlike Gramo, also raises money from energy services, they already have cash and pennies to pay Subwoolfer.

Hence, there are some at TONO who know who wrote “Give That Wolf a Banana”. At the discretion of the streaming services, provided by the record company Universal, the songwriters are also the ones who sing and produced the song, such as “Keith”, “Jim” and “DJ Astronaut”.

There are only a few in TONO who know who’s behind the nicknames, says communications director Willie Martinsen.

If the songwriters behind “Give That Wolf A Banana” hadn’t used pseudonyms, it would have led to a higher chance of leaking.

Martinsen says the information would then have been available to each of the 37,000 Norwegian TONO members, as well as the more than three million members of TONO-like copyright firms internationally.

– We have a membership service where you can search for all the songs in the world and see who the rights holders are.

According to Martinsen, only TONO, and none of the corresponding foreign companies it works with, knows the identity of Subwoolfer.

– Foreign companies send money to us directly, then we settle further, he says.

– I made a mistake

Aslak Klever runs Popular Demand, which includes a number of successful producers in the stable.

Among them is Kristoffer Tømmerbakke, better known as half of the duo Erik and Kriss – who were also mentioned by many in the discussion about who Subwoolfer could be.

Cleaver denies that any of its clients have anything to do with the project. However, he took off his hat to maneuver the anonymity of the MGP competition winners.

Hide Metadata on Streaming Services Cleaver himself didn’t hide metadata when he launched another pseudonymous artist in 2017, Kamferdrops.

– There we made a mistake. We never thought it would be this big, says Cleaver.

It ended up being so Dagbladet Kamferdrops’ identity revealed – singer Heidi Mussum, produced by Tømmerbakke.

In Norway, only Kamferdrops went to 33rd place VG . menu With his cover version of Ole Ivars hitting “I Thought Angels Exist”.

In Sweden, where revelations weren’t a big deal, the song went to number two on the official chart.

“I think this project would have lived longer if we could have kept it a secret longer,” says Cleaver.

– For Subwoolfer, I think speculation among the people and the media is only good.