Cosmos Goes Live

Former Live Nation Sweden staffer Kattis Blom has joined Cosmos Enterprises to head up its indie record label’s entry into the live music market.

Stockholm-based Cosmos, which claims to have Scandinavia’s biggest independent label with a 10 percent share of the Swedish market, has been planning the move for several months and hopes to be bringing international acts to the Nordic territories early in 2012.

Cosmos Enterprises chairman Fredrik Ekander told Pollstar the aim is not to compete with Live Nation in Scandinavia – a task that proved beyond AEG Live – but to offer a niche alternative.

“I think it’s a case of selling apples or oranges,” he said, indicating that Cosmos Live wouldn’t be trying to outbid LN for global superstars.

Blom, who joined Live Nation Sweden when it was EMA Telstar and spent more than a decade with the company, will be managing director of the new Cosmos Live.

The Cosmos Live board members are A&R veterans Klas Lunding and Isse Samie, who have worked with top national acts including Lykke Li, Håkan Hellström, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, and Stina Nordenstam, and nightclub boss Conny C. Lindström.

Strand, Lindström’s 1,200-capacity restaurant, bar and rock club, has recently hosted shows for acts including The Magic Numbers, John Grant, Leila K, Neneh Cherry, and Peter, Bjorn & John.

Cosmos Enterprises was formed in 2009 as a result of a management buyout of former owner Bonnier Amigo, part of the Bonnier Group media empire.

Bonnier, which decided to get out of the music business, still has Sweden’s commercial TV network TV4 and daily papers including Dagens Nyheter, Expressen and Sydsvenskan.