Krister Olof Malm

Krister Olof Malm (Stockholm, 27 November 1941) is a Swedish musicologist whose work lies at the intersection of ethnomusicology, the economics of the music industry and cultural policy. His work is significant because it analyses music not only as an artistic expression but also as a sector shaped by money, technology and government decisions.

He studied musicology, social anthropology and literature at Uppsala University, where he received his doctorate in 1969 with a thesis on methods for studying chronometric values in monophonic music. After carrying out fieldwork in the Antilles, Latin America, Europe, Sri Lanka and northern and eastern Africa, he was appointed director of the Musikmuseet in Stockholm, Sweden's national music archive, in 1983. In 1985 he was named associate professor of musicology at the University of Gothenburg.

His research seeks to understand how local musical activity relates to the record industry, technology, the media and public policy. Together with Richard Wallis, with whom he co-authored two books and numerous articles, he argued that communities and states should be able to exercise sovereignty over their culture in the face of intervention by transnational corporations. The project stands out for its international scope, its use of detailed statistics and its systems-based analytical approach to examining the flow of money and power in the production and consumption of music.

Within the ICTM he held various posts: he directed its Copyright and Property Commission (1988–1993), chaired the Swedish national committee from 1988, served as vice-president of the council from 1995 and became president in 1999. He advised UNESCO as a member of the international executive board of its institute for media and culture from 1980, and advised various government bodies on cultural policy. In 1996 he was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

His legacy lies above all in having linked the study of musical traditions with the economic and political analysis of the industry, an approach that remains a point of reference for those researching music in globalised contexts.