Over the past decade, Finnish music has emerged as a flourishing force in the global music market.

Since the late 1990s, Finland's music export business has enjoyed massive annual growth. The names of some of the nation's most successful artists are now widely known internationally. Examples include HIM (Sire Records/Warner), The Rasmus (Universal Music/Vertigo), Nightwish (Nuclear Blast), Apocalyptica (Sony BMG), Bomfunk MCs (Sony BMG), Darude (Helsinki Music Company), Lordi (Sony BMG), and Children of Bodom (Spinefarm Records). Bands like HIM, whose leader Ville Valo has created a new genre referred to as "love metal," are capable of generating select but large audiences around the world.

Musically, the Finnish "assault" on the world has been spearheaded by dark rock acts. HIM, Nightwish and Apocalyptica share a combined worth of around 9 million record sales.

In the area of "new folk" and "world music," Värttinä (Hoedown) catapulted to fame in the late 1980s by combining Finnish and Eastern European folk styles with pop music sensibilities. Around the same time, the underground rock trio 22-Pistepirkko (Bone Voyage Recordings) found passionate fans across Europe with a quirky mix of indie rock, electronica and country music. These bands remain relevant today as 22-Pistepirkko has been chosen to perform at one of the world's biggest music market events in Cannes in January 2008. Värttinä co-composed the music for The Lord of the Rings musical, which has been performed in concert halls around the United States and Europe. An album featuring the soundtrack from the musical will also be released in January.

Other successful Finnish artists include The 69 Eyes (EMI/Virgin Records), The Crash (Clockwork Music Management), and, most recently, Sunrise Avenue (Bonnier Amigo Music Group), whose album On the Way to Wonderland has now sold in excess of 100,000 copies in Germany alone. Germany has been an important market for Finnish music, both on a continental and global scale. Even as an increasing amount of Finnish music is traded in more countries and continents around the globe, Germany remains Finnish music's strongest supporter, with a quarter of all exports making its way there.

The enormous chart and sales success of the Finnish artists and bands has established the Finnish music industry as one of the most effective in the music world today. The new identity of the Finnish industry expands beyond the handful of existing major record corporations and sees ex-major label executives working side by side with ambitious youngsters to create a mini-empire of companies that take care of all the needs of their artists. Best of all, their focus is set firmly on reaching out to the business world that operates outside Finland's borders. These enterprises are striving to attract the interest of potential partners from all corners of the globe, creating a solid, consistent business that has helped Finnish music reach a level playing field with other successful countries.

A combination of a dynamic music export program, a bottomless pool of artistic talent, and companies that are more open to foreign cooperation, is helping Finnish music to continue its success story.