IT'S A TRAP! is a non-profit web publication devoted to Scandinavian music, exploring the subject from many angles including critical and historical perspectives. The countries we cover include Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland and we are updated Monday through Friday year-round excluding a few major holidays. Special feature items are sometimes posted on Saturdays such as our 2007 spotlight on Luleå-based artists The Bear Quartet and 2008's showcase on the music of Göteborg.

If you would like to receive an organized summary of the week's news via email, please sign up for the newsletter using this link. Newsletter subscribers sometimes also receive exclusive information not necessarily posted to the site's frontpage.

IAT! is constantly improved upon through the contributions of its readers. If you have a news item to submit, please contact us here.

If you came looking for any Admiral Ackbar related garbage, you are obviously in the wrong place.

Posting/Registration/Privacy
Registration is required for posting comments. Each account must have a unique email address. Users may occaisionally receive emails from IT'S A TRAP!, but we will never, ever hand over any personal information to a third party without your explicit consent.

Credits/History:
IT'S A TRAP! was founded in September 2002 by Chief Editor Avi Roig. Everything on the site is written, coded, conceived and designed by Mr. Roig unless otherwise noted. Avi currently resides in Olympia, Washington, a city approximately 60 miles south of Seattle in the state (not city) of Washington. His brother, Jon Roig, wrote the basic code for the original content management system which has since been heavily modified. Nick Forte designed the flytrap logo. The private messenging and comment code is based off an old version of the BCO/pgboard system which again, has been heavily modified. The store runs/ran on X-Cart. The streaming audio is handled by the 1 Bit Audio Player. Much of the other heavy lifting is done via jQuery, but we also employ other JavaScript widgets such as James Heinrich's getID3() script, ColorBox, Autocomplete and Tablesorter. Always give credit where credit is due!

Avi is 32 years old and married with three dogs, three chickens and one cat.

Why?/Media Coverage
Ah yes- the inevitable, yet ultimately unanswerable question. The short version: Chief Editor Avi Roig became interested in Scandinavian music through the Göteborg/Swedish metal scene of the early/mid-90s and gradually branched out from there. The site was founded because, at the time (circa 2002), there were no other websites covering Scandinavian music written in English.

For more, please read these interviews/news stories:

Kultur Nyheterna (SVT)
Stockholm Metro
Upsala Nya Tidning
ROSA (Danish Rock Council)
Dagens Industri
Dagens Nyheter
Vertex (Umeå University)
Internet World Sweden
Tofu Hut (meeting the neighbors)
Cut the Chord (Scandinavia's American allies)

Mp3s:
The mp3s and podcast mixes are provided for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, please support the artist and label by actually purchasing their music and/or merchandise and supporting them on tour. Nobody likes a leech. Everything can ordered quite easily from one of the many vendors provided in the Resource Library, if not through this very site. Please don't post direct links to media files without asking. For downloaders with a conscience, please note that an overwhelming majority of the music posted here is legal and with permission. If you are the copyright holder of a particular track and would like to see it removed, please let us know.

Reviews/Content Submission:
For general contact information, please see this page. Remember, this site appeals to an international audience, so we often don't cover live events unless they involve an international tour or a special event, such as a record release show or festival.

If you want to submit music for review, please send it to the address on the contact page. Vinyl is preferred, but digital is fine.

By submitting recorded material to IT'S A TRAP! you are implying the right to post mp3s. If you do not want to authorize the posting of your music without more explicit instructions, please include a short note stating as such.

Advertising:
Prices are dependent on size, placement and length of run. Give us your pitch and we'll work it out.

Mailorder:
The IT'S A TRAP! webstore caters to a niche audience and as such, it is not intended to be an all-purpose, one-stop shop for all your Scandinavian music needs. We carry a small, but high quality selection of items of whose quality we are willing to stand behind from artists we are proud to be affiliated with.

We work hard to bring you music at the lowest price possible, so we simply cannot afford to offer refunds. Exchanges however, are fine. If you are unhappy with a purchase you have made and would like to return it for something of equal or lesser value, get in touch and we'll work it out.

It's a Trap! Clubnights:
IT'S A TRAP! sponsored clubnights at Debaser in Malmö, Sweden are currently handled by Jonas Appelqvist. Please contact him for more information and/or booking details.

How To Contribute/Help Wanted!
IT'S A TRAP! is always seeking out new writers for our team. Please go here for details.