Denmark rocks – that's my conclusion after attending the 16th annual SPOT music festival in the charmingly quaint Danish city of Aarhus May 20-22. As the beer flowed (Danes are not averse to the odd quaff of the amber liquid), so did an amazingly eclectic selection of fantastic tunes that opened the ears of your humble correspondent to the vibrant and inspiring Scandinavian music scene.

Besides some 130 acts, more than 330 representatives from international labels, booking agencies, festivals, magazines, newspapers, TV and radio stations attended SPOT, not to mention several thousand music fans.

Live shows during SPOT took place in an assortment of tents and brick buildings in a former military training ground in the middle of Aarhus, as well as in clubs and other venues around the city. The vibe was friendly and laid-back, aided by warm summery weather. Beer in hand, you could stroll from venue to venue as the music drew you to its source.

And as with a good Scandinavian smorgasbord, the musical fare on offer had something for every taste. Number one on my list was Danish band The Kissaway Trail, whose densely passionate, anthemic music suggested a fusion of the Simple Minds and My Bloody Valentine;  the transcendently polyrhythmic Arabic drumming of Simona Abdallah; passionate Danish/Romanian chanteuse Fallulah; female vocalist Sandra Hakky’s incendiary and highly ululatory take on the torch-singing tradition; Finnish synth band Shogun Kunitoki’s pulsatingly hypnotic loops and squeals; and Swedish chanteuse Amanda Jenssen’s vampishly catchy “pop noir.”

SPOT was organized by ROSA, aka the Danish Rock Council, in collaboration with Music Export Denmark (MXD). Besides the festival, ROSA and MXD sponsored a series of seminars at a nearby hotel for music-biz pros.

Particularly interesting was the talk given on May 21 by Jay Frank, senior VP, Music Strategy, of Nashville-based Country Music Television. His message was simple: “You need to grab the listener within the first seven seconds of a song.”

Frank, author of Future Hit.DNA (2009), says the digital revolution has had a radical impact on the hit-making process.

“The days of browsing the radio are over,” he said. Although the elimination of radio and record companies was supposed to make music discovery easier, Frank said the explosive growth in digital music sources has made it harder to find the good stuff.

He noted that the new digital paradigm means every music play now begins at 0:00, making it crucially important to get the listener’s attention right off the bat. Frank’s research shows that the top 10 downloaded songs in the U.S. in January 2010 had an average intro length – i.e., before the vocals – of seven seconds.

‘“Don’t bore us, get to the chorus’ – that’s no more true than today,” he said.

Meanwhile, it's getting harder to sell foreign music in Japan due to the media "clutter" infesting the Japanese music ecosystem, according to Archie Meguro, senior VP of Sony Music Japan International. Archie and I outlined the possibilities and pitfalls in Japan's shrinking foreign-music market in a seminar attended by Scandivanian music-biz execs eager to sell their wares in a market where the old ways of promoting non-Japanese product don't work anymore. One key point that came up was the need to make connections with fans by using new media such as Twitter and Facebook.

“I only book acts I like.” That reassuring comment came from booking agent Tom Windish during his “Survival of the Fittest” interview on the afternoon of May 22.

The CEO of the Chicago-based Windish Agency said the U.S. touring industry is going through some “strange times,” with booking agents, promoters and labels scrambling to sign acts that have never played a gig, in the hope that they will develop into something bigger further down the road. “If I didn’t book these bands, someone else – someone bigger – would,” said Windish.

Speaking to a room full of Danish biz types eager to tap into America, Windish cautioned against trying to break Stateside without having adequate support there. “I like there to be some form of team in America, so that it’s not just me,” he said. “I prefer a manager, a label and publicist to be in place before I take something on.”

Full marks to the organizers of SPOT for putting on such a brilliant festival (and for inviting me!). Something is definitely rocking in the state of Demark.