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ARTICLE
07 February 2002

Limits of Musical Freedom
By Johan Fornäs, Head of the Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of Sweden and Professor at the National Institute for Working Life Program for Work and Culture in Norrköping, Sweden

Music has power. It moves people. This is a value, but also a responsibility, and a threat to some. Which kinds of limits are there to the freedom of musical expression in the world today? How can it be decided whether any of these limits are justifiable or not? And what may be done to remove the unfair limits? This text discusses some problems concerning state laws, market rules and life-world constraints in the field of music.

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