Åke Parmerud is an artist with a global presence in contemporary music and media art. In addition to his electroacoustic and instrumental music, his body of work encompasses compositions that span a wide cross-section of modern experimental music in areas such as dance, film, interactive art, multimedia, theater, and video. He regularly receives commissions to compose works for international institutions, and in 1997, his piece "Grains of Voices" was performed at the United Nations in New York on United Nations Day. His music has been released on eight solo albums and in several compilation albums. Åke Parmerud is also a stage artist and performs concerts with interactive instruments, often as a soloist. In 1998, he was appointed a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

With a background in photography, he continued his studies in music at the University of Gothenburg and later at the Gothenburg University College of Music. Since his work "Proximities" won first prize at the international electroacoustic music festival in Bourges, France in 1978, he has received 17 international awards and three major Swedish distinctions. On two occasions, he has been awarded the Swedish Grammy for Best Classical Album of the Year, and his music has represented Swedish Radio twice at the Prix Italia, as well as being nominated for the Nordic Council's major music prize.

His artistic activities have led to several international collaborations. Between 1999 and 2006, he worked closely with the Danish group Boxiganga Teater, developing groundbreaking interactive video installations and telematic concepts and interactive solutions for stage performances. From 2000 to 2002, he collaborated with Canadian choreographer Pierre-Paul Savoi as a composer, sound, and software designer. Between 2003 and 2017, he created interactive dance and video performances in collaboration with Canadian choreographer Mireille Leblanc, and together they received the Walter Fink Prize in 2008 for the best innovative dance performance, "The Seventh Sense." He has also worked as a visual designer and composer with choreographer Gun Lund in several works and provided sound design for choreographer Margareta Åsberg's production "A Thousand Years with God."

In the late '80s, he formed a duo with composer Anders Blomqvist. Their live shows, which included fireworks, were successful throughout Europe well into the '90s. From 1999 to 2010, he worked as an innovative sound and software designer for interactive sound and image installations and performances. His own works, "The Fire Inside," "The Living Room," and "Lost Angel," have been exhibited in Berlin, Gothenburg, Leon, Mexico City, Paris, and Reykjavik. He has also curated concerts and served as the artistic director for large audio-visual events both indoors and outdoors, including at the World Music Days in Stockholm in 2002. Since 2002, he has worked with Olle Niklasson at the sound design company Audio Techture, which received the prestigious Red Dot Design Award in Berlin in 2015.