Soviets Wanning To Pop Genre, Western Repertoire

BY KEN TERRY

CANNES The Soviet Union seems to be opening up to Western pop and rock records, to judge by statements of Soviet officials at this year’s MIDEM.

For some time, the U.S.S.R. has imported small quantities of mainly classical records, and the domestic output of Melodiya, the state record company, has been chiefly classical all along, with some folk and jazz titles thrown in for good measure.

Recently, however, the Soviets have been recording and promoting a number of indigenous rock groups both internally and abroad. At the same time, Western pop records are starting to make inroads in the Soviet Union. According to German Avksentjev, director of Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga, the Soviet export-import agency, albums by Whitney Houston and the Alan Parsons Project were recently released in the U.S.S.R. His agency has also ordered a number of licensees from PolyGram International, he said, including LPs by hard rockers Deep Purple and Yngwe Malmsteen.

In addition, Avksentjev said, the agency is discussing the possibility of licensing albums by three rock groups from Finland, Russia’s northern neighbor.

While the U.S.S.R.'s licensing pacts are similar to such agreements in other countries, there is a strict limit on how much product the export-import agency can pay advances for. “We have a budget which we can spend for buying licenses around the world,” Avksenjev explained. Thus, for example, the agency might decide to base its offer for a title on 5,000 units or on 15,000 units for a more popular title. These numbers indicate that the Soviet market for Western pop repertoire is still very limited.

That limit, however, seems related to the country’s lack of hard currency, rather than absence of mass appeal. On Tass’ new pop chart, for example, a Deep Purple album recently jumped to No. 5 from No. 14. (The No. 1 record is by the late Russian singer Vladimir Vyssotsky.)

The director of Melodiya, Valeri V. Soukhorado, who was also at MIDEM, said he bases his decisions about which records will sell in the Soviet Union partly on the Tass hit parade. In the West, that would be perfectly normal; but seeking feed-back from the public on consumer goods seems to be a fairly new concept in the Soviet Union.

In another departure from past practice, the Soviets are considering ways to plug Western firms directly into record distribution in the U.S.S.R. "We’re discussing the possibility of a joint venture company giving Western labels direct access to the Soviet market," said Soukhorado. Asked whether this means that any salable title could be brought in, the Melodiya chief replied, “We’re not trying to bar music [from entering the Soviet Union]. It’s the money question.”

Meanwhile, the Soviets, who sported a large booth and a nine-person delegation at MIDEM, are also seeking foreign distribution for their own product. Avksentjev noted that at MIDEM, the export-import agency discussed with BMG/Ariola the possibility of BMG distributing Melodiya’s catalog and new recordings worldwide. Talks were also held with Melodiya’s Australian partner, he said, and orders were received from many other countries; in Italy, for instance, the record company will have to choose an exclusive licensee from among several interested parties.

Overall, said Avksentjev, the Soviet delegation made more progress than expected at MIDEM. "We weren’t prepared for such good results.”

As part of its international thrust, Melodiya is producing music video clips for some of its pop acts and will try to have them shown in the West (Billboard, Feb. 6). It has also approved an English-language recording by Russian rock band Autograph with an American producer, due out later this year, and is contributing funding for an upcoming album to be recorded in New York by Boris Grebenshikov, leader of Aquarium.

Finally, Melodiya introduced its classical compact disk catalog at MIDEM. Manufactured in England by Disctronics, the 55 CD titles are available for sale abroad, but not in the U.S.S.R., noted Avksentjev. He said the Soviet Union is just starting to make CD players. When the hardware is available, he added, his country will build its own CD plant as well.

February 13, 1988
Billboard Newspaper, Vol. 100, No. 7