An executive with the new recording company Nova Records vowed last week that his label will one day rival global giants such as PolyGram and Sony Music.
But Yury Nikitin's upstart label will first have to prove that it can beat a bunch of non-descript recording studios and pirates who peddle their output for a song. Nova Records was formed earlier this month as a joint venture between the Nova production agency, Euro-star, an audio cassette manufacturer, and the Alliance financial group. It is the first Ukrainian firm attempting to combine production, marketing and promotions and sales savvy to launch unknown music acts toward stardom.
'We will be finding new singers, help them to create music, record it, do all advertising and promotion work, produce tapes or CDs and sell them through our own network of stores,' said Nikitin, Nova's general producer, in an interview.
Until now, most Ukrainian acts have made music at studios that have cared about little beside a client's ability to buy recording time. Promotional work has traditionally been the preserve of the musicians or their agents. And sales and marketing have been conducted predominantly in underground crossings.
The Nova production agency, however, has in the past provided recording facilities for such clients as Ukrainian pop star Iryna Bilyk. Now its offshoot, Nova Records, has pledged to record, free of charge, unknown acts it's hoping to turn into big money-makers.
'Most of the money we will be earning will come from new artists,' said Nikitin.
Some industry insiders questioned whether that would be the case. Sergei Andrienko, producer of 12-2 hit parade, said Nova Records is likely to sign only a few new acts, but otherwise stick to proven stars because it will not want to invest the big cash needed to market unknown artists. But Andrienko also called Nova's birth 'a logical development,' and predicted that other companies will eventually imitate the recording firm's attempt at vertical integration.
For now, the competition isn't worried.
The Komora recording firm charges $15 to $25 per hour for recording time, yet 'both our studios normally work from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., and sometimes round the clock,' said Volodymyr Kolomiyets, Komora's deputy director. In its five years of existence, Komora has recorded albums by the Ukrainian rock icons VV and Braty Gadyukiny, as well as pop stars Ani Lorak and Taras Petrynenko. 'We will always have musicians who will refuse to record anywhere else,' Kolomiyets said.
Yet Nova Records' offer of free recording time and contracts for musicians with promising demo tapes warmed the hearts of young performers.
'Until now, young musicians could only record if a kind uncle gave them some money,' said Denis Davydov, singer for The News, a Kyiv band. Davydov's group, which is hoping to release an album in the next few months, had to play for a year in a Kyiv bar to save up the money needed for recording fees.
Nova Records' early releases will be dominated by today's headliners, though. The firm has already signed contracts to produce and promote albums by Bilyk, Taras Petrynenko, Garik Krichevsky and Oleksandr Ponomarev – all big stars in Ukraine's tiny pop firmament.
The first album, by Bilyk, is due out in early December. The studio has grand plans for its clients. 'The capacity of our new tape plant is very high, it can produce up to 7 million tapes a month,' Nikitin said. The tapes will be sold for Hr 2 each – the same price as pirated recordings.
'However, we will make sure our quality is much better,' said Nikitin.
He said the company will also produce CDs, but these will be made abroad, most likely in Germany, because of lower production costs.
Nikitin refused to reveal Nova Records' start-up capital or detail its investment plans beyond the expansive generalities of show biz.
'Our investment resources are unlimited,' he said.
