Creme de la creme of the Russian music scene

[crazy malchik]

Ok, people, I would really like to start a discussion, it's about the most popular artists in Russia.

So first of - who are the most popular stars out there? I know Dima Bilan's huge, I know t.A.T.u. used to have their moments... Serebro were big for a while.

I've heard about Zemfira, Zveri, Via Gra, are those popular too?
Whatever happened to Nichya - were they really popular?

Is Yulia Savicheva best-selling female artist?

What are the big names?

[Argos]

^
Maybe a bit difficult to answer, Russian music business is strange. Young people don't have the money to finance the music business, as they do in the west, and the whole show is pretty much dominated by the wishlist of grown up - very much grown up - no more growing up (rather shrinking and wrinkling) people.

No surprise that the artists of long past generations earn most of the money - Alla Pugacheva, Filipp Kirkorov, Valerij Leont'ev, Grigorij Leps, Valerij Meladze and Nikolaj Baskov. Only Dima Bilan as representative of the young generation can compete with them. Decent income of stars who have a younger audience (besides Bilan) are the girls rock band Ranetki, MakSim, Zhanna Friske, Sergej Lazarev (not with music!), Yuliya Savicheva (same as Lazarev) and Zemfira.

When it comes to album sales only MakSim can sell her new albums well. Sales figures of most of the other acts are more or less flops.

On radio we can listen to the female singers MakSim, Uzbekian Sogdiana, Valeriya, Ukrainian Ani Lorak and some new acts like IKA and Ri (managed by rapper Seryoga), the girl groups Serebro and VIA Gra. The most successful male acts are the boy group BiS, the singers Irakli, Stas P'eha, Grigorij Leps and Dima Bilan. Then there are some frequently aired bands like Vintazh (the top act of the year 2009), A'Studio, the Quest Pistols, Chi-li, Diskoteka Avariya and the DJs Leonid Rudenko and DJ Smash.

Rock and rap/hip-hop are mostly ignored by radio but are quite active outside the Russian music establishment. Hard to say who is currently en vogue. Zveri, Bi-2, Mumij troll', Zemfira, Nochnye snajpery and Splin are certainly among the best rock groups, but there are some interesting new acts too like Tat'yana Zykina, Maks Fadeev's Kit-Aj, Haki and Princessa Avenue.

On the rapper front nothing new: Seryoga, Timati, Kasta, Basta, Centr and Band'Eros, who had a really bad year 2009.
Don't ask why I give no links for the last category - it's OBVIOUS!

[crazy malchik]

Alla Pugacheva is, of course, a legend.

MakSim's woo?! But she's booring BiS are pathetic!!! Ani Lorak went to ESC, she's cute...

I also wondered about - eeerm the Serebro guuuy - yes, Fadeev. What does he do? He is a musical producer, riight? Is he connected to that Star Factory somehow? And that show - Star Factory - what's that about?

Timati... Bad bad bad...

******************************

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ponjoYRxJo is HOTTT!!! The video is so good... Just saw it for the first time

[Argos]

Originally Posted by crazy malchik

Alla Pugacheva is, of course, a legend.

Yes, but ..

Originally Posted by crazy malchik

MakSim's woo?! But she's booring

Yes, booring!

Originally Posted by crazy malchik

BiS are pathetic!!!

Yes, but which boy group isn't?

Originally Posted by crazy malchik

Ani Lorak ... she's cute...

Yes, and oh God, she can sing!

Originally Posted by crazy malchik

I also wondered about - eeerm the Serebro guuuy - yes, Fadeev. What does he do? He is a musical producer, riight? Is he connected to that Star Factory somehow? And that show - Star Factory - what's that about?

He was the producer of the second, and one of the producers of the fifth Star Factory. Some of his projects is/was from those shows (Savicheva, Irakli, the oh-god-I-hate-you-Maks thrown away Terleeva, and some less known acts (Pierre Narcisse, Kukarskaya).

Originally Posted by crazy malchik

Timati... Bad bad bad...

Yes, really bad!

[FiorE]

well, is so weird that the most $$$$ Acts in russsia are the ones beyond 50 , I`m not against them some of the ones you mentioned there(I like Kolya`s attitude more than anything ) I know and heard some songs and well.
what`s up with young people dont they recieved their weekly allowance from parents Albums are not that expensive there.
wow just imagine if that happen in the west Billy joel (good musician) and phill collings earning more cash than britney spears and jay z()

I like Ani Lorak, I think she has a great talent, and she`s from ukraine which is awesome!!
zhanna friske is ok, though I completely dislike her voice but no doubt she manages as a sex bomb for russians, even Yulia liked that hehe! and that sells!

what can I say about BIS bad copy of Backstreet boys mixed out with nsync, 1 is cute, (but not enough to make me want to actually Download one song)ok boybands are quite cheessy, but Damn at least some of their members can sing, but I doubt I can say the same of BIS

poor Timati, he seems to invest on his records, casue I dont think having Snoop dogg, scot storch in his Album has been cheap.
and well Banderos wasnt that band at the top one in 08?, what happenned?:/

Grigory Leps yhodi krasivo, his style on the video is a la Robbie williams :s, nothing special to me.

sergey lazarev has really good talented, much more than many listed,too bad that he`s always one step under Bilan, and overshadow by him almost all the time


but hey!! what about Dima koldum, and the guys from fabrika!!!!

are the guys from uma2rman out?, alsue , I always wondered what happend with the band that sang with ur girls (haha) poezia! dont even rememebr their name are there still alive? obviously not creme de la creme, not even when tATu recorded with them.

[Argos]

^
Well, well, well...a lot to say.

About the young generation. They don't have the big money like the western teenagers. Furthermore you can get absolutely every album easily for free on a huge amount of download sites and they seem to spend more money on other things, and don't forget - Russia is in an economic crisis. Another fact is that collections of current music hits seem to be more popular than individual albums. Probably there isn't enough advertising for the groups and singers too. In the end young people get their music almost completely from the internet.

About Zhanna Friske. Honestly I don't even know where she gets her money. Albums - no. Concerts - I'm not aware whether she is even touring. Tele-shows - no. Casinos have been closed, so no more money from there. As a musician she is definitely not major league, nevertheless Forbes lists her as No. 18 of the Russian celebrities.
About BiS. Ok, honestly --> , but some songs are ok. The clip for 'Korabliki' is a good one though.
Band'Eros: for most of the year there was a big nothing. Late summer they released the single Polosy, but it wasn't much of a success. Can't say that song and video impress me either...
Timati - he should finish to play around and finally do his own thing. More than 50% of his songs are co-projects. It doesn't work.
Grigorij Leps - his merits are an unusual and strong voice, with some vocal chord acrobatics and quite a lot of funny quirks during his performances. The video is nothing special, but the most actual one. Not always the best songs, but maybe Russia's best singer, especially when it comes to power songs.
Lazarev - too much running behind Bilan, lets Americans (bad composers - MTV ware) write his music, not in the premier league musically, but not far away. He just needs good music.
Koldun is Belorussian. Not so much fan support, in 2008 he was quite big, but he fell back.
The girls of Fabrika - were never really big. Famous for their summer hits and pure fun at their performances. Their main problem is a way too small repertoire and it seems that their producer neglects them. He has about ten other projects, among them another new girls group 'Mobil'nye blondinki' (and they are ).
Uma2rman - ups and downs. They are somewhere caught between the young and old audience, and too intellectual. Sometimes they have hits and they are hip, sometimes you don't notice them. It seems that they are quite successful on concerts though.
Polusya - not even sure if the name is correct. If there were no tatu, nobody would even know them, I guess.

[fanoff]

Well I like Sergey's Tv Show album and Yulia Savicheva's first two albums.Ya Ustal from Quest Pistols is a good tune as well,but aren't they from Ukraine?Ani Lorak is Ukranian too,she has a great voice and married to a Turkish guy Some of her songs are nice,like Car Song.Dima looks pathetic mostly but his songs in Russian(don't let him sing in English please!) like Ya Tebya Pomnyu,Na Beregu Neba are nice.He has a huge fan base in Russia though.Serebro was a good idea but I only could bear their Eurovision song.

Argos,what are the chances of our Lena and Yulia to get as big as t.A.T.u.?

[crazy malchik]

Offtop:

d married to a Turkish guy

Do you think about being a patriot all the time?!

Honestly I don't even know where she gets her money

Three words - sexy pussy, wow!

[FiorE]

Originally Posted by crazy malchik

Three words - sexy pussy, wow!

I hope not.
maybe she `s into advertising, modeling, she seems to fit on almost anything relating to showbiz

honestly I think lena and Yulia can have their chance they have a fanbase already, obviously big sales , given the crisis, and that tATu`s fan base is merely young people mostly, cant be something we have to expect.

[sakuya]

There is also potap and nastya kamenskih Theyre quite huge.
P.S Cheap russian lady gaga wanna be katya razumova EWWW.

[Argos]

Originally Posted by fanoff

what are the chances of our Lena and Yulia to get as big as t.A.T.u.?

In showbiz nothing is impossible. Keeping that in mind, my answer is a confident "No". Times are bad for beginning a new project. Both don't have a team which can establish them in the Russian market, the fan-base, though strong in it's quality, isn't that big in numbers. If you want to start a successful project you have to be in one of the famous production centers or have an excellent PR manager (and that's exclusively women for some reason). Another way may be in the Moscow party scene, if you put all your eggs on dance music.

Tatu has done everything to displease the media, so neither Lena nor Yuliya can hope for assistance from that side. And anyway. A year of independent bumbling about is over and absolutely nothing is the result of it. No song, no gig, no PR activity...If you don't move, you fall back. I didn't see real activity from the girls since January 2007 - that's three years, wasted years. As solo artists I don't see any chance for them, together as tatu, with the backbone of their fan community, they may reach again the second league of Russia's music scene, if they turn down pseudo alternative ambitions and find the language of their target audience, and of course active PR.
*******************

Originally Posted by sakuya

There is also potap and nastya kamenskih Theyre quite huge.

In Ukraine they are absolutely on the top. I don't know how's the situation in Russia, they have really many things running in their home country, so I'm not sure if they even have time to care for the Russian market.

Originally Posted by sakuya

P.S Cheap russian lady gaga wanna be katya razumova EWWW.

Another new project from Maks Fadeev. All of a sudden every producer wants to create a pop satire project. I think it can only work if the stars have a certain kind of virtuosity (not only musically), as Lady Gaga has. Svetlana Loboda from Ukraine shows something like that for years and probably she is the only one in the Russian speaking East so far, who is good at that.

[crazy malchik]

What happened to Nichya?

[fanoff]

Offtop:

Originally Posted by crazy malchik

Do you think about being a patriot all the time?!

Offtop:
That was all I know about her,so it's not about being a patriotic Didn't you want to know about show business?

[sakuya]

Nastya and Potap are huge in russia. Well at least russian music chanel (I have few) play them alot. I think they do care about russia because artists get main money from private gigs and that is huge market in Russia.

[FiorE]

russian private parties are really something big, I read and saw on youtube that some rich people there have shakira , Xtina aguilera, and rihanna to sing at their birthdays, I guess that they rather world wide big names than their own artist

[Argos]

Originally Posted by FiorE

...I guess that they rather world wide big names than their own artist

Do you know from what the ~50 Russian and ~30 Ukrainian active girlgroups live?

[fanoff]

Is there a band "Balagan Limited"? An article says that they've submitted an entry for Russian national final.

[Argos]

Originally Posted by fanoff

Is there a band "Balagan Limited"?

Yes.

Originally Posted by fanoff

An article says that they've submitted an entry for Russian national final.

They tell it, too.

[fanoff]

Originally Posted by Argos

Yes.

Are they well known in Russia?And band Unisex was said to prepare for Eurovision,which would be no surprise because they entered last year's selection.How about Unisex?Are they popular or something?

[Argos]

Originally Posted by fanoff

Are they well known in Russia?And band Unisex was said to prepare for Eurovision,which would be no surprise because they entered last year's selection.How about Unisex?Are they popular or something?

I would both groups put in the category "Yes, there are some people who have heard about them once upon a time". Ok, Balagan Limited is almost medium popular (among people with strange taste )..