Sep 28, 2024
Rockin’ the Kremlin - Russian Music Industry w/ David Junk
- AZ TRT S05 EP37 (253) 9-22-2024
Things We Learned This Week
- Roger Waters performed The Wall – Live in Berlin after the Fall
- David Junk went to the concert, & was inspired and moved to Russia, got into Diamond business, then Music Industry with Universal Music
- David had to establish a legal record market, and had to fight corruption with the Local Mob
- Record Companies and Artists wanted to grow their fan-base in both Eastern Europe & Russia post the Fall of the Soviet Union
- Western Music had a huge impact on Russian music, culturally & maturing the industry, which created local Rock Bands & Rap Artists
Guest: David Junk
Music Business in Russia
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-junk
About
David Junk is a seasoned music industry veteran with a career
spanning thirty years. After the fall of the Soviet Union, David
Junk embarked on an extraordinary adventure by becoming one of the
first American record executives to work in the Ukrainian music
industry.
Early Days and Introduction to Ukraine:
In 1999 as a record executive for Universal Music, the world's
largest record company, David started an initiative to open the
first branch of Universal in Ukraine. At the time, no other Western
record label had ventured into Ukraine, allowing Russia to control
the Ukrainian music market. David played a pivotal role in the
early development of the Ukrainian music industry. This opened the
door for more Western labels to engage in business in Ukraine.
Championing the Ukrainian Music Industry:
As Vice President of Universal Music, David had a significant
responsibility in overseeing Eastern Europe, with a specific focus
on Ukraine. He was instrumental in defending the rights of
Ukrainian songwriters and combating music piracy controlled by
criminal groups. Under his leadership, Universal Music soared to
become Ukraine's most successful international label. This
achievement was largely attributed to the Ukrainian youth's love
for Hip Hop and rap music from Universal's premier labels,
Interscope and Def Jam Records. The world-renowned Black Eyed Peas
and rapper 50 Cent graced the Ukrainian music scene, thanks to
David's efforts. In 2005, Universal Music extended its support to
the Ukrainian Eurovision entry, Green Jolly, when Kyiv hosted the
televised event for the very first time.
Contributions to the Reggaeton Genre: In 2006, David took on the
role of General Manager at Universal's Machete Records in Los
Angeles, where he played a crucial part in transforming it into the
#1 Reggaeton label in America. His work involved collaborating with
renowned artists such as Don Omar and Wisin Y Yandel, further
expanding his experiences in the music industry.
Gibson Guitars:
In 2013, David began a new career chapter, joining Nashville-based
Gibson Guitars and managing a guitar showroom from the iconic Hit
Factory recording studios in New York City. In this role, David
presented honorary guitars to music legends Tom Petty, Elvis
Costello, Nile Rodgers, Steve Miller, and the band Cheap Trick for
their inductions into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame. He also provided guitar support for Blondie,
Rush, The Roots, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's "School of Rock"
Broadway Cast in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Seg 1
David Junk bio, fell into the music business by accident. Most people get into the music business through connections or ex musicians. David worked for universal music, and got into the music business when he was already working in Russia. He was living and working in Moscow and hired by universal music, then called PolyGram for a finance position for the record company.
Record label was big, carried the catalogs of Bob Marley deaf jam artist Bon Jovi and was the first musical label in Russia. David went on to become the first CEO of universal music in Russia.
David is from Ohio, and grew up during the Cold War with fear of Russia. His influenced by Roger Waters of Pink Floyd and his claim that he would not perform the album the wall unless the actual Berlin wall in Germany came down. In 1989 The Berlin wall did come down. Waters staged a concert performing the wall with celebrity ax joining in, called the Potsdam concert.
David went to Europe and attended that concert. He was influenced by the moment and returned to America to study business and the Russian language. He got an NBA in California.
In 1993 he got a job in Moscow working for a diamond mining company, mining raw diamonds. Russia has large supply of diamonds and Siberia. Unfortunately, the company David was working for turned out to be a huge scam with the Russian bosses stealing $200 million and diamonds. David was arrested and thrown in a Russian jail.
Thankfully, the actual criminals were caught and David was let go. The next job we got in Russia was for the music industry.
Seg 2
How the music business and record labels work. Record labels make money by marketing. Their big artist as well as music writes with song catalogues. Company David worked for carried many of the big rap artists like Jay Z and Eminem, as well as big bands, like U2 and the cranberries and also catalogs of Johnny Cash.
Labels are located in both the US and other countries. I band releases a new album and the record label locate in each country would promote and sell. Record labels want to sign artist to promote internationally to make more sales and exposure to the music.
The 1990s both Russia and Eastern Europe were considered one zone and many businesses were trying to expand.throughout. David visited many countries in Eastern Europe as well as former Russian Republic, like Ukraine.
At the time there was no infrastructure to sell records. There were no legal record stores and the Russian mafia controlled 90% of the music industry. There was mass piracy with music and CD. David’s job working for universal music was to create a legal music industry.
Three step process to get the mafia out of the business
- Legislation - using the Russian Dumba work to create legislation to generate tax revenue off record sales. Country like Sweden was a model with massive revenue from the band ABBA. This failed and corruption issues continued.
- Police Action - Moscow police raids of piracy locations and confiscate CDs of universal music and other record labels. This partially worked, had some corruption issues. But ultimately it failed to as the pirate factories just moved from the city to military bases. Now they are under protection of the Russian military.
- U.S. Ambassador - went to the Bush administration to try to block Russia from the WTO world, trade organization. Russia wanted to expand its economy, enjoying the WTO. They leveraged this to push for legal action on music and other industries in Russia. Force the Russian government to protect artist and lessen the corruption.
Seg 3
In the late 1980s and 1990s artist were eager to get their music distributed in Russia. They obviously wanted to work with a record company. Do it legal have promotion that was supportive and understanding of their rights. They also understood that the royalties would be less.
There was big business though in touring. David’s bosses in both Angeles and London cannot understand how powerful mafia was and how deep the corruption was.
When bands were touring in Russia mafia would interfere by selling false concert tickets. At the time in the late 1980s and early early 1990s lots of bands were touring in both Russia and Eastern Europe.
There were issues. An example of this was David Copperfield Magician tour. At one point, he did not pay the bribes and could not get his equipment out of Russia. He had to actually cancel parts of his European tour.
Band sell more records by touring in Russia. 1990s peace festival or Bon Jovi Metallica AC/DC all tour in Russia. Mariah Carey also toured in Russia. Kiss refused in the mid 1990s to Eastern Europe because of the war Yugoslavia.
MTV opened in Russia 1999 and this continue to expand music exposure of the west in Russia. Red Hot chili pop performed in the red square.
Western music had a huge cultural impact in Russia. David and universal signed the Russian band tattoo. This became the biggest selling Russian band in history.
Improved in Russia now that they’ve been introduced to competition from the west. Better music, better, music, videos, and better songwriting. Music is always had a connection to freedom with artist having the freedom of expression.
Hip-hop and rap was introduced to Russia and wound up becoming the most popular music in Russia today. Very much an anti-authority and freedom type music. Russia, creative popular hip-hop band called del. Many acts like Eminem, Snoop Dogg, 2Pac, 50 Cent, Jay Z, Dr. Dre, anime all became big hits in Russia.
David left Russia in 2005 and moved on to work for Gibson guitars which ultimately led to his return in 2013. Often on he lived and worked in Russia for 15 years.
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