Experts at the World Youth Festival: Russia's Music Industry Can Grow 2-3 Times in a Year

The Russian music industry has prospects for annual growth of 2-3 times thanks to the creation of specialized infrastructure and accelerator programs, the development of specialized educational projects and streaming platforms. The greatest prospects are open for young talented performers. This was discussed at the Sirius World Youth Festival by the participants of the session "Music of the World in Media: How to Create and Promote Music Products," which was held as part of the Media Stream organized by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, Rosatom State Corporation, ANO Dialog, and the New Media Workshop.

"The Russian music industry has a great prospect for growth – on average 2-3 times a year. There are many young talented performers in our country who have more and more opportunities for self-realization: talent support infrastructure is being created, including in Russia's regions, production centers are being opened to promote young musicians, educational programs are being created, and streaming platforms are being developed to lower the threshold of entry into the industry", noted Yulia Poletaeva, moderator of the session, Deputy General Director of ANO Dialog.

At the kickoff, participants discussed the impact of music and content on public opinion.

"The power of music's influence is underestimated. When it comes to the professional side of music, few people realize that music is a powerful instrument that creates emotions. It's no secret that it's emotions that drive a person in moments of making important decisions. Emotions are prioritized when working on some rather serious and important social campaigns. For example, the U.S. show business industry turns 100 years old this year. For a whole century, their industry of creating and managing emotions has been self-improving, studying audience behavioral patterns", noted Nikolay Krupatin, creative producer of New Media Workshop, music producer, composer, blogger, founder and ex-owner of Matryoshka Radio.

Alexander Vaino, Head of the Center for Youth Initiatives of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives to Promote New Projects, noted that Russia is experiencing tremendous growth in the creative economy, including in the field of music. According to the most conservative estimates, more than 20 million people listen to music on streaming platforms alone, and this figure increases 1.5-2 times every year, largely due to the young audience.

"The number of actors that are coming into the industry is also multiplying. The entry threshold has fallen extremely low, young people have the opportunity to enter the market through different platforms, thanks to additional education courses, which are developing quite actively, including in the online format. The contribution of the talent-centric economy is roughly estimated at 3% of GDP. The basic creative economy in Russia is growing 3-5 times faster compared to other industries, the revenue of companies from the creative industries in 2021 amounted to 12.7 trillion rubles, including music – about 3 trillion. It is predicted to triple by 2030", said Alexander Vaino.

The participants of the meeting discussed changes in the Russian music market and the problems of aspiring actors.

"Some of the labels left Russia, the music market started to change. The history of music in general began to evolve differently. There are a lot of new young actors who are pushing their stories forward. The market is diverse, and that's a good thing. The main problem every aspiring actor has, besides finding their sound, is how to create and produce music at all? One must realize that quantity always passes into quality. You don't have to engage in perfectionism. And as for the courses on music production – there is everything on the Internet", said Anton Tokarev, musician, composer, finalist of the show "The Voice" and Comedy Battle.

The participants of the meeting touched upon the popularization of ethnic music, noting that multinational Russia has a huge field of opportunities for both independent sounding and introduction of ethnic motifs into modern music. They also answered questions about creating an image of a musician and its promotion, told about educational programs, which include training future leaders of creative industries, one of which is the "New Media Workshop".

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The World Youth Festival is taking place at the Sirius Federal Territory from March 1 to 7, 2024, as per the decree issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed at fostering international youth cooperation.

The Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh) is the organizer of the World Youth Festival, with the Directorate of the World Youth Festival serving as the operator for WYF-2024.