ABSTRACT

Formed in 1964 by the Soviet Ministry of Culture by combining various earlier Soviet labels, Melodiya grew to be the sixth-largest record company in the world during the 1970s and 1980s (due to its monopoly as the sole producer in the former Soviet Union). The label primarily released classical and pop recordings by Soviet artists. Its classical list was enhanced by its ability to have exclusive arrangements with Soviet performers, as well as its own in-house orchestra. Many of these recordings were licensed and released in the West, initially by the Angel label (during the 1960s and 1970s) and later by Mobile Fidelity (from 1985-1992). Their best-selling pop artists were limited to a Soviet audience; during the 1970s and 1980s, Alla Pugachova was their biggest seller, whose “A Millon Roses” was a tremendous hit. Pugachova sang traditional Slavic-sounding songs with a soft-rock accompaniment. Regional branches of Melodiya produced material for their native populations; the Tashkent office, for example, catered to the 10 million Uzbeks who craved everything from traditional music to disco performed in their language. Melodiya’s production of LPs reached 200 million per year in the 1970s and early 1980s, and 8 million cassettes. Seventy percent of the sales (60-65 percent of the output) was in the popular field. The first Melodiya compact discs (65 items) appeared in April 1990, although the label continued to produce LPs beyond the fall of the Soviet Union. At the height of its growth, the company had pressing plants and facilities in Riga, Leningrad, Aprelevka, Moscow, Tbilsi, and Tashkent. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Melodiya closed many of these plants; its main headquarters remained in Aprelevka, but it reduced its one-time 3,600 employees down to 1/10 that number by 1998. [Bennett 1981; Gronow & Saunio 1998.]

REV. CARL BENSON

Small, independent punk-ska label operating out of a Calgary, Canada, record store of the same name and founded by Ben Falconer, named after the longtime Soviet label.