SWMC 2009 Report

From February 5 to 8, the city of Sochi hosted SWMC 2009 for the fourth time! More than 15 hours of lectures, 34 parties, and 4 days of live communication with those who are responsible for the club industry.

Evgeny Safronov, General Director of the Intermedia news agency, presented the audience with an express overview of the state of the music business in Russia. At the moment, the main beneficiary of music distribution is radio stations. The highest figures are shown by mobile sales. Evgeny also pointed out the obvious and sad pattern—decreasing relevance and demand for physical music media, which did not prevent his opponent, journalist Artemy Troitsky, from assuring listeners of the opposite. According to him, the death of the album format is caused entirely artificially and by the record labels themselves. Dmitry Konnov, a representative of Universal Music Russia, drew the audience's attention to the increase in sales of individual singles—consumers prefer to buy one well-known hit rather than an entire album. It turns out that the Russian market is not yet ready to accept products that are super-popular in other countries.

Mike Spirit (Highway Records), Grad (Bumpy Traxx), R-Tem (Snoochi Boochi Records), and Rustam Mirzoev (Ingrooves) discussed the success of Russian labels in the international digital market. Despite the total popularity of digital distribution, the most effective option remains the 'old school' method of handing a disc directly to an authoritative musician like Pete Tong.

Representatives from Miller, Ivan Golov and Maria Belik, spoke about new ways of communication with consumers. Today, Miller has reached such a level of development that it is ready to experiment and invite its audience to shape the new image of the brand. Thus, the last advertising campaign was launched with the participation of young designers.

The British guest of the conference, Mark Doyle, the creator of the Hed Kandi and Fierce Angel labels, discussed the strategy that allowed his musical ventures to achieve global recognition. The secret of his business success, Mark believes, lies in positioning the party as a brand.

The most popular report was presented by music critic Artemy Troitsky, who continued the topic of the crisis, stating that modern music culture has long been experiencing a certain stagnation. According to Troitsky, there have been no changes in electronic music over the past 20 years; all DJs exist on the basis of old genres and directions. Much of this is tolerated by listeners, who are quite satisfied with eternal techno and trance.

The conference also touched upon the topic of holding mass events in Russia, within which Andrey Matveyev (co-organizer of 'Nashestvie') announced another electronic festival 'Energy,' which is set to launch this summer.

In turn, Anton Chukaev, the director of FortDance, talked about the festival's return to the shore—besides Fort Alexander I, Fort Konstantin will also be involved on equal terms.

Brand specialist from the UK, Jeff Povlo, analyzed how international brands approach communication with consumers by using musical content. The primary rule for conveying brand values to the target audience, according to Povlo, is the ability to engage the consumer in the company's world and provide direct contact with the product.

About the future laid out for radio stations spoke Program Director Aнастасия Орлова from Megapolis FM and General Producer of Rekord Radio, Andrey Reznikov. While Anastasia announced the launch of regional broadcasting for Megapolis FM, Andrey announced an ambitious program to present St. Petersburg's popular radio station in Moscow.

The final debates that are a staple of every SWMC gathered a table of music experts: Filip Mironov (independent club publicist), Alexey Kazakov (editor-in-chief of CTC Media), Alexey Karodilis (owner of Gaudi Arena), Tash Sarkisyan (club Technika Molodezhi), and DJ Grad. The discussion topic was the development of the entertainment business in the realities of the Russian version of the global crisis. According to the speakers, while the crisis has impacted the club business, it has not diminished people's desire to entertain themselves and listen to music. In the face of reduced budgets, clubs and their promoters are finding new ways to attract audiences and are turning to social networks. As practice shows, clubs' communities created on VKontakte or Facebook help invite up to 70% of all guests to parties. This indicates that the crisis is an opportunity for adaptation and continuity of new strategies and methods for working with the target audience. It is essential to continue developing ideas and adapting to the conditions set by the times! For example, clubs are transitioning to daytime operations in restaurant formats or functioning only on the most 'profitable' days and weekends.

Despite most speakers finding it challenging to make forecasts about the future, SWMC 2009 once again vividly demonstrates the importance of annual meetings and discussions.