"Apart from foreign artists, no one was paid on the New Wave"
Russian artists perform for free at the New Wave Music Festival, which starts in Kazan on August 21. Now Valeria refuses to sing there, said her husband and producer Joseph Prigozhin. According to him, the festival pays for participation only to foreign artists, while the rest must travel at their own expense. This practice is widespread in Russia, Prigozhin notes, and harms both aspiring artists and stars, but all attempts to defend their rights end in failure. At the same time, recording Valeria's new album, for example, cost a lot of money, which is becoming increasingly difficult to beat off in the conditions of national show business. About this and much more — in an interview with Joseph Prigozhin "Izvestia".
"Musicians have no choice. If you want to be on the air, go for free"
— We have learned that many young artists perform at festivals absolutely for free. And back in 2020, you proposed creating a trade union for musicians that would regulate uniform rules of the game and working conditions. Is it still necessary?
— Today, there is no clear leader in the industry of such caliber as Joseph Davidovich Kobzon, who could consolidate and represent the interests of all musicians. Not only public, famous, respectable, but also beginners. We tried. We wanted to create a self-regulatory organization. There must be some kind of system! Previously, there was an all-Union theater organization that reflected the interests of artists, took care of someone, asked for someone. There is no such centralized authority now.
People's Artist of the USSR Joseph Davidovich Kobzon
— In general, should the organizers of the festival pay for the work of not only the headliners, but also young musicians?
— If we are talking about global laws, then in other countries everything is paid for in 90% of cases. In Russia, there is a constant budget deficit. Or those who organize festivals don't want to share the money. Almost all of our festivals are charitable in nature for artists.
They don't give you bread for free in the store. And butter, too. Everything costs money. Every year, a huge number of musicians graduate from academies, conservatories, and universities. The biggest problem is to employ them. But today, to promote a song, you need to have incredible opportunities and efforts, including financial ones.
— Is it the fault of the musicians themselves who agree to such conditions?
— Musicians have no choice. If you want to be on the air, go for free. A festival, especially a two- or three—day one, is an expensive event. These are lights, sound, equipment, stage installation, and technical equipment. All this costs a lot of money.
Singer Valeria during a performance at the New Wave Festival
— So all the services and headliners get paid, and the only ones who don't are the rest of the artists?
— Believe me, even famous musicians in 90% of cases do not receive money. Take the New Wave Festival. Valeria has performed there for many years. I can say with full responsibility that we have never received a penny of money there. Our colleagues too. In Jurmala, in Sochi, we spoke, roughly speaking, for food. You can verify this, all the documents are there.
You can ask Igor Krutoy, the founder of the New Wave (Izvestia sent a request to the festival's press service. Except for foreign artists, no one was paid there.
"It seems to people that the artist is fat!"
— If you, as a producer, say that your artist will not perform for free, what does that mean?
— He doesn't take part there. All.
A worker during the preparation of the New Wave Hall concert venue for the New Wave Festival
— And, apparently, gets blacklisted?
— Well, black or white, I do not know. But if you noticed, we are not on the "New Wave" this year. I don't want to complain in any way. I'm just saying: we're not ready to continue performing for free today. Valeria and I have been working for 22 years. 15 of them went to different festivals for 15 years. We have never received money for this anywhere.
And ordinary people read the tabloids and then tell us: you've earned so much! But even when we earn money somewhere, we still spend a significant part of it, for example, on filming. After all, television filming is also not paid for. To collect Valeria on the set is at least 400 thousand rubles.
— What is included in these 400 thousand?
— Makeup artists, hairdressers, stylists, sound engineers, driver. This is a team of people who serve the artist on the day of shooting. Plus a suit. The only person in the country who does not rent things, but buys them himself and spends a lot of money on it, is Philip Kirkorov. I do not know of a second one who invests in expensive things in order to please the public. He's the only one. Philip is the king in clothes.
We rent it sometimes. We buy less often. Previously, when there were foreign brands, something could be done by barter. But makeup artists, hairdressers, and sound engineers will not work on barter. We all have families. And now there are new people — realsmakers, whom you carry with you. They get, sorry, decent pay too.
Let at least one artist say that this is not true. It seems to people that the artist is fat! But he, like any other citizen, speaking on the set, on the stage, giving energy, also works for loans, for the welfare of the family. Sometimes they give him beautiful cars or jewelry by barter. He won't explain it to everyone, he goes on stage handsome in rented clothes. And everyone writes that he had 100 million earrings in his ears and 100 carats on his finger. But once again, the artist does all this at his own expense.
We've just recorded a new album, "Healing." This is a huge expense for recording, music videos, and promotion. The album cost almost $400 thousand. And how to beat them off? Only through concerts and corporate events. The audience should, relatively speaking, compensate for the costs by buying tickets.
"Life is easiest for rockers and comedians"
— Do you have any solution to the problem of free labor? Maybe we should return to the idea of a trade union?
— The decision is not to participate. Or agree to work for free. I don't blame the organizers. They don't have the opportunity to pay — we don't have the opportunity to perform for free. That's it. Point. This applies not only to young musicians. This applies to everyone.
Composer Igor Krutoy
— How do you get out of this vicious circle?
— No way! There must be a single leader who will represent the industry in government agencies. I don't see such a character right now. There should be a clear sponsorship system.
I've been banging my head against the wall for years. Sergey Lisovsky, Boris Zosimov, Igor Krutoy fought before me. They also wanted to create cooperatives and coalitions. Unfortunately, it doesn't work for us. Today, everyone is sitting in their corner.
— It's still unclear. After all, at festivals, the audience also pays a lot of money for tickets, why not pay the speakers?
— This money goes to the organizers to compensate for expenses. For example, to hold a festival, you need to have 100 million rubles. How many people will come? Let's say 10 thousand. The average ticket price is 3 thousand rubles. Multiply by the number of viewers. From there, you take away 5% of the gross fee, 10-12% for ticket distributors, and taxes. Not very pleasant arithmetic.
— So in order to have at least some money left for musicians, you need to raise ticket prices?
— Of course! But prices cannot be raised indefinitely, although objectively it should be done. Here is an example. I did a tribute concert to Valeria at the Live Arena. It cost 45 million. I'm explaining what the amount came from. After the terrorist attack at Crocus, concerts were canceled, including mine, which I spent 10 million on advertising. All concerts were canceled. We chose a new date, but we had to spend money on advertising again, already outside the planned budget.
The sponsors helped me. We had a powerful production, a lot of artists. I am grateful to everyone who participated. Not a single artist took money from us then, even though I offered. They said that they respect Valeria very much, so they would come to her as guests and as friends. But then again, the concert costs 45 million, and you collect 35 million. Where else can I get 10 million?
It's clear that concerts are always an investment in a name. Especially the Moscow ones. There are screens there, 400 people can work on graphics for just one show. You have to make it memorable. And the bigger the show, the more unprofitable it is. No, the easiest way to live is for rockers and comedians. I put one microphone on the stage, and that's it. But this is not the case for us, and not only for us.
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