Melodija

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The label's logo

Melodija ( Russian Мелодия , English transcription Melodiya) is a Russian record label and was founded in 1964. It was state-owned by what was then the USSR and was their largest record company.

History at the time of the USSR

Packaging sleeve for a Tchaikovsky long-playing record (1960s)

From its inception until around the mid- 1980s , Melodija was not only the only official record label in the USSR, but also the monopoly company for record production and record trade. Melodija operated recording studios, record factories and record dealers all over the Soviet Union. The titles to be published were also selected on the basis of ideological considerations. Anything that did not correspond to the official point of view had to take the alternative path of the so-called Magnitisdat : Live concerts or appearances in the closest circle were recorded on tape and then distributed as a copy. During the Soviet era , Melodija had 120,000 employees, 40,000 of them in the state label's record stores. The production facility for Melodija records was in the city of Aprelewka near Moscow. The prices of the records were very low. A long-playing record cost one ruble and 25 kopecks. That was equivalent to 4.00 GDR marks.

After the USSR

After the collapse of the Soviet Union , it initially looked as if the former monopoly would collapse, but he saved himself from complete collapse with his core business, the publication of sound carriers. From 1991 to 2003 Melodija worked in cooperation with the western major label BMG .

Melodija was best known in the late 1980s for compiling samplers by Western artists for the Soviet market, such as Led Zeppelin or The Doors , which were not available in other countries. The label also hit the international headlines as a result of the controversial marketing of the label's own classic catalog by a US company.

Current situation

In 2006 Melodija had around 60 employees. Measured against the local branches of the international record labels, Melodija is now a rather small company. Melodija is still owned by the state, but it is privately organized and lives without state subsidies.

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