Living through the third year of an active war makes you a little dumb; the constant tension and fatigue certainly kills a lot of creativity. There is very little place for good planning, as the future seems uncertain at best. This combination of factors undoubtedly influences Ukrainian labels in the way they function, although I’d like to say that the war didn’t create, but has rather deepened their problems.
Not everyone agrees with my vision – that the lack of financial and general planning prevents Ukrainian labels from growing into something bigger and therefore making the whole music industry more powerful. But I should also mention that Ukrainian artists rarely plan things either, not knowing when their next single or album will be ready, or maybe not having the patience to schedule their releases, dumping everything all at once onto streaming services. This makes label work rather unpredictable, chaotic and short-term.
But is it really an issue? Not for those following the classic underground label strategy of selling merchandise. Since 2015 Surrogate Rec. has been the bedrock of Ukrainian underground music, constantly providing physical releases for some of the best Ukrainian hardcore punk and metal. Taras Shyshychuiskyi, the Surrogate Rec. founder quips: “Is my ‘financial model’ successful? I don’t know. Will the label be able to survive another two, three, or five years? I have no clue.” Even so, he is always busy “uploading various fringe sounds to streaming platforms, burning them to CD-R and distributing them all over the world.”
Lately, Shyshychuiskyi hasn’t looked for new artists but tends to work with the familiar ones, including foreign acts from the USA or Indonesia. He also pays more attention to souvenir products and merchandise rather than creating new digital and physical releases.
The Bathoryhead label has a similar financial approach, working mainly with high-quality Ukrainian metal bands and concentrating on aesthetic physical releases. Founder Anton Khomenko claims this scheme is “working” though he emphasises that there is a dependence on concerts to stay profitable. “Because of the war, bands often have problems with the ability to play. They even go on pause for an indefinite period. This negatively affects sales and the financial situation of the label.”
He founded Bathoryhead back in 2022 based on the existing metal distribution network, and hopes to save it, as long as “Ukraine doesn’t cease to exist as a state because of the war with russia.”
For the likes of Surrogate Rec. or Bathoryhead, streaming services have never seemed to be of interest, while BE₴HKET, (a label mentioned in part one of this feature), doesn’t even having a Bandcamp account. It is hard to gain a lot of money from streaming services for Ukrainian musicians. But given the significant growth in listeners in these war years, streaming platforms may have to be considered as a potential source of income.
Regardless, founder Prymara from BE₴HKET expresses no interest in financial planning, saying they know what they have, and can achieve, “without investing a penny in music.” Prymara: “Sometimes we dream where we would be if we had money for even minimal marketing [..] And, we reason, if we didn’t get tired of it by now, after our long years of work, we definitely won’t get tired of it [with money].”
Similarly, the Electricity and OCHI labels (also profiled in article one) both mention working with their own money and enthusiasm, and then putting all the profits into supporting the Ukrainian Army.
Friendship vs Success
My second point of criticism for Ukrainian DIY labels would be the lack of legal regulations, (this applies to our own magazine’s label, Neformat Family as well). To my knowledge, only a few have contracts with their artists, while others work on the ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ concept. Khomenko from Bathoryhead summarises the situation for the greater part of Ukrainian label-artist relationships. “We all operate in the same environment and if something goes wrong, fewer people will want to deal with you next time. So, right now, everything works at the expense of one’s reputation.”
Considering there is not much – if any – serious money on either side, this approach has actually worked well for years, with very few public scandals. And neither “side” invests that much money into the other, both use their creative resources, time and skills to support and grow each other.
This means I often find it a bit unfair and unproductive when more successful artists leave their label for a solo career. Definitely, with the modern digital technologies at hand, talents like Sad Novelist or Sleepy Andy can do well on their own, but their leaving Svitanok, their original label, (combined with the beginning of the full scale war) meant Svitanok was cast into oblivion.
For me, this is a big sadness, because the Світанок (Svitanok) label was one of the predictors of the current Ukrainian cultural renaissance. And they actually understood their cultural role long before the russians forced my nation to wake up, back in 2020.
Sleepy Andy, drimandr and Sad Novelist all started from this platform and significantly helped with starting that musical renaissance. Maybe their continued success was due to the fact that they gained full creative freedom without Svitanok. But we can also speculate that without these artists the label couldn’t stay so bright and active, or help younger and newer names. As for the reasons, in an official post Sleepy Andy claimed that he received all the royalties from the Svitanok label and has no unresolved issues or conflicts with it, but left because “there was not enough control over the releases and payments.”
I also see the need to part ways, and all artists should have that possibility, but in my opinion, some minor obligations for both sides would help this system of the ‘gentlemen’s agreement’. Yet most people here carry on in their operations with no formalities. be_ca_di (Dmytro Svitlov) from OCHI speaks for many when he says, “I took this model of coexistence from the SHUM.rave formation, where I am a resident. There are no contracts and requirements, we have existed for six years without papers, our interaction is built on everyone’s reputation and trust, and we exist as a big family.”
What’s next?
So there we have it; no financial guarantees and no certain future, especially now, when the russians have almost destroyed the Ukrainian energy grid. Still, our heroes stay positive and plan their activities. Prymara from BE₴HKET even states, “No matter how bad it sounds, the war had a very positive effect on the music scene, it shook us up and the gears started turning.” He also states there is a chance to develop local music scenes in Ukraine in the current conditions. The processes are rather raw still, but promises the BE₴HKET team will fully “participate” in keeping things “alive and interesting.”
Although certain problems will most probably continue. For instance, Dmytro Svitlov planned the very first OCHI label showcase to happen this May in Chernihiv city, but the location was damaged by a russian missile. This event will happen later, somewhere else, and as of now Svitlov tends just to support his artists and the Ukrainian army. “Our label sees itself as a small part of a larger social mechanism that works to support those who currently protect us all.”
Anton Khomenko, from Bathoryhead, believes that the role of labels in current conditions will transform and evolve, but the main idea stays the same – to help artists with routine and free up their time for the creative process. “Khomenko; ‘”Despite the overwhelming transition of listeners to the digital format and simple piracy, there is still a percentage of people who want to receive some artefact from the artist, either a physical release or a merch.”
Khomenjo is also affected by the war, claiming that “it is not always possible to offer something to bands, simply due to lack of finances. Releases also have to be postponed due to business in more everyday (wartime) matters.” As a result, as of now Bathoryhead postponed two releases planned originally for the end of 2023, and has had to shift all the plans for this year.
The Electricity label also claims that the war had a negative impact on the life and development of their label. “Instead of their direct purpose – to create music, rehearse or play concerts, musicians were forced to leave their homes, move to other cities or countries, and some joined the Ukrainian Army. Because of this, the activities of some bands were suspended for an unknown period, some stopped their creative activity forever. This directly affected the number of releases and live performances. In the future, we would like everyone to return to their own homes alive and well, so that they can peacefully engage in creativity surrounded by their friends. This is how we see the ideal future of our label.”
With each new day, more and more musicians join the army, or their living conditions worsen. Still, we see a lot of new music, and the DIY labels, with their philosophy of being a family and providing support to their artists, seems to be the best thing at this particular moment. But when the war ends, I personally hope to see some changes towards more practical thinking.
