Igor Sandler revealed details of the profitable sale of Russian records in England

IN last time I talked about meeting an amazing person, producer Barry White, about his show Forever Elvis, which we managed to bring to Moscow in the late 80s, as well as about the fateful role that Barry played in the British career of my group Index 398. In addition to ours Sharing a common passion for rock music as an art and profession, we were connected by a special attitude, if not reverence, for the work of one of the “founding fathers” – Elvis Presley. This passion also turned out to be a profitable business. I want to talk about this in a little more detail today.

Barry White had a huge collection of photos, posters, posters and CDs – thousands! – namely Elvis Presley. In addition to original releases, he has collected a unique collection of licenses, reissues, copies and even bootlegs from all over the world. Many contained errors and typos, but in the format of a unique collection this gave such “exhibits” even special value and a certain charm.

Knowing about this passion of his, when I flew to London for the first time, I brought him a disc bought in Russia for 2 rubles 15 kopecks from the “Rock Archive” series from the Melodiya company. The disc was simply and ingeniously called “Elvis Presley Sings.” They (the state firm Melodiya) from the beginning of perestroika, when rock music ceased to be the prohibited “molester of Soviet youth”, decided to publish on vinyl records (there were no others then, CDs were still a few years away) all the classics of rock, before inaccessible to Soviet music lovers. The matter was made easier by the fact that, in contrast to the modest assortment of legal licensed discs (like ABBA, Boney M, Teach In, etc.), the publishing rights to which were purchased in the West for meager budget money, the “licensing statute of limitations” for many old records under the then copyright rules had expired, their release in many cases did not cost “Melody” not only a single hard-convertible cent, but even a wooden penny.

Since these were random compilations, and not copies of original albums, they came up with a single design style for the entire Rock Archive line. There was an eternal tension with design in the Soviet Union at that time, as with paper (remember “Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears”?), and the “Rock Archive”, without unnecessary aesthetic torment, acquired a common and very characteristic red background for the USSR.

I brought such a blushing Presley and gave it to Barry White in London. His eyes widened, his hands shook – trembling, he takes it tenderly, like a Chinese porcelain vase from the Ming Dynasty, and says: “Igor, this is the best gift! The fact that Presley was published in the USSR is simply a rarity! I’ll now tell all the collectors in the world that I have a Russian Presley!”

I said I could bring more. He promised (after all, the production streak of a businessman!) that if I brought another record, he would sell it for 100 British pounds (in those terms – 200 American dollars, that is, six months of living in the then Moscow on a grand scale! ). 1989! Something turned upside down in my mind.

The next day I took this record from Barry and went out into the street, there was still a boom in vinyl stores, there were several of them at every subway exit. I went into a couple and asked if they were interested in Russian records by world rock bands. It was interesting for everyone! So I started transporting records from Moscow, using vodka boxes for transportation, which I filled completely with vinyl. They bought everything from me wholesale at prices ranging from 10 to 30 pounds: The Doors, Queen, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones. Original records cost from 3 to 7 pounds there. And they paid me an average of 15 pounds for one Russian! And in Russia they cost 2 rubles 15 kopecks (that is, practically free in pounds), and the original ones (the so-called “firmA”) – from 50 to 70 rubles (about $10 at the black exchange rate and about $60 at the so-called official ).

I bought original records in London and took them to Russia. I realized that this was a gold mine – not only to transport Russian records to London, but also Western records to Moscow. I only took a plane ticket for first class! No, not because of pathos, like today’s stars and all sorts of celebrities – it’s just that there you could check in 2 pieces of 20 kg each as luggage, and take hand luggage without restrictions, because businessmen and artists were flying, and they, as they say, “need “—they carried a lot of things. And I took advantage of it.

I bought “grandmother’s” carts on wheels, on which I placed 3-4 boxes of vinyl, each weighing 25 kilograms. During one visit to London I transported about 100 kilograms of Russian records. In the evenings I had concerts, and during the day I used a cart to deliver these records to stores. In a couple of years, I filled all the music stores in London with Russian vinyl! This then turned into a very good and profitable business for me. Then, of course, I stopped doing this, there was no time. But even 10–15 years later, when I went to vinyl stores in London, I sometimes saw my own discs there. Once again I swam against the tide – while everyone in Russia was buying foreign CDs, I was bringing Soviet ones to Europe. There they were of interest to collectors, and stores were happy to sell them.

Such are the legends of deep antiquity! I thought that in modern times it’s not even legend, but rather science fiction almost on the scale of H.G. Wells…

When Barry White died, his wife Pamella gave me his jacket, sweater and unique Elvis Presley negatives from his photo shoots as souvenirs! How much they cost now, I don’t know and never have. I’m not going to sell it, but I understand perfectly well how valuable it is.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29133 dated October 11, 2023

Newspaper headline:
Russian rock in kilograms