The Russia pavilion at Expo 2020 has gathered music experts from around the world to discuss the latest trends in the industry.

During the session Alena Strygina, head of Eventica Entertainment, Ilya Popov, general producer of Riki Group, Henrik Uhlmann, managing director of Extensive Music and powerhouse, Mark Jan Kar, general manager of Coca-Cola Arena, Dmitry Kalashnikov, program director of Our Emirates Radio and DJ Kidy talked about the achievements and trends in Russian music.

The focus was on the success of streaming services, the effects of the pandemic and what it takes to become a popular musician today.

Jan Kar stated: “The large shows for the audience of 15,000 people are non-existent at the moment due to the restrictions caused by the pandemic.

“The greatest learning curve of the past two years is that now we do the shows for 2,500 or even as little as 700 seats.

“We understood that even a small show can deliver the emotions and the experience at the Coca-Cola Arena.

“We also became much more versatile and open to a wider range of events; one of the great discoveries being the Russian music stage that can provide an amazing show that we might not have considered earlier.”

More information on the Russia pavilion at the event can be seen here.

Uhlmann added: “The biggest step the music industry took in the recent years is digitalisation: different platforms and social media are a great help for the artist trying to gain popularity, one of the great examples being VK, the Russian social media and streaming service.

“Russian production and marketing made a great step ahead.

“However, the key element to international success remains the song itself and the presentation of the artist.

“Language can be a major barrier for Russian performers but if the song has a great hook, it supersedes the lack of understanding for the listeners, and we have seen multiple examples of that in Russian-speaking countries.”

Take a look at the latest Expo 2020 news from Breaking Travel News here.

Popov shared the path of his company, Riki Group, to the music industry: “Our introduction to the music industry happened through media content.

“We are currently focusing on TikTok where our characters from the cartoon ‘Smeshariki’ make parodies of popular Russian songs and collaborate with musicians and influencers.

“Within one year our account has reached two million followers and received verification status on the platform.

“This case proves that cartoon characters can be relevant for a wide audience and the music industry today is tightly connected to the social media content.”