Rock 'n' roll man
By : Celia Barnes
So you wanna be a rock 'n' roll star: Tomik Grewinski, manager of pop sensation Kayah.
Tomik Grewinski is dressed for another day at the office: Denim jeans, tight T-shirt and brand new electric-blue Nike sneakers.
A suit and tie would look out of place in the rock 'n' roll industry: as would short back and sides. But Grewinski's fashion sense and his halo of peroxide blond hair resplendent with an inch of dark re-growth scream "street cred" to his peers, who in turn, he says, show him the respect and even envy that his position commands.
A boyishly good-looking 32-year-old, Grewinski is one of a handful of personality managers in Poland's contemporary music scene.
For more than four years, Grewinski has worked behind the scenes to help local pop sensation Kayah (http://www.kayah.arena.pl/) (who like Cher, Madonna, and even Britney these days, goes by only one name) on her stellar rise up the Polish music charts.
"I'm lucky because Kayah is an artist who knows exactly what she needs at every moment," Grewinski said. "So my role is to look at things from a distance; to modify them; to correct them and any ideas that Kayah generates, I implement them."
Such a harmonious relationship appears to have paid off. To date, there have been four albums, one EP and eight Fryderyks Poland's top music award.
Kayah's duet album with Goran Bregovic, simply titled Kayah i Goran, was released in 12 European countries in 1999, selling a record-breaking 600,000+ copies.
She has hosted her own music quiz series on TV, and lent her name to Idea mobile phones and a brand of Italian shoes. She has sung advertising ditties for Coke and Twix, performed concerts across the country and her distinctive face has graced magazine covers.
The latest marketing ploy of "Kayah Inc.," dreamed up by the singer and Grewinski, will be Kayah's film debut in a musical comedy playing the lead role of a singing mother superior.
"For a long time, Kayah has been asked to play in various films, but she has rejected four offers so far because she didn't like the scripts, or she didn't like the roles," Grewinski said. "But now we've got a very good offer."
Joining her on screen will be Liroy Poland's best known rapper, and actor Pawel Delag, who is starring in the film production of the ancient Roman epic, Quo Vadis.
And while Kayah is taking her bows on center stage, Grewinski said he is content to keep out of view, taking his 20% commission.
He declines to say just how much Kayah is worth. "Poland is not really the sort of country where you reveal this information," he said.
What he will say is that the singer has sold more than 1 million records and in Grewinsjki's opinion, with her unique brand of pop and modern blues, Kayah is "definitely one of Poland's most colorful and talented artists."
Not so sweet music
But while Kayah's career continues to climb, Poland's music industry is suffering under the country's economic doldrums and rampant levels of music piracy.
According to figures compiled by the Association of Audio-Video Producers (ZPAV) in 2000, 34.6 million CDs and cassettes were sold for an estimated $156.5 million. This represents a drop of 13% compared to 1999.
The hardest hit area has been audiocassette sales, which dropped from 21.6 million units sold in 1999 to 14.2 million in 2000. At the same time, CD sales increased from 18 million in 1999 to 20.2 million in 2000.
Because of the higher unit price of CDs compared to cassettes (CDs typically have a wholesale cost of zl. 28.87 and tapes zl. 12.16), in dollar terms during 1999 and 2000 the market actually increased by 1%.
"What we think is happening is that people want to buy CDs because of better music quality and because of the increasing CD-player ownership," said ZPAV's international relations consultant, Agnieszka Rapacka. "Also CDs are becoming more common and normal; people no longer want to perceive them as a luxury.
"But at the same time, those people who bought cassettes may not be able to afford CDs or CD players because of economic reasons."
At the other end of the equation, Kayah's record company, Zic Zac, part of Germany's Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) (http://www.bmgentertainment.com), is also seeing a slowdown in the Polish and international market.
The right labeling: Izabela Ciszek is marketing manager for Zic Zac Music Company, a division of Germanys media giant BMG.
This month, worldwide, BMG is expected to report a loss for the first time in its 15-year history due to a stagnant market, company restructuring costs and a low return on music sales. Disconcerting news for BMG's parent company, German media giant Bertelsmann, which is planning an initial public offering in 2003.
Zic Zac's marketing manager, Izabel Ciszek, said BMG Poland is managing to stay ahead of the game. With about 40 record producers working in the country, ZPAV estimates 35% of the market belongs to the big five BMG, EMI, Sony, Warner and Universal.
Ciszek said in the 1990s, Polish music accounted for 50% of the market's total sales. These days, international music dominates.
The other change since then has been the scale of album sales. Ciszek estimates that five years ago, a hit album would sell around 500,000 units. These days it's closer to 200,000-300,000. Or to put it another way, Ciszek said a hit song could earn a performer a minimum of zl. 250,000 in royalties, plus a cut of the sales revenue.
The biggest predators eating into the industry at the moment, according to Ciszek, is the competition of things such as mobile phones and computers for the consumer's earnings, plus the poor state of the economy and the high rate of piracy. ZPAV estimates that piracy could account for 31% of what is sold on the Polish market.
Piracy on the high street
So what does BMG head office think about this problem?
"There are two attitudes," Ciszek said. "One is that they listen, they agree and they understand. But on the other hand, sometimes it's hard to believe something like this level of piracy can exist. Everybody is asking the question: What will happen when Poland enters the European Union? Of course we can't have this kind of piracy, so one day it will have to be resolved.
"But (the head office) knows that when they see our sales figures that they should be much higher for Poland's population and for Poland's economic level. It's not good enough."
The country's music producers are working with ZPAV and with the authorities to counter this problem, but stemming the tide of pirate CDs, which are suspected of coming from Ukraine and Lithuania, is proving to be a headache. As is policing Warsaw's Russian Market, where the majority of them end up. Last year, enforcement authorities seized 703,504 of the close to 11 million pirated CDs and music cassettes that arrived in Poland.
Tomik Grewinski shakes his head at the mention of piracy.
"For example, Kayah's album with Goran Bregovic, definitely several hundred thousand copies were sold as pirate copies, so that's tangible," he said. "What's not tangible is that people are simply getting used to buying albums from thieves, so there are moral losses too."
Making the most of the media
Two divas: Polish pop diva Kayah with jazz queen Cesaria Evora.
But the music industry is slowly becoming more professional in Poland, he said. Currently, most performers are dealing directly with the media, negotiating their own recording contracts and promotions. Grewinski said he is surprised by pleas from "really popular and well-known artists" to become their manager, and he thinks with time, more managers will appear here.
"The media is developing now and it is taking such a broad shape that artists cannot cope on their own without a manager. Or at the very least they can't develop because it's hard to combine the active creation of art with the daily work of negotiations, meetings and appointments."
But Grewinski said he won't be accepting any other offers even if it could limit his own business expansion in the future.
"Poland is such a small market, it would be difficult to successfully lead two singers because if you want it or not, they would compete against each other. So this kind of loyalty does not really permit me to work for anyone else," he said.
And, as Zic Zac's Ciszek said, not all Polish performers can afford to have their own manager.
Grewinski and Kayah met six years ago when Grewinski was working as a drummer. Kayah had already signed her first recording contract with Zic Zac, which was subsequently bought by BMG in 1996. She asked Grewinski to be her product manager on her second album, 1997's "Zebra." In early 1998, Grewinski left Zic Zac to become Kayah's full-time personal manager.
"What I enjoy about this job is that I have close and direct contact with creation," Grewinski said.
However, he does concede that working with a "star" can sometimes be difficult.
"I think what I need, just like any other job, is this skill of knowing how to work with another person," he said. "So the first thing is patience. I have to stand firmly on my feet and that means my artist has the right to fly around somewhere in the clouds but my role is to bring her down to the ground and tell her what is really possible and what isn't.
"My second role is the ability to listen, which is a skill I am constantly learning."
He said this close relationship with Kayah has repercussions in his personal life particularly for his fiancee. There are long hours, concerts across the country, studio work, and recording sessions that can go into the small hours of the morning.
"To be a personal manager for Kayah, involves night-time conversations or long evening talks and I have to give her more care, which is different from working with five rock men."
But Grewinski's main worry at the moment is the state of the Polish market.
Grewinski believes Kayah's long-standing popularity in Poland has shielded her from the brunt of the overall decline although he has noticed a drop in sales of her CD and concert tickets. But he said what this market volatility makes impossible is the chance to set secure business plans and goals.
"Maybe this problem (of market volatility) isn't very tangible here in Warsaw, because this is the largest market here, and it's here that people come for work," he said. "But what we call 'B' Poland or 'C' Poland people just don't have money."
In an effort to seek out new markets for Kayah's work, in February Zic Zac and Grewinski played host to a number of prominent BMG names from Europe and the U.S. They met Kayah, saw her perform live, and watched her video clips. Grewinski's dream is for BMG to release Kayah's albums across Europe.
"I'm hoping that something will happen. I'm counting on it. Of course, Poland is still treated as some kind of market, somewhere in the middle of Russia. This has been changing, but very slowly. I think people in the West cannot list too many artists from Poland. Maybe they just know (film director Andrzej) Wajda, or maybe (film director Roman) Polanski. But they don't know any Polish pop artists.
"I don't think it has much to do with prejudice. I think it has more to do with ignorance."
Over at Zic Zac's cluttered office in Wilanow, talks have been continuing about Kayah's imminent departure to bigger and better things, which should be later this year, or spring 2002. Her destinations will be Germany, Italy and France, and ultimately, America.
"It's always a problem to promote a local artist on the international scene but for Poland, the problem is twice as big," Ciszek said. "Nobody believes that in Poland you can have a good artist. And the second problem is that of course they sing in Polish. They need to sing in English."
The other issues surrounding Kayah include how to "package" her is she a folk singer like on her album with Bregovic, or a pop star like her recent releases? Whichever marketing pitch they eventually decide on, Ciszek said a special album, which will include songs in English, will be produced for foreign release.
Back at Kayah central, Grewinski appears to be finally enjoying some of the trappings of his success. A couple of months ago, he took his first holiday in years to Cuba. He's already planning next year's holiday to Mexico.
At the beginning of his career with Kayah, money was sparse. "Like in the case of any small firm," he said. "But gradually, step-by-step, we have grown and now we can afford many things on our own and to finance many things on our own."
