The ascension of phonk as a genre began in 2020, when the track Close Eyes by producer DVRST became an immensely popular TikTok trend across the world. From that moment and to this day, we have been observing rapid development of the electronic scene in Eastern Europe and the growth of popularity of artists from this region with multi-million audiences in Spotify. Their age is under 21 years; they have not become festival headliners yet, and it can be confidently said that this movement has a great future that will largely define the development of commercial electronic music on an international scale.
Label Goost Music is one of the main centers of the local musical market that has been working with artists in phonk and related subgenres since 2020. The label’s catalog includes such names as OBLXKQ, FindMyName, Nikitata, skyfall beats, eyfect, DVRST, RXLZQ, Øneheart; about 200 artists have been signed, and over 1000 releases have been published over two years of work.
“We were one of the first to notice the trend in the great potential for promotion of electronic music via TikTok and the increase in the number of producers in phonk genre,” says Dmitry Mikulich, Co-Founder, CEO and Music Producer. “They all need support to one degree or another to reach a wider audience. In terms of numbers of Spotify listens, our big artists are far ahead of the biggest stars of the local pop scene, and therefore we focus first of all on the quality of material and digital distribution, considering the fact that our artists in several years may grow into real international starts actively involved in live touring.”
Goost Music has managed to find a great approach in provision of support and service based on maintaining creativity and creative communication with the artist, with a focus on the quality of sound and musical production.
Vo Razvodovsky, Co-Founder, General Producer and Lead Musician, credits his extensive musical background as an important component of interaction with artists: “My experience of working with many well-known musical projects and bands provides me with a deep understanding of the artist’s thoughts and feelings, their true needs and the ways to support them when necessary. Artists are very delicate personalities, and it sometimes takes a lot of effort to maintain their creativity and productivity on a constant level. Therefore, we try to be extremely empathic and treat everyone as a unique creative personality.”
Today, there are many alternatives to music labels: artists can independently upload their music to all international streaming platforms via digital aggregators such as Distrokid, CDbaby, Freshtunes, and so on. At a certain point, however, the artist arrives at the necessity to maintain a connection with their audience, to develop and promote their image, to manage accounts in social media. The label is also an irreplaceable assistant in the matters of tax payment, legal agreements, licensing and proper monetization of music.
“Any artist sooner or later needs a team with which they will grow together,” says Dmitry Mikulich. “It helps the artist to focus only on the creation of music, which is undoubtedly their primary product.”
The popularity of phonk musicians from Eastern Europe was largely determined by Spotify: in 2021, the playlist named “phonk” with a compilation of the best aggressive tracks of the drift phonk subgenre was published at the platform. It has become one of the most popular and listened playlists on Spotify. Algorithmic tools of this streaming service allow even small-scale, beginner artists to find their listeners by being included in the recommendation compilations. In the end of last year, a new playlist named “cosmic phonk” appeared on Spotify. It is actively expanding and represents a new, atmospheric and cosmic facet of this authentic electronic music. The most prominent representatives of this chill phonk are DVRST, LXST CXNTURY, OBLXKQ, Hensonn, Øneheart.
“Your track won’t become popular unless it’s really awesome,” says Vo Razvodovsky. “In today’s reality of competition and quick consumption of content, you need to write something substantial that sounds good on a proper level and then look for various ways to promote it. The latter is the task of the label.”
Goost Music’s team unanimously hail TikTok as the main social media for boosting popularity, first of all due to the global outreach of the network: by uploading a sound-accompanied video somewhere in a small town at the edge of the world, one can become the author of a new international viral sound that will significantly influence the number of listens and provide the opportunity to publish the following released with a well-known name and sound.
“You have definitely heard tracks by DVRST, Hensonn, FindMyName, Øneheart. Life stories of those guys are very similar. They are regular young talented guys who wrote their first hits on simple, often weak laptops. Now they are able to focus on music exclusively, which is awesome.”
Time will tell whether phonk will become the next age in electronic music or stay a fad for a couple years only. However, the phenomenon of this style originating in eastern part of Europe continues to dominate charts and trends across the world. At the same time, artists of the style continue to expand their audience, rapidly drive up the numbers and develop the genre from the musical standpoint, synthesizing it with other styles of music.