Verflechtung wider Willen?

The article discusses Soviet record production and export strategies to the West in the 1950s as part of the cultural Cold War. While the treaty framework for cultural exchange between the Soviet Union and Western States enabled Soviet musicians to perform for Western audiences and thus increased the demand for Russian and Soviet music on the global market, the Soviet economy was neither able to provide records of a sufficient quality for foreign trade nor to satisfy national demand fueled by the regime’s shift towards consumerism after Stalin’s death. The dependency on Western companies as transmitters of Russian and Soviet music became the subject of various discussions between the Central Committee, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Trade. By analysing these discussions the article reveals changing attitudes within top state and party structures towards the necessity of technical modernization and the participation of the Soviet Union in the global music market.