Renowned Ukrainian songwriter Mykola Brovchenko has discussed his current earnings, the changing landscape of the music industry, and his recent professional projects.
According to Brovchenko, his income from music royalties has significantly decreased and fluctuates based on radio airplay, song premieres, streaming numbers, and public broadcasting, particularly within the HoReCa sector. During peak periods of heavy rotation, he can earn between 30,000 and 40,000 Ukrainian hryvnias per month, but payments drop drastically when a song loses active promotion. Consequently, he stated that it is no longer possible to make a living solely on song royalties.
The songwriter attributes the decline in commissions to a fundamental shift in how music is created. Many contemporary performers now act as “three-in-one” creators—serving as the singer, lyricist, and composer—frequently writing their own material or using poems by contemporaries and writers from the Executed Renaissance, thereby bypassing professional lyricists.
To maintain a stable income, Brovchenko has spent the past three to four years focusing on larger-scale musical projects, such as writing librettos for operas and musicals, which offer a significantly higher level of compensation.
Throughout his career, Brovchenko has penned several notable hits in Ukrainian pop music. His most profitable composition of the past decade is “Ukraine—That’s You,” co-written with Tina Karol, which was later added to the school curriculum in late 2016. Other prominent works include “Panno Kokhannya,” which won the Grand Prix at the 1993 “Slavic Bazaar” festival in Vitebsk, and “Midday Heat,” a hit from the 2000s performed by Taisiya Povaliy and Ani Lorak.
Currently, Brovchenko is collaborating with singer Tetyana Goncharova on a new project titled “On the Hush,” where his songs across genres like soft rock, jazz, folk, and blues will be performed live in a bohemian gathering setting. This project includes giving a new lease on life to his earlier hit, “Midday Heat.” Additionally, Brovchenko has previously criticized the rise of artificial intelligence in the music industry, condemning it as a form of fraud that displaces human artists and songwriters.
